On August 6, 1991, British computer scientist, Tim Berners-Lee created the first website in a novel idea of connecting hypertext to the Internet to create something called the World Wide Web.
Berners-Lee, who was a consultant at the European Organization for Nuclear Research at the time, had repeatedly suggested that a marriage between the two technologies was possible, but when no one took up his invitation, he finally assumed the project himself.
He and Belgian computer scientist Robert Calliau used hypertext “to link and access information of various kinds as a web of nodes in which the user can browse at will.” The first website was launched August 6 or 7, 1991, 26 years ago today.
Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee is currently director of the World Wide Web Consortium, which is responsible for the development of the Web and founder of the World Wide Web Foundation, an organization advocating for a free and accessible Web.
This image is a global map of the web index for countries in 2014, created by NuclearVacuum, Spesh531 – File:BlankMap-World-Microstates.svg, CC BY-SA 3.0
The Web Index was developed by the World Wide Web Foundation and is a multi-dimensional measure of the WWW’s contribution to development and human rights globally. It incorporates indicators of universal access, freedom and openness, relevant content, and empowerment, which indicate economic, social, and political impacts of the Web.