The Mind Behind the Web: Scientific American

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The Mind Behind the Web: Scientific American 16/03/2010 The Mind Behind the Web: Scientific … Features - March 12, 2009 The Mind Behind the Web Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web and continues to shape its frantic evolution. He's neither rich nor famous, which is fine by him By Mark Fischetti Editor's note: Mark Fischetti wrote the following article in 2000, shortly after completing his book, Weaving the Web, with Tim Berners-Lee. Scientific American.com is posting the article (unpublished until now) as CERN on March 13 celebrates the 20th anniversary of Berners-Lee's original proposal for the World Wide Web. It is a cool morning in April 1999, and 1,500 computer scientists, university faculty, and industry CEOs are streaming into a vast fieldhouse at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, outside Boston. They grab coffee and seat themselves for a keynote speech that will cap the 35th anniversary celebration of M.I.T.'s Laboratory for Computer Science, the fount of so many creations that have driven the computer revolution. From a makeshift stage, lab director Michael Dertouzos calls out, "We've had a great party! Now the man you've been waiting for: Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web." The crowd hushes and arches forward, for they know the name but not the man. Out from the shadows strides a sprightly 43-year-old Briton, smiling beneath a short crop of blond hair. The large audience is excited, anticipating a breathless account of how the Web came to be. But they don't get it. Berners-Lee steps to the podium and delivers a sobering warning: The Web is not done. In fact, he says in measured words, it could self-destruct if the immense forces now buffeting it are not coordinated. Patents could prevent users from moving freely around the Web, killing the universal access to information the world now enjoys. Proprietary products could fragment the one big Web into smaller, rival webs, making it impossible to link information globally. Furthermore, the crusader says, now in inspiring tones, he has a much grander vision. If advanced properly, the Web could powerfully bind people across geographic, ethnic, economic and political bounds, leading to a society in which cooperation, rather than conflict, is the agent of change. But it will require much more work. The crowd is a bit bewildered. They wanted to revel in a finished Web. But its parent is telling them the Web is only in adolescence, and an unruly one at that. It needs concerted guidance if it is to reach its full potential. Berners-Lee reverently walks to the steps at the left side of the stage. Suddenly, Dertouzos bounds up the stairs and puts a body-block on him, effective since Dertouzos is a robust 6-foot-4 and Berners-Lee a trim 5-foot-10. Berners-Lee stands paralyzed in disbelief. Bob Metcalfe, himself a computing pioneer and founder of 3Com Corp., appears at a microphone at stage right. He announces that 3Com has committed $2 million to fund the 3Com Founder's Chair, the first chair at M.I.T. for a researcher rather than a professor. Berners-Lee will be the first to hold it. Several 3Com board members carry forward a black mahogany chair and place it front and center before the crowd. Berners-Lee, with a blush of embarrassment, walks toward the chair. He circles it slowly, silently, peering at it like a curious mime inspecting an odd, fallen object. He gingerly sits down. Still silent, Berners-Lee looks up at the audience with wide-open eyes, throws his arms wide, and loudly proclaims, "It's a chair!" The place erupts with glee. In two minutes Berners-Lee has leapt from the deadly serious to the deadpan. His mischievous antic is meant scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id… 1/7 16/03/2010 The Mind Behind the Web: Scientific … to convey, in his wry way, that even when honored one shouldn't take oneself too seriously. Berners-Lee leaves the stage happy and talkative. He shakes hands with well-wishers. Yet he has an anxious eye toward the exit. He wants to get back to the World Wide Web Consortium at the lab, a group of 55 staffers who coordinate 345 member companies and government bodies from around the world, ranging from Microsoft to the Department of Defense. It is there, as director, that Berners-Lee brings his personal vision to bear on recommended technical standards to improve the Web. Important issues are being resolved, and today there is contention. Throughout the Web's wild growth, Berners-Lee has been the one constant, the one anchor in a storm of activity. Tim Berners-Lee has remained unknown to the public because he has never