Tim Berners-Lee

Sir Tim Berners-Lee is the inventor of the World Wide Web, which he developed in 1989 while working at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory. In 1990, he created the first web browser and web server, laying the foundation for the Web as we know it. His early work included the specifications for Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), which became core components of the Web’s architecture.

Through his work with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), The Open Data Institute, the World Wide Web Foundation, the development of the Solid Protocol and now as CTO and Co-Founder of Inrupt, he has been a tireless advocate for shared standards, open web access for all and the power of individuals on the web.

As the founder of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in 1994, Sir Tim has led efforts to establish global web standards that promote openness, accessibility, and interoperability. He also co-founded the World Wide Web Foundation in 2009 to advance the Web’s potential as a force for good and a tool to benefit humanity. His contributions have been recognised with numerous international honors and awards, including the Millennium Technology Prize, Japan Prize, Prince of Asturias Award, Die Quadriga Award, Seoul Peace Prize, and the Turing Award, widely regarded as the “Nobel Prize of Computing.”

Sir Tim was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004 and was later appointed to the Order of Merit, one of the UK’s highest honors. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2001 and a foreign associate of the US National Academy of Sciences in 2009. He is the author of Weaving the Web and This Is for Everyone, an intimate memoir about the story of his iconic invention.

Sir Tim holds academic roles as a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and an Honorary Student at Christ Church, University of Oxford. He is also an Honorary Member of the W3C Board of Directors and serves as its Emeritus Director. He was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most important people of the 20th century and remains a passionate advocate for an open, accessible, and empowering internet for all.