A British physicist at CERN, Berners-Lee proposed a hypertext system for sharing scientific information in 1989 and implemented it as the World Wide Web in 1991. His decision not to patent the technology — giving it freely to the world — was one of the most consequential acts of generosity in technological history. He later founded the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and has been an outspoken advocate for an open, decentralised web.
- Nationality: GB
- Roles: inventor, scientist