gotten rich or famous from the Web. He likes money just fine, but is driven by his larger dream. Every dot.com millionaire, every person who's found a nugget of information searching the Web, owes a debt to Berners-Lee, but he's not looking to collect or be lionized. "I'm happy to let others play the role of royalty," the ego-free inventor says. "Just as long as they don't try to control the Web." Berners-Lee is the son of two computing pioneers who were part of a Manchester University team that developed the first commercial electronic computer, sold by Ferranti Ltd. At their London dinner table, father and mother showed the joy of solving mathematical problems to young Tim. He built his own mock computer out of cardboard boxes. When coming home from high school one day, he found his father writing a speech on how computers, eventually, might make intuitive connections the way the human brain does. The challenge stayed rooted in Berners-Lee's own brain. After obtaining a physics degree, and several stints as a software engineer, in 1984 Berners-Lee took a programming job at CERN, the mammoth high-energy physics lab in Geneva that straddles the Franco-Swiss border. It was difficult for him to keep track of CERN's 5,000 scientists from far-flung countries, their interrelated projects, and their incompatible computers. So in his spare time he wrote experimental programs to help him remember the connections. He learned about hypertext, a programming scheme that allows readers to jump between documents on a computer. He also learned about the Internet, a vast matrix of telephone and networking wires that linked computers. It had become popular among academics and researchers for sending e-mail, but was difficult for non-computer experts to use. By 1990 Berners-Lee had a fully formed vision: "Suppose all the information stored on computers everywhere were linked," he thought. "All the bits of information in every computer at CERN, and on the planet, would be available to me and to anyone else. There would be a single, global information space," a natural resource like air and water. The task left to him was to marry hypertext and the Internet. That task took only three months to realize. By Christmas 1990, Berners-Lee, with help from colleague Robert Cailliau and intern Nicola Pellow, had a rough version of a Web page, a Web server (a computer program that holds Web pages), and a Web browser (a program to find and view pages). He devised three protocols for creating, addressing, and sending Web pages. Together, they provided a simple, visual way to link computer documents of any format using hypertext over the Internet. Berners-Lee and Cailliau spent the next three years parsing their time between evangelizing the newborn Web and improving the actual software for it. Berners-Lee asked CERN to release his source-code—all the original software —so that anyone could create their own Web pages and browsers, and use the Web, without having to obtain rights or pay fees. He didn't want the Web to be his, but everyone's. And it was the only way enthusiasts the world over could help develop the Web in grassroots fashion. Physics researchers, hypertext programmers, and Internet aficionados dove in. As the commercial world got involved Berners-Lee could no longer oversee the Web as a personal project. He left CERN and joined M.I.T.'s Laboratory for Computer Science to start the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which would bring together company, university and government developers so that all their Web creations would be compatible. The humanist wanted to assure that the Web would remain a public medium for everyone from rabbis to rappers, that no one company would commandeer it for proprietary purposes. Today the Web is revolutionizing not just commerce, but the definition of society itself. People with common hobbies, illnesses, professions, or political bents can instantly form communities with no regard to physical boundaries, wealth, education, or time zones. One person's simple invention really can change the world. I was to first meet Berners-Lee one morning late in 1997 at the consortium in Cambridge to discuss writing a book about the creation and future of the Web. I'm waiting in an interior hallway that is quiet as a library. Cramped offices along the wall are cluttered with computers glowing under dim ceiling lights, piles of software journals, electronic scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id… 2/7 16/03/2010 The Mind Behind the Web: Scientific … gadgets and bicycle parts. In each bungalow two or three staffers sit back-to-back, speaking softly as they write code. There's nothing really glamorous here, which is part of the point.
