Berners-Lee is the creator of the World Wide Web, the information platform of the Internet.
He worked briefly at CERN, the Swiss research laboratory for nuclear physics, in 1980, where he developed a unique computer programme for storing information called 'Enquire'.
But in 1989 he needed a system that could let people in different places work together. He realised that developing his idea would let people pool their knowledge in a web of documents, which meant everyone had access to everyone else's work.
Berners-Lee originally developed the 'hypertext' system and the first Web server for CERN's use, but just a year later the system was opened to the world, and in 1991 the World Wide Web as we know it today was born.
Since then the designs for URL addresses, HTTP and HTML have been refined, and Berners-Lee has become director of the WWW consortium, which oversees all web development.
