Twenty years of free, open web
On 30 April 1993, CERN made the technology behind the World Wide Web available for everyone to use. From that day on, the web has changed all aspects of society, a revolution that can be compared to the invention of the printing-press in the 15th century. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the free, open web, CERN has started a project to preserve the digital assets that are associated with the birth of the web.
During the 1980s, the internet was already well-known in academic institutions, being mainly used for email communications and file transfers. Yet, it was far from being an integral part of our daily life. This started to change in 1989 when British physicist Tim Berners-Lee invented the web at CERN.
The project, which Berners-Lee named World Wide Web [WWW], was originally conceived to meet the demand for sharing information between physicists around the world. To document the project, in 1991, he created the world’s first website about the WWW project itself where visitors could learn more about the web and access technical details for creating their own web page.
Web servers and the use of web browsers gradually spread throughout academic institutions but it was not until 1993, when CERN made the source code of WWW freely available that web usage exploded as people started setting up their own servers and websites. By late 1993 there were over 500 known web servers. Twenty years on, there are an estimated 630 million websites online.
“From research to business and education, the web has been reshaping the way we communicate, work, innovate and live. The web is a powerful example of the way that basic research benefits humankind”, says Rolf Heuer, CERN Director-General.
To mark the anniversary of this important event, CERN has recreated the first website in its original URL and is planning to compile and preserve some of the digital assets that are associated with the birth of the web for the benefit of future generations.
You can learn more about the project visiting the CERN website.