Recommended publications
  • Educating the Whole Person? the Case of Athens College, 1940-1990
    Educating the whole person? The case of Athens College, 1940-1990 Polyanthi Giannakopoulou-Tsigkou Institute of Education, University of London A thesis submitted for the Degree of EdD September 2012 Abstract This thesis is a historical study of the growth and development of Athens College, a primary/secondary educational institution in Greece, during the period 1940-1990. Athens College, a private, non-profit institution, was founded in 1925 as a boys' school aiming to offer education for the whole person. The research explores critically the ways in which historical, political, socio-economic and cultural factors affected the evolution of Athens College during the period 1940-1990 and its impact on students' further studies and careers. This case study seeks to unfold aspects of education in a Greek school, and reach a better understanding of education and factors that affect it and interact with it. A mixed methods approach is used: document analysis, interviews with Athens College alumni and former teachers, analysis of student records providing data related to students' achievements, their family socio-economic 'origins' and their post-Athens College 'destinations'. The study focuses in particular on the learners at the School, and the kinds of learning that took place within this institution over half a century. Athens College, although under the control of a centralised educational system, has resisted the weaknesses of Greek schooling. Seeking to establish educational ideals associated with education of the whole person, excellence, meritocracy and equality of opportunity and embracing progressive curricula and pedagogies, it has been successful in taking its students towards university studies and careers.
    [Show full text]
  • Ali Aydar Anita Borg Alfred Aho Bjarne Stroustrup Bill Gates
    Ali Aydar Ali Aydar is a computer scientist and Internet entrepreneur. He is the chief executive officer at Sporcle. He is best known as an early employee and key technical contributor at the original Napster. Aydar bought Fanning his first book on programming in C++, the language he would use two years later to build the Napster file-sharing software. Anita Borg Anita Borg (January 17, 1949 – April 6, 2003) was an American computer scientist. She founded the Institute for Women and Technology (now the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology). While at Digital Equipment, she developed and patented a method for generating complete address traces for analyzing and designing high-speed memory systems. Alfred Aho Alfred Aho (born August 9, 1941) is a Canadian computer scientist best known for his work on programming languages, compilers, and related algorithms, and his textbooks on the art and science of computer programming. Aho received a B.A.Sc. in Engineering Physics from the University of Toronto. Bjarne Stroustrup Bjarne Stroustrup (born 30 December 1950) is a Danish computer scientist, most notable for the creation and development of the widely used C++ programming language. He is a Distinguished Research Professor and holds the College of Engineering Chair in Computer Science. Bill Gates 2 of 10 Bill Gates (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate, philanthropist, investor, computer programmer, and inventor. Gates is the former chief executive and chairman of Microsoft, the world’s largest personal-computer software company, which he co-founded with Paul Allen. Bruce Arden Bruce Arden (born in 1927 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an American computer scientist.
    [Show full text]
  • In Greece Since 1948 the Fulbright Foundation US PRESIDENTS on International Exchanges and the Fulbright Program
    In Greece since 1948 THE FULBRIGHT FOUNDATION US PRESIDENTS on International Exchanges and the Fulbright Program “This program is vitally important “This report … is largely devoted to “International exchanges are not in widening the knowledge and an aspect of the program too often a great tide to sweep away all technical ability of the peoples of overlooked … the extraordinary … differences, but they will slowly the twelve participating countries.” cooperation and assistance … from wear away at the obstacles to peace Harry S. Truman, letter to the Chairman, United States private groups … as surely as water wears away Board of Foreign Scholarships, on the This private cooperation … gives a hard stone.” Fulbright Program, May 11, 1951 the program its essential character George W. Bush, 1989 and effectiveness…” “The exchange of students … should Richard M. Nixon, message to Congress, “No one who has lived through be vastly expanded … Information June 15, 1970 the second half of the 20th century and education are powerful forces in could possibly be blind to the enor- support of peace. Just as war begins “The spirit of seeking understand- mous impact of exchange programs in the minds of men, so does peace.” ing through personal contact with on the future of countries…” Dwight D. Eisenhower, remarks at ceremony William J. Clinton, 1993 marking the 10th anniversary of the people of other nations and other Smith-Mundt Act, January 27, 1958 cultures deserves the respect and support of all.” “While many academic exchange “This Program has been most impor- Gerald R. Ford, remarks to foreign exchange programs have striven for excellence, tant in bettering the relations of the students, July 13, 1976 the Fulbright Program’s emphasis on United States with other parts of the mutual understanding has made it world.
