He is a brilliant scientist who is called the “father of the Internet”. He himself modestly speaks of himself as the “inventor of the World Wide Web”. He has been interested in science and technology since childhood: his parents were mathematicians, and he grew up in an environment where research and a love for experimentation prevailed.
He came up with the idea of the Internet in 1989 when he realized that scientists needed a convenient system for sharing information. He did not patent his designs. Thanks to this, the Internet has spread rapidly around the world.
Meet Tim Berners-Lee, the developer of a system that connected information around the world, making it accessible to everyone.
In this article, we share an interview with the famous “inventor of the World Wide Web”.
In addition to your parents' activities, what else influenced your career choice?
Since childhood, I've been crafting a lot and coming up with a new life for old discarded items. Yes, I've tried to use them in new ways. For example, I turned empty plastic bottles into liquid funnels, etc. I was also very inspired by my school teachers.
You first studied math in college. What made you later move to the physics department?
I loved math and studying was easy for me. But when I got home, I was studying electronics. This hobby seemed to me more practical and closer to life. Then I thought about starting to study physics, something between theoretical mathematics and applied electronics. When I applied to and enrolled in the physics department at Oxford, I realized that I was wrong. Physics was a completely different subject, but I think I made the right choice.
And that's where you built your first computer?
Yes. I took an old TV and turned it into a display. Then he assembled the keyboard, drawing letters and symbols on it with paint. It was a very painstaking job. Then, around the end of my time at Oxford, I got a microprocessor and finished working on my own computer system.
Could you please tell us what your original vision of the Internet was?
The idea was that this was not just a file repository, but also a kind of gaming space where you could track all the events related to them. I wanted to be able to record the stages of project development, the processes associated with them, meetings, discussions, etc. So that, for example, if a trainee student comes to the company for the summer, he could quickly get used to and understand any task. So I expected the Internet to be a resource for everyone.
During the implementation of your idea, did you encounter any surprises that you did not expect?
Honestly, there were a lot of surprises. I was amazed and thrilled when I first saw a web server with beautiful pictures. You just click on a faceless link and see beauty — it was unexpected. I didn't think people would fill the Internet so creatively.
Did you expect your project to turn you into a public figure? How did you feel when you became famous?
The project was developing very slowly and I didn't feel any sudden fame. This helped me build resistance. To be honest, I had no time to think about my fame — my wife and I were about to have a child. It was important for me to raise him properly.
You have a whole list of awards, prizes, honorary degrees... How did you react to the confession?
I needed protection. The more famous my project became, the more often I was asked to talk about it publicly. That's when I realized I had to learn to say no. At first I felt uncomfortable, but then I realized that people react calmly to a refusal. No one was particularly affected, and there was always someone else to interview.
I liked the approach of a certain Rennie Fritchie from the UK. At the beginning of each year, she decides how many days she wants to spend alone and how many days she wants to spend with friends, how many days to devote to work and how many to creativity, etc. For each category, she would choose balloons of a certain color and put them in a large glass jar. Then, if someone called her and asked her to come and talk to Vietnamese refugees, she said she was sorry, but she ran out of green balloons. This is a very good technique to balance your life.
I measured every trip in unread bedtime stories, so I simply refused many honorary degrees.
Do you have a list of projects that you would like to implement in the future?
Oh yeah! A whole bunch of “someday...” The world is constantly changing, and there are more and more interesting things and ideas that you want to have time to try and implement.
The interview materials are available here: https://infinite.mit.edu/video/timothy-j-berners-lee
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