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Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee, also known as TimBL, is an English computer scientist best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web, HTML, the URL system, and HTTP. He is a professorial research fellow at the University of Oxford and a professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
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science · English computer scientist (born 1955) · computer scientist · physicist · programmer · university teacher · web developer · engineer · inventor · author · also Tim Berners-Lee, Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee, Timothy John Berners-Lee, TimBL, Berners-Lee
Born 8 June 1955 · Q80
136 published statements · 0 followers
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This Is For Everyone is now available in paperback. You might recognise the face on the cover...a younger me at MIT in 1998 when 150 million people used the web. Today it's roughly 6 billion. Read about how the web came to be and where I think it's going ➡️ thisisforeveryone.timbl.com
This Is For Everyone is now available in paperback. You might recognise the face on the cover...a younger me at MIT in 1998 when 150 million people used the web. Today it's roughly 6 billion. Read about how the web came to be and where I think it's going ➡️ https:// thisisforeveryone.timbl.com/
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“This Is For Everyone is now available in paperback. You might recognise the face on the cover...a younger me at MIT in 1998 when 150 million people used the web. Today it's roughly 6 billion. Read about how the web came to be and where I think it's going ➡️ thisisforeveryone.timbl.com”
“This Is For Everyone is now available in paperback. You might recognise the face on the cover...a younger me at MIT in 1998 when 150 million people used the web. Today it's roughly 6 billion. Read about how the web came to be and where I think it's going ➡️ https:// thisisforeveryone.timbl.com/”
“I like to keep work and personal life separate.”
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Digiday: Overheard at IAB Tech Lab Summit: Tim Berners-Lee on the agentic web
“(2/2) What I did know was that it was to be guided by the overarching values of fuelling creativity, driving collaboration and igniting compassion. These values are even more important in the age of AI, a technology that has the same potential to liberate and cause harm # Web37”
“(1/2) 37 years ago today I submitted my proposal for the World Wide Web 🎂. Today, Rosemary & I spoke with students in New Orleans at Walter Isaacson's Digital History Class at Tulane University. I was asked, as I often am, if I ever could have foreseen where we’d be today. I could not.”
“(1/2) 37 years ago today I submitted my proposal for the World Wide Web 🎂. Today, Rosemary & I spoke with students in New Orleans at Walter Isaacson's Digital History Class @tulaneu.bsky.social. I was asked, as I often am, if I ever could have foreseen where we’d be today. I could not.”
“Tonight marks the final stop on the Australian book tour @sydneyoperahouse.bsky.social 🌏 🙏 to everyone joining the conversation and movement to reclaim the web for everyone. See you tonight Sydney 🇦🇺 #thisisforeveryone www.theguardian.com/technology/2...”
“Tonight marks the final stop on the Australian book tour at Sydney Opera House 🌏 🙏 to everyone joining the conversation and movement to reclaim the web for everyone. See you tonight Sydney 🇦🇺 # thisisforeveryone https://www. theguardian.com/technology/202 6/jan/29/internet-inventor-tim-berners-lee-interview-battle-soul-web”
“🙏 @financialtimes.com & @johnthornhill.bsky.social for making 'This Is For Everyone' a Financial Times Best books of the year 📘 www.ft.com/content/af55...”
“🙏 @ financialtimes for making 'This Is For Everyone' a Financial Times Best books of the year 📘 https://www. ft.com/content/af555e42-198c-4 5aa-adb8-3f21b1cb83c0”
MediaPost: Tim Berners-Lee Warns AI May Make Web's Ad Model 'Fall Apart'
“A special evening being interviewed by my old friend Juan Enriquez in Boston @ The Brattle Theatre... and no, that's not Juan in the photo 👀 but Rosemary Leith who could do the interview with ease after sitting through every book tour event 🙏”
“A special evening being interviewed by my old friend Juan Enriquez in Boston @brattletheatre.bsky.social... and no, that's not Juan in the photo 👀 but Rosemary Leith who could do the interview with ease after sitting through every book tour event 🙏”
“Started this week @92ndstreety.bsky.social in conversation with @camillefrancois.bsky.social . 🙏 to everyone for making it a full house.”