    [Show full text]
  • How the New World of Information Will Change Our Lives
    Harvard Journal of Law & Technology Volume 11, Number 1 Fall 1997 WHAT WILL BE: HOW THE NEW WORLD OF INFORMATION WILL CHANGE OUR LIVES By Michael L. Dertouzos.I New York. N.Y.: HarperCollins Publishers, lnc. 1997. < http ://www.harpercollins.com > Pp. 336. $25.00 (hard). ISBN 0-06-251479-2. The times they are a-changin ,.2 Mass communication its rise and its changes has dramatically affected life over the course of the twentieth century. We have seen vast changes in the ways we act, interact, work, think, and play. As our world has become smaller and more interconnected, our society has been transformed: our global consciousness rises as international events become our instant headlines, and new intra- and international frictions flare as class and cultural tensions are exacerbated and physical distance becomes increasingly irrelevant. As people become more focused on their individual interests, they have less inclination and time to engage in activities that reinforce community standards, understandings, and reference points. Thus, information access has given us great,Jr freedom to pursue our own desires, but it has also led to the atomization of families, communities, and nations. These trends have played them- selves out in political and social movements. Through it all, our legal system has adapted and adjusted to the paradigm shifts in our ways of living and making a living. It has heeded the whims of popular passion and the currents of contemporary conceptions of justice. What comes next for our legal system will be a reflection of what comes next for our society writ large.
    [Show full text]
  • UC Berkeley Previously Published Works
    UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Previously Published Works Title Building the Second Mind, 1961-1980: From the Ascendancy of ARPA-IPTO to the Advent of Commercial Expert Systems Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7ck3q4f0 ISBN 978-0-989453-4-6 Author Skinner, Rebecca Elizabeth Publication Date 2013-12-31 eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Building the Second Mind, 1961-1980: From the Ascendancy of ARPA to the Advent of Commercial Expert Systems copyright 2013 Rebecca E. Skinner ISBN 978 09894543-4-6 Forward Part I. Introduction Preface Chapter 1. Introduction: The Status Quo of AI in 1961 Part II. Twin Bolts of Lightning Chapter 2. The Integrated Circuit Chapter 3. The Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Foundation of the IPTO Chapter 4. Hardware, Systems and Applications in the 1960s Part II. The Belle Epoque of the 1960s Chapter 5. MIT: Work in AI in the Early and Mid-1960s Chapter 6. CMU: From the General Problem Solver to the Physical Symbol System and Production Systems Chapter 7. Stanford University and SRI Part III. The Challenges of 1970 Chapter 8. The Mansfield Amendment, “The Heilmeier Era”, and the Crisis in Research Funding Chapter 9. The AI Culture Wars: the War Inside AI and Academia Chapter 10. The AI Culture Wars: Popular Culture Part IV. Big Ideas and Hardware Improvements in the 1970s invert these and put the hardware chapter first Chapter 11. AI at MIT in the 1970s: The Semantic Fallout of NLR and Vision Chapter 12. Hardware, Software, and Applications in the 1970s Chapter 13.
