Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee (born 8 June 1955), is a British engineer and computer scientist and MIT professor credited with inventing the World Wide Web. He inherited his parents’ interest in computer technology. In 1976 he set about building his own computer. He used tools that could be found in the house.
Tim took up employment with Plessey Telecommunications Ltd, a major UK Telecom equipment manufacturer. Working on bar code technology and message systems helped further whet his appetite for computer systems.
He is the Director of the World Wide Web Consortium, a Web standards organization founded in 1994 which develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential. He is co-Director of the Web Science Research Initiative (WSRI), started in 2006 in order to help create the first multidisciplinary research body to examine the World Wide Web and offer the practical solutions needed to help guide its future use and design. He is also a Director of the World Wide Web Foundation, started in 2008 to fund and coordinate efforts to further the potential of the Web to benefit humanity.
Since 2005 he has recieved the following awards:
- Common Wealth Award for Distinguished Service for Mass Communications
- Die Quadriga Award
- Financial Times Lifetime Achievement Award
- 2006:
- President’s Medal, the Institute of Physics
2007:
- Awarded the Order of Merit by H.M. the Queen
- Charles Stark Draper Prize, National Academy of Engineering
- Lovelace Medal, British Computer Society
- D&AD President’s Award for Innovation and Creativity
- MITX (Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange) Leadership Award
- Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Engineering
2008:
- BITC Award for Excellence
- IEEE/RSE Wolfson James Clerk Maxwell Award
- Fellow, IEEE
- Pathfinder Award, Harvard Kennedy School of Government
2009:
- Foreign Associate, National Academy of Sciences
- Webby Awards Lifetime Achievement Award
Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee
Resources:
- Tim Berners-Lee. (2009, October 3). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:34, October 3, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tim_Berners-Lee&oldid=317624982
- Tim Berners-Lee. In W3C. Retrieved 17:35, October 3, 2009, from http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/
- Tim Berners Lee Biography, (2005, Agoust, 5). In Buzzle. Retrieved 17:40, October 3, 2009, from http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/4-5-2005-68128.asp
