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Dom
“I’m presenting Tim Berners-Lee. He’s the man who invented the world wide web, and all the good things that came with it.” - Dom Joly

Geneva, 1980s. Based at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research in Switzerland, Tim Berners-Lee was suffering from a case of information overload at work. Desperately trying to co-ordinate a mass of research and data from incompatible computer systems around the globe, Berners-Lee figured there must be a better way to do things.

So he set about creating a space where any piece of information could be linked to any other piece of information out in the world. To do this he joined two separate ideas that had been knocking about for some time - hypertext and the internet - and he created the World Wide Web.

He gave his invention to us, the public, for free and, after a cautious start, we all leapt on board to create the huge collective brain that we now use daily. Imagine a world without the world wide web. You can't, can you?

Read the Sir Tim Berners-Lee film script  here (PDF link).

Tim Berners-Lee
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8 comment(s) for “Sir Tim Berners-Lee”

  1. I can't believe Sir Tim isn't higher in the list. He's had the most impact on our lives of anyone in the last fifty years. Without his invention, I wouldn't have a job, wouldn't have met half of my friends and I'd never have met my lovely girlfriend. Good one, Sir TBL!

    27 May,   17:02   -  itsyourround Show replies to this comment

    1. I've voted for TBL because the internet has brought about the Digital World and the Digital Economy and impacts on the lives of billions. His impact is immediate, impactful and meaningful to me so he gets my vote. Other great candidates of course!

      4 Jun,  - 15:22   -  Anthony Burke

       

    2. Fair comment and one that many would echo. The plan is to keep the poll open till June 30th so it is early days yet. hedy's share of the vote has slipped over the last few days so maybe TBL's constituency is mobilising? Hugh/Infopioneers

      27 May,  - 21:49   -  Hugh

       

  2. The thing i really like about TBL is he gave it away for free.

    27 May,   06:38   -  paul Show replies to this comment

    1. Dom Joly agrees. If you check the Miranda Raison film you'll see that Hedy and her co-inventor also offered their product free to the military in WWII but it was rejected. hugh/infopioneersteam

      27 May,  - 07:12   -  Hugh

       

  3. The web has multiplied our choices and magnified our character as human beings. And that has to be a good thing... Thanks TBL.

    24 May,   13:40   -  Tim  

  4. And how did he invent the web if someone else hadn't invented the computer... huh?

    19 May,   13:09   -  Sean Show replies to this comment

    1. Yeah but you can say that about anything. Who would have invented the Computer is electricity had not been discovered?

      28 May,  - 10:48   -  James

       

      1. The way I see it, this poll is about the most influential person in the exchange of information, that has to be Sir Tim?

        There are many great people in the history of IT, but what TBL did was lay the foundation for a new way of communicating, that has allowed us to digest information in a far more accessible manner.

        Gets my vote!

        30 May,  - 13:19   -  Mo

         

  5. Yes to TBL!

    19 May,   11:45   -  Dan 

  6. Without TB-L this website would not even exist, thus he should win this poll and, by extension, every poll on the WWW.

    19 May,   11:20   -  WeakLemonDrink 

  7. How can anybody even question whether TBL is the most important pioneer? Look at everything we can do on the web today -- it's all because he invented it!

    19 May,   00:32   -  Patrick Keating 

  8. Dom Joly -- what a joker!

    16 May,   21:17   -  Leonard Johnson 

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