    [Show full text]
  • In Greece Since 1948 the Fulbright Foundation US PRESIDENTS on International Exchanges and the Fulbright Program
    In Greece since 1948 THE FULBRIGHT FOUNDATION US PRESIDENTS on International Exchanges and the Fulbright Program “This program is vitally important “This report … is largely devoted to “International exchanges are not in widening the knowledge and an aspect of the program too often a great tide to sweep away all technical ability of the peoples of overlooked … the extraordinary … differences, but they will slowly the twelve participating countries.” cooperation and assistance … from wear away at the obstacles to peace Harry S. Truman, letter to the Chairman, United States private groups … as surely as water wears away Board of Foreign Scholarships, on the This private cooperation … gives a hard stone.” Fulbright Program, May 11, 1951 the program its essential character George W. Bush, 1989 and effectiveness…” “The exchange of students … should Richard M. Nixon, message to Congress, “No one who has lived through be vastly expanded … Information June 15, 1970 the second half of the 20th century and education are powerful forces in could possibly be blind to the enor- support of peace. Just as war begins “The spirit of seeking understand- mous impact of exchange programs in the minds of men, so does peace.” ing through personal contact with on the future of countries…” Dwight D. Eisenhower, remarks at ceremony William J. Clinton, 1993 marking the 10th anniversary of the people of other nations and other Smith-Mundt Act, January 27, 1958 cultures deserves the respect and support of all.” “While many academic exchange “This Program has been most impor- Gerald R. Ford, remarks to foreign exchange programs have striven for excellence, tant in bettering the relations of the students, July 13, 1976 the Fulbright Program’s emphasis on United States with other parts of the mutual understanding has made it world.
    [Show full text]
  • Using History to Teach Computer Science and Related Disciplines
    Computing Research Association Using History T o T eachComputer Science and Related Disciplines Using History To Teach Computer Science and Related Disciplines Edited by Atsushi Akera 1100 17th Street, NW, Suite 507 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Washington, DC 20036-4632 E-mail: [email protected] William Aspray Tel: 202-234-2111 Indiana University—Bloomington Fax: 202-667-1066 URL: http://www.cra.org The workshops and this report were made possible by the generous support of the Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate of the National Science Foundation (Award DUE- 0111938, Principal Investigator William Aspray). Requests for copies can be made by e-mailing [email protected]. Copyright 2004 by the Computing Research Association. Permission is granted to reproduce the con- tents, provided that such reproduction is not for profit and credit is given to the source. Table of Contents I. Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………. 1 1. Using History to Teach Computer Science and Related Disciplines ............................ 1 William Aspray and Atsushi Akera 2. The History of Computing: An Introduction for the Computer Scientist ……………….. 5 Thomas Haigh II. Curricular Issues and Strategies …………………………………………………… 27 3. The Challenge of Introducing History into a Computer Science Curriculum ………... 27 Paul E. Ceruzzi 4. History in the Computer Science Curriculum …………………………………………… 33 J.A.N. Lee 5. Using History in a Social Informatics Curriculum ....................................................... 39 William Aspray 6. Introducing Humanistic Content to Information Technology Students ……………….. 61 Atsushi Akera and Kim Fortun 7. The Synergy between Mathematical History and Education …………………………. 85 Thomas Drucker 8. Computing for the Humanities and Social Sciences …………………………………... 89 Nathan L. Ensmenger III. Specific Courses and Syllabi ………………………………………....................... 95 Course Descriptions & Syllabi 9.
    [Show full text]
  • Of NORTHERN CALIFORNIA the Unfinished Revolution in Human
    THE REGIONALMIT ALUMNI NEWSLETTER OFCLUB THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY http://www.mitcnc.org of NORTHERN CALIFORNIA WINTER 2000 The Unfinished Revolution in Human Centered Computing Prof. Michael Dertouzos, Visionary, Director of MIT's Lab for Computer Sciences Join Michael Dertouzos for dinner and a lively discussion of his At the foundation of human-centric com- new book, The Unfinished Revolution: Human Centered puting are five key technologies: natural Computers and What They Can Do for Us. As a high-tech interaction, automation, individualized visionary and Director of the MIT Laboratory for Computer information access, collaboration, and cus- Science (LCS), Dertouzos has spent his career forecasting tech- tomization. In other words, human-centric nological shifts and making them reality through his lab. The systems understand speech; automate LCS has spun off such companies as 3Com Corporation, Aka- human tasks; get us the information we want, when we want it; mai Technologies, Apollo Computer, Cirrus Logic, Interleaf, help us work with other people; and adapt to our individual and RSA Data Security. In recent years, Dertouzos has been a preferences. By combining these five emerging technologies, strong advocate for “human-centric computing”- a philosophy we will see a vast increase in professional and personal produc- outlined in his book. tivity. Ultimately, human-centric machines will give ordinary people the capabilities currently reserved for the most privi- Human-centric computing proclaims that computers should leged, as automated servants off load much of our work. In time, serve people, so that using information technology is as easy we will use our computers as naturally and easily as we now use and efficient as driving a car.
