Today marks a significant date in the history of the World Wide Web. It was 25 years ago today when computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee introduced his proposal for the World Wide Web to the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN). We have encountered all sorts of developments over the years, from the introduction of social media to the importance of IT & data security but in truth, the platform built by Berners-Lee has remained.

Berners-Lee found that CERN scientists were searching for alternatives to travelling internationally and returning to their laboratories in order to collect and share data. He was also keen to explore the true potential of the internet and whether or not we could connect computers through large-scale online communities.

Berners-Lee made a proposal to CERN that incorporated the idea of having technology that would adjust the internet to meet the needs and demands of its users. For scientists at CERN this would involve sharing important data without the need for long distance travel.

At first, his proposal was rejected by CERN yet he continued to push for a breakthrough in groundbreaking online technologies. He created three essential technologies, HTML, HTTP and URI, which have since become vital to today’s World Wide Web. Berners-Lee created his first web page in 1990 and it was finally made available to the general public just three years later and is still going strong in 2014. Who knows what the internet will be like in 50 years time?