Photo: Web Summit / CC BY 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
I find Tim Berners-Lee almost unique among history's great inventors: he created the World Wide Web, HTML, and HTTP, then gave it all away without patents or royalties. Every page you have ever loaded exists because one Oxford-trained scientist decided humanity's information should be a commons, not a product. The pile of honors — the Japan Prize, the Millennium Technology Prize and more — feels almost beside the point compared with that single act of generosity. What moves me most is that he never walked away; decades later he is still arguing for a healthier, more open web. That is an inventor accepting responsibility for his invention.
Overview
Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee (born 8 June 1955), 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).
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Tim Berners-Lee
- Name (Japanese)
- ティム・バーナーズ＝リー
- Reading
- てぃむ・ばーなーず＝りー
- Born
- June 8, 1955 (age 71)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Gemini / Goat
- Origin
- London, Roman Empire
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- computer scientist / physicist / programmer / university teacher / web developer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- The Queen's College
Awards & achievements
- 1995 Prix Ars Electronica
- 1996 W. Wallace McDowell Award
- 1998 Eduard-Rhein Technology Award
- 1998 MacArthur Fellows Program
- 2001 Japan Prize
- 2004 Millennium Technology Prize
- 2005 Quadriga
- 2007 Charles Stark Draper Prize
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | World Wide Web | — | |
| Notable work | WorldWideWeb | — | |
| Notable work | HTTP | — | |
| Notable work | HTML | — | |
| Notable work | Semantic Web | — | |
| Notable work | Design Issues for the World Wide Web | — |
6. Links
Computer scientist — see all → · Physicist — see all → · More people from Roman Empire →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-11
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.