    [Show full text]
  • Analysing the Technological History of the Open Source Phenomenon
    FLOSS history, working paper, version 3.0 - Turin, September 2005 Lorenzo Benussi - School of Communication – Department of Economics – University of Turin [email protected] Analysing the technological history of the Open Source Phenomenon. Stories from the Free Software Evolution∗. Abstract The Free Libre Open Source Software represents an outstanding example of “open development model of technological knowledge”. It has been studied in several researches that produced valuable illustrations of the way it works. Our understanding of its principal features is growing exponentially and an entire new literature on open source has been created. However there appears to be an important gap in the literature: the origin of the phenomenon. The paper attempts to tackle this issue by analyzing the long-term technological history of Free Open Source Software; the main research questions at stake are: “is the phenomenon completely new? and if it is not totally new, where it comes form?” and, more generally, “how open source software developed over time?”. As a consequence the present work focuses primarily on the analysis of the fee/open source software history of technological change over a period of almost sixty years. I adopted a multidisciplinary approach to analyse the network of relations emerging between inventions and technological innovations, as well as economic determinants and intellectual property rights regimes throughout the period considered. Thus, I attempt to investigate the origins of the phenomenon as a way of understanding its evolution. Moreover I suggest it is worth studying the open source phenomenon as the evolution of a specific model of Communication, namely the open communication model, which has progressively gained increasing power because of the pervasive use of digital communication technologies, typically the Internet.
    [Show full text]
  • Strategic Computing : DARPA and the Quest for Machine Intelligence, 1983–1993 / Alex Roland with Philip Shiman
    Strategic Computing History of Computing I. Bernard Cohen and William Aspray, editors William Aspray, John von Neumann and the Origins of Modern Computing Charles J. Bashe, Lyle R. Johnson, John H. Palmer, and Emerson W. Pugh, IBM’s Early Computers Paul E. Ceruzzi, A History of Modern Computing I. Bernard Cohen, Howard Aiken: Portrait of a Computer Pioneer I. Bernard Cohen and Gregory W. Welch, editors, Makin’ Numbers: Howard Aiken and the Computer John Hendry, Innovating for Failure: Government Policy and the Early British Com- puter Industry Michael Lindgren, Glory and Failure: The Difference Engines of Johann Mu¨ller, Charles Babbage, and Georg and Edvard Scheutz David E. Lundstrom, A Few Good Men from Univac R. Moreau, The Computer Comes of Age: The People, the Hardware, and the Software Emerson W. Pugh, Building IBM: Shaping an Industry and Its Technology Emerson W. Pugh, Memories That Shaped an Industry Emerson W. Pugh, Lyle R. Johnson, and John H. Palmer, IBM’s 360 and Early 370 Systems Kent C. Redmond and Thomas M. Smith, From Whirlwind to MITRE: The R&D Story of the SAGE Air Defense Computer Alex Roland with Philip Shiman, Strategic Computing: DARPA and the Quest for Machine Intelligence, 1983–1993 Rau´l Rojas and Ulf Hashagen, editors, The First Computers—History and Architectures Dorothy Stein, Ada: A Life and a Legacy John Vardalas, The Computer Revolution in Canada: Building National Technologi- cal Competence, 1945–1980 Maurice V. Wilkes, Memoirs of a Computer Pioneer Strategic Computing DARPA and the Quest for Machine Intelligence, 1983–1993 Alex Roland with Philip Shiman The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England 2002 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved.
