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Web inventor wins major new technology prize

The inventor of the worldwide web, Tim Berners-Lee of Britain, was awarded the first Millennium Technology Prize worth one million euro ($A1.63 million), the jury said.

"The web has significantly enhanced many people's ability to obtain information central to their lives," Pekka Tarjanne, former secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union and chairman of the award selection committee, said in a statement.

"The web is encouraging new types of social networks, supporting transparency and democracy, and opening up novel avenues for information management and business development," Tarjanne said.

Berners-Lee, 48, was born in Britain and is currently director of the World Wide Web Consortium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston.

With a background in system design in real-time communications and text-processing software development, he invented the web while working at CERN, world's largest particle physics laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland.

The web was first made available to the public in 1991.

Berners-Lee created the first server, browser, and protocols central to the operation of the web: the URL address, HTTP transmission protocol and HTML code. In 2003, he was named a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his pioneering work.

Finland created the Millennium Technology Prize to recognise international achievements in technology, honouring "outstanding technological achievement specifically directed to the advancement of society and its ability to sustain people's quality of life".

Funded by eight public and private Finnish organisations, the prize will be awarded every second year.

Posted by thinkum at April 15, 2004 04:41 PM