“Started this week @ 92ndstreety in conversation with Camille Francois. 🙏 to everyone for making it a full house.”
“A packed Keplers in Menlo Park, an amazing audience and a stage shared with Thomas Friedman made for a great atmosphere last night. Huge thanks to Tom for the questions covering the web's history, it's future and everything in between 🌐”
“A packed Keplers in Menlo Park, an amazing audience and a stage shared with @thomaslfriedman.bsky.social made for a great atmosphere last night. Huge thanks to Tom for the questions covering the web's history, it's future and everything in between 🌐”
“Thank you to everyone reading my new memoir - you’ve made it an instant Sunday Times bestseller 🗞️ This Is for Everyone is available now from http:// thisisforeveryone.timbl.com”
“Thank you to everyone reading my new memoir - you’ve made it an instant Sunday Times bestseller 🗞️ This Is for Everyone is available now from thisisforeveryone.timbl.com @thetimes.com”
““The free, open access communications paradigm we have did not arrive like magic. It was the product of a fair amount of political wrangling” - that's why we must continue our fight for the web. 🙏 @washingtonpost.com for reviewing 'This Is for Everyone' www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/0...”
““The free, open access communications paradigm we have did not arrive like magic. It was the product of a fair amount of political wrangling” - that's why we must continue our fight for the web. 🙏 @ WashPost for reviewing 'This Is for Everyone' https://www. washingtonpost.com/books/2025/ 09/12/this-is-everyone-world-wide-web-tim-berners-lee-review/”
“"The internet needs compassion - and I have a solution." 🙏 to @ EveningStandard for this extract from my new memoir 'This Is for Everyone' 📖 https://www. standard.co.uk/comment/interne t-social-media-world-wide-web-tim-berners-lee-b1247551.html”
“"The internet needs compassion - and I have a solution." 🙏 to @standard.co.uk.web.brid.gy for this extract from my new memoir 'This Is for Everyone' 📖 www.standard.co.uk/comment/inte...”
“On Tuesday I launched my memoir 'This Is for Everyone' at @cadoganhall.bsky.social Available now @ thisisforeveryone.timbl.com & bookshops everywhere. Special thanks to Tania Bryer @panmacmillan.bsky.social @intelligence2.bsky.social”
Cointelegraph: Tim Berners-Lee says internet DNS should have been more decentralized
In 2025, Berners-Lee published a memoir, This Is for Everyone, with ghostwriter Stephen Witt.
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Used the phrase as the title for his book on the history of the Internet, This Is for Everyone
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Berners-Lee published a memoir, This Is for Everyone, with ghostwriter Stephen Witt
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In November 2025, Berners-Lee was the guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.
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Bloomberg L.P.: Tim Berners-Lee Wants the Internet Back
TechSpot: Tim Berners-Lee's Web Foundation shuts down, mission accomplished after 15 years
NDTV: Tim Berners-Lee
ExtremeTech: Web Inventor Tim Berners-Lee Says We Have to Fix the Internet
TechSpot: Tim Berners-Lee shares his predictions on the 35th anniversary of the World Wide Web
The web's source code was auctioned by Sotheby's in London during 23–30 June 2021, as a non-fungible token (NFT) by Berners-Lee.
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Yahoo Finance: Tim Berners-Lee Invented the Web. Can He Save It?
Awarded Axel Springer Award (2017).
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Awarded Obedience Award (2017).
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Awarded Turing Award (2016).
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The invention of the World Wide Web was ranked number one, with the entry stating: "The fastest growing communications medium of all time, the Internet has changed the shape of modern life forever
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“Snoopers law creates security nightmare' (29th November 2016)”
Joined the Department of Computer Science at Oxford University as a professorial research fellow and as a fellow of Christ Church, one of the Oxford colleges
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Awarded Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 1st Class (2015).