    [Show full text]
  • Timeline For
    Pre-W3C Web and Internet Background W3C • Mark Andreessen and colleagues leave NCSA to • Feb: Tim Berners-Lee form Mosaic Communications meets Michael Dertouzos • 1945: Vannevar Bush article Corp., which later became in Zurich to discuss in Atlantic Monthly describes Netscape. possibility of starting new organization at MIT. • Jan: ERCIM a photo-electrical-mechanical • Traditional dial-up systems device called a Memex, for • Apr: INRIA becomes replaces INRIA as (CompuServe, AOL, Prodigy) • Apr: Alan Kotok, then at W3C Host in Europe. • Jun: In response to W3C Host in Europe. memory extension, which begin to provide Internet DEC, visits CERN to discuss could make and follow links “Peabody meeting” W3C • Jul: W3C charters access. creation of Consortium. • Jun: W3C holds first forms Process ERB. • W3C Creates Technical Architecture • Feb: W3C adopts between documents on Royalty-Free Patent microfiche. • 1 Oct: W3C created. Workshop, on Content • Nov: W3C launches Advisory Board Group (TAG). Rating; leads to PICS. • Sep: Keio University Offices program. (AB). Policy. •1960: J.C.R. Licklider publishes 1994 becomes W3C Host in Asia. “Man-Computer Symbiosis.” • Dec: First Web server •1962: Douglas Englebart • May: Tim Berners-Lee outside of publishes “Augmenting Human publishes version 2 of Europe set up at Intellect: A Conceptual “Information Management: Stanford Framework.” A proposal.” University. •1965: Ted Nelson coins the •End 1990: 1994 1995 1996 1997 19981999 2000 20012002 2003 2004 term “Hypertext” in “A File Development begins for Structure for the Complex, the first browser (called 1992 Changing, and the • 1980: While “WorldWideWeb”), editor, Starting year of current W3C Activities Indeterminate.” 20th National consulting for CERN, server, and line-mode 1993 Conference, New York, Tim Berners-Lee browser.
    [Show full text]
  • Interview of Albert Vezza
    [3B2-9] man2012020008.3d 26/4/012 17:8 Page 2 Interviews Albert Vezza Editor: David Walden Albert Vezza is notable for his roles Siemens, not AT&T, modem. The dial-up network with J.C.R. Licklider, the Massa- didn’t support 1,200-baud full duplex, so I designed a chusetts Institute of Technology simple protocol and a little circuit that turned full du- (MIT) Laboratory for Computer plex into a half duplex, but we were not allowed to con- Science (originally Project MAC), nect ‘‘foreign equipment’’ to the dial-up network. An the ARPANET development, Info- AT&T line was leased along with time on ITT’s undersea com creation and management, cable to Europe’s dial-up network. However, ITT’s establishment of the World Wide onsite engineers in New York City refused to connect Web Consortium (W3C), and support of the Internet our leased line to the undersea cable. I phoned people Engineering Task Force (IETF).1 up the ITT chain of command, demanding connection, until I reached an executive vice president. The VP called MIT’s president, who suggested that ITT comply David Walden: When I first knew you, you were with my request. With our leased line connected, we working with J.C.R. Licklider in his Dynamic next had to convince operators at ITT and dial-up oper- Modeling Group at MIT. First off, how did you ators in London, Paris, and Berlin that a quiescent line come to MIT? was still in use so they wouldn’t disconnect the circuit. Albert Vezza: Upon graduation with a master’s degree Luckily, it all was working about three days before con- from Northeastern University’s Graduate School of ference started, and people around the institute knew Engineering, one of my job interviews was for a posi- of my efforts.
    [Show full text]