2016 · Networks & the Web
URLs, HTTP and HTML made information across the Internet browsable.
Visual guide
Identify a resource with a URL.
Retrieve it using HTTP.
Follow connections in a document.
The Web uses the Internet; the two are related but are not interchangeable names for the same thing.
01 · The idea
Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web at CERN, creating its first browser and server and defining key conventions for addressing, requesting and linking documents. A link could lead beyond a single machine or institution. The resulting system combined existing Internet infrastructure with a simple shared information model.
Common, open web technologies let people publish and navigate information on a worldwide scale.
02 · The people
Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web while working at CERN, combining linked documents with a browser, server, and common protocols. His design made information accessible across different computer systems through a shared addressing and linking framework. He later founded the World Wide Web Consortium to coordinate open standards. At the time of the award, his academic appointments included MIT and Oxford, reflecting the Web’s continuing international development.
Read the biography ↗03 · Read further
Original explanations based on the official award record. The subject label is an editorial navigation aid.
Ethernet made local networking a shared, practical technology.
The story
TCP/IP let independently designed networks communicate through common rules.
The story