 Tim Berners-Lee |
Tim Berners-Lee, the MIT scientist credited with inventing the world wide web, this week became the first recipient of the Millennium technology prize. The Finnish award, which comes with a $1 million (U.S.) cash prize, is among the largest of its kind.
In awarding the prize, committee members acknowledged Berners-Lee’s contribution “for an innovation that directly promotes people’s quality of life, is based on humane values, and encourages sustainable economic development,” underlining the importance of the scientist’s decision to never strive to commercialize or patent his contributions to the Internet technologies he developed.
Berners-Lee is credited with creating the world wide web in the early 1990s while working for the Cern Laboratory, the European centre for nuclear research near Geneva, Switzerland. His graphical point-and-click browser, World Wide Web, was the first client that featured the core ideas included in today’s web browsers.
Future prizes will be awarded every two years.
