The World Wide Web is Born
1989 · event
March 12, 1989 - Tim Berners-Lee submitted his proposal for an information management system at CERN, which would become the World Wide Web. He envisioned a system where documents could be linked together across computers worldwide. By 1991, the first website was live. The internet transformed how we communicate, learn, work, and live. It connected billions of people, democratized information, and created entirely new industries. What started as a tool for scientists became the foundation of modern society. We now live in a world where the internet is as essential as electricity.
Berners-Lee's manager scribbled "vague, but exciting" on the proposal, and let him build it anyway. Crucially, CERN released the technology in 1993 for free, forever: no patent, no royalties. That single decision is why the Web belongs to everyone.
The first website explained how to make websites. Three decades later, half of humanity carries the Web in a pocket, including this page, this memory, and every memorial on this site. "This is for everyone," Berners-Lee spelled out at the 2012 Olympics. It still is.