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Invention

The World Wide Web

Also Known As The Web
Software Engineering

The World Wide Web is a system of linked hypertext documents accessed over the internet. Tim Berners-Lee, working at CERN, wrote a proposal for it in March 1989, then built the first web browser and server and defined HTML, HTTP and the URL by Christmas 1990, releasing the software publicly on August 6, 1991. The Web is a service that runs over the internet rather than a synonym for it; the internet's own packet switched network predates the Web by two decades.

Facts
Patent or First-Use Date
1991-01-01 1
The source's own account is internally inconsistent: its infobox states first published 6 August 1991 while its History section prose states release to the whole Internet on 23 August 1991; the year is consistent across both, so only the year is asserted here.
Year
1989 2
Significance
The World Wide Web turned the internet from a specialist research network into the everyday medium for publishing, commerce and communication, and Berners-Lee and CERN's decision to release it royalty free is widely credited with its rapid global adoption. 2
FAQs

Did anyone have to pay to use the World Wide Web?

CERN released it royalty-free in 1993.

No. CERN made the Web protocol and code available royalty-free on 30 April 1993, which enabled its widespread use.
Connections

Associated With

Computer Engineering, Fields

In Field

Software Engineering, Fields
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors

Invented By

Tim Berners-Lee, Engineers
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors

Preceded By

The Internet, Inventions
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors
Sources
1. World Wide Web (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • History section
    The technology was released outside CERN to other research institutions starting in January 1991, and then to the whole Internet on 23 August 1991.
  • In Group: Web and Online Communication Software, Lead paragraph
    is a global interconnected information system that enables content sharing over the Internet
View the Source
2. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.View the Source
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