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Awarded OII Lifetime Achievement Award (2014).
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Awarded honorary doctor of Yale University (2014).
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Awarded Worthy of the City presented by City of London (2014).
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SFGate: Tim Berners-Lee, World Wide Web Inventor: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know
Married Rosemary Leith at the Chapel Royal, St
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Awarded Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering (2013).
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“Eulogizing Aaron Swartz in W3C Mailing list (12 Jan 2013)”
And Berners-Lee is leading the coalition of public and private organisations that includes Google, Facebook, Intel and Microsoft
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“Eulogizing Aaron Swartz in "Remember Aaron Swartz" (18 January 2013)”
“From An Insight, An Idea with Tim Berners-Lee at 27:27 (25 January 2013)”
Was awarded the inaugural Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering
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Awarded Internet Hall of Fame (2012).
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Berners-Lee was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles' Sgt
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“Tweeted during his participation in the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony”
Awarded honorary doctor of Harvard University (2011).
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They had two children and divorced in 2011.
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Was named a member of the board of trustees of the Ford Foundation
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Won UNESCO Niels Bohr Medal (2010).
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“The changes signal a wider cultural change in government based on an assumption that information should be in the public domain unless there is a good reason not to—not the other way around.”
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Was elected Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences
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Awarded honorary doctor of the Open University of Catalonia (2008).
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“Tim Berners-Lee Speech before Knight Foundation, (14 September 2008)”
Awarded Order of Merit (2007).
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Awarded Charles Stark Draper Prize (2007).
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Won Lovelace Medal (2006).
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“Berners-Lee T., Net Neutrality: This is Serious (June 2006)”
Awarded Quadriga (2005).
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“Die Wikis sind ein großartiges Zeichen dafür, wie Menschen kreativ werden wollen." - silicon.de, 18. März 2005”
“The Guardian profile: Tim Berners-Lee"(12 August 2005)”
Awarded Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2004).
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Awarded Millennium Technology Prize (2004).
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Berners-Lee was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his pioneering work
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And the National Academy of Engineering in 2007
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Accepted a chair in computer science at the School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Hampshire, to work on the Semantic Web
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Awarded Computer History Museum Fellow (2003).
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Awarded Marconi Prize (2002).
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Awarded Princess of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research (2002).
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Won Albert Medal (2002).
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“Talk of the Nation”, (September 1, 2002) as quoted by Julian Ring “30 years ago, one decision altered the course of our connected world”, NPR, April 30, 2023”
Awarded Japan Prize (2001).
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Awarded Fellow of the Royal Society (2001).
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Berners-Lee became a patron of the East Dorset Heritage Trust, having previously lived in Colehill in Wimborne, East Dorset
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Awarded EFF Award (2000).
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Won Royal Medal (2000).
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Awarded Paul Evan Peters Award (2000).
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“The Diane Rehm Show, “Tim Berners-Lee “Weaving the Web” (Harper San Francisco)”, (Oct 14, 1999)”
“The creator of the Web, TIM BERNERS-LEE” “Fresh Air”, NPR, (Sep 16, 1999)”
Awarded MacArthur Fellows Program (1998).
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Awarded Eduard-Rhein Technology Award (1998).
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Awarded Lord Lloyd of Kilgerran Award (1998).
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Awarded W. Wallace McDowell Award (1996).
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Won Mountbatten Medal (1996).
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“The creator of the World Wide Web, TIM BERNERS-LEE" "Fresh Air", NPR, (February 7, 1996); as quoted by Julian Ring “30 years ago, one decision altered the course of our connected world”, NPR, (April 30, 2023)”
“[[Tim Berners-Lee], "The creator of the World Wide Web, TIM BERNERS-LEE" "Fresh Air", NPR, (February 7, 1996); as quoted by Julian Ring “30 years ago, one decision altered the course of our connected world”, NPR, (April 30, 2023)”
“Technology Review (July 1996)”
Awarded ACM Software System Award for World Wide Web (1995).
