The Internet. Also known as the World Wide Web, this is as incessant a part of human lives today as is the habit of checking one’s phone constantly for updates or perhaps taking a bio-break as a cursory unavoidable exercise. The Internet is perhaps a parallel residence of an entire world today.
You could actually do without food but not without the Internet, can you? And maybe not even for a single day. But while there’s been so much written and being said constantly about this great obsession of ours, it’s worthy to remember something. The Internet is still constantly delivering on the promise behind its conception; that being to render useful and seamless information to anyone and anywhere, regardless of time, age, sex, cultural orientation, religious belief, geography, distance, miles, and whatnot.
But none of it would’ve been possible had it not been for the ingenious creativity and surge of one man- Sir Tim Berners-Lee. The gentle Briton, who’s nearly 62 today is still going strong in his work as an engineer and even massive universally accepted regards such as the knighthood have done little to dissuade him from being actively involved toward the DNA of the internet. The man, lest it is forgotten, is a consummate thinker and constantly busy.
So while we know that Sir Tim Berners-Lee was born in London, got knighted by her majesty in the year 2004 and has studied at the prestigious Oxford, what is that we may not know about the celebrated Briton?
Let’s find out some rather unknown facts about Sir Tim Berners-Lee:
Sir Tim Berners-Lee and W3C
Founded way back in 1994, the World Wide Web Consortium is a leading global think-tank that is dedicated to working constantly toward improving the standards of the World Wide Web and the organisation helmed by Sir Lee is being served by him even today, nearly two and half years of its inception.
The London Olympics of 2012
Britain does know a thing or two about honouring it’s massively talented people and lauding them in front of the public at large in whose welfare some great minds invest a lot of effort and energy. So back in 2012 when London hosted the Olympics, Sir Tim Berners-Lee was facilitated in front of a huge global gathering including the best minds and talents in sport and other distinct spheres.
The gentleman’s modesty
To this day, nearly 24 years since the creation of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee regards credits his stature as the ‘creator’ of the World Wide Web to random chance. Little does one know that many years back when Mr Lee had submitted a written proposal for the creation of the World Wide Web, he had been studying at CERN, in Switzerland and credits his success to being at the ‘right place’ and amidst ‘the right set of people’. Talk about some simplicity, huh!
The great nadir of Sir Lee’s life
Back in those days, what one might call the initial Internet age, there were so such things or tools as the WordPress, Blogspot or social media. The English gentleman regards that era being the hardest in his professional career regarding the aspect of writing anything. In his view, the modern age tools have made things far more ‘simpler’ today.
Sir Tim Berner’s Lee was at one point deliberating about becoming an Internet Entrepreneur
He might be regarded as the fatherly figure who birthed the Internet, but that wasn’t always or the necessary plan of action when the gentleman himself was concerned. At that point of time, before the invention of the W3 came about, Sir Tim Berners-Lee was actually contemplating seriously about starting a web browser. No jokes here. Now, had that happened, it would have pitted the Oxford graduate alongside the likes of a Mozilla and that would’ve certainly made him rich. But then, he decided against it.