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Awarded Prix Ars Electronica (1995).
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“Il Web è progettato [...] per essere universale: per includere tutto e tutti.”
“The Web does not just connect machines, it connects people.”
“Anyone who has lost track of time when using a computer knows the propensity to dream, the urge to make dreams come true and the tendency to miss lunch.”
“Now, if someone tries to monopolize the Web, for example pushes proprietary variations on network protocols, then that would make me unhappy.”
“What's very important from my point of view is that there is one web … Anyone that tries to chop it into two will find that their piece looks very boring.”
“Social media companies are using machine-learning techniques to make users addicted to their platforms. These systems are designed to be addictive, feeding people more and more extreme content, making them alternately angry and sad.”
“eigentlich: Timothy John Berners-Lee”
“Coltiviamo e progettiamo le nostre reti di informazione perché sono al centro dell'economia, della democrazia e delle nostre vite culturali e personali.”
“(en) The WorldWideWeb (WWW) project aims to allow links to be made to any information anywhere.”
“[...] il futuro è ciò che costruiamo.”
“Afectas al mundo por lo que navegas.”
“Original: «You affect the world by what you browse.”
“Il web non collega solo le macchine, collega le persone.”
“Gobiernos y empresas frenan el avance de la web.”
“This project is experimental and of course comes without any warranty whatsoever. However, it could start a revolution in information access.”
“La idea original de la web era que debería ser un espacio colaborativo donde poder comunicarse a través del intercambio de información.”
“Original: «The original idea of the web was that it should be a collaborative space where you can communicate through sharing information.”
“La leyenda dice que cada nueva tecnología es usada primero para algo relacionado con el sexo o la pornografía. Esa parece ser la forma de actuar de la humanidad.”
“Original: «Legend has it that every new technology is first used for something related to sex or pornography. That seems to be the way of humankind.”
“I just had to take the hypertext idea and connect it to the TCP and DNS ideas and — ta-da!— the World Wide Web.”
“Los datos son algo valioso y durarán más que los propios sistemas.”
“Original: «Data is a precious thing and will last longer than the systems themselves.”
Berners-Lee founded the W3C at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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“Electronic publishing and visions of hypertext", Physics World, June 1992.”
“WorldWideWeb wide-area hypertext app available" (19 August 1991), the announcement of the first WWW hypertext browser on the Usenet newsgroup comp.sys.next.announce.”
Berners-Lee married Nancy Carlson, an American computer programmer
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In 1990, Berners-Lee married Nancy Carlson, an American computer programmer.
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CERN was the largest Internet node in Europe and Berners-Lee saw an opportunity to join hypertext with the Internet:
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“Information Management: A Proposal" (March 1989), the original proprosal for the software project at CERN that became the World Wide Web.”
They moved together to Poole to work at Plessey, and then moved in 1980 to work at CERN together for a six-month contract.
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To work at CERN together for a six-month contract
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Berners-Lee took a first in physics from The Queen's College, Oxford
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Studied at The Queen's College (1973–1976).
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Studied at Emanuel School (1969–1973).
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Born 1955-06-08.
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(2/2) What I did know was that it was to be guided by the overarching values of fuelling creativity, driving collaboration and igniting compassion. These values are even more important in the age of AI, a technology that has the same potential to liberate and cause harm # Web37
(1/2) 37 years ago today I submitted my proposal for the World Wide Web 🎂. Today, Rosemary & I spoke with students in New Orleans at Walter Isaacson's Digital History Class at Tulane University. I was asked, as I often am, if I ever could have foreseen where we’d be today. I could not.
(1/2) 37 years ago today I submitted my proposal for the World Wide Web 🎂. Today, Rosemary & I spoke with students in New Orleans at Walter Isaacson's Digital History Class @tulaneu.bsky.social. I was asked, as I often am, if I ever could have foreseen where we’d be today. I could not.
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