Monday, January 25, 2010
NO EUREKA?!
Believe it or not, there was no Eureka, no moment or revelation, and not a flicker of the light bulb. Tim Berners-Lee, the genius, the father of the WWW, took many years to process the idea of linking information together. He had to challenge his ideas and probably experience a series of trial and error before getting what he wanted. Berners-Lee, who was born into a family of mathematicians, followed his parents' footsteps. His inspiration of the WWW came from an old Victorian book of "how to do..." He knew it would become a challenge because the computer hierarchies then were designed for logical organization and processing and had no advanced application that could link things together (he was yet to develop the random association of information into what we call WWW). In the end, he finally archived his goal and created the wonderful system in which we now call the internet. Although he became famous because of this discovery, he kept a low profile and tried to stay away from the mass media. (I really admire this side of him!)
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Wow! I really liked your writing; you gave interesting and real details that allows readers to actually quickly understand how Tim Berners-Lee came up with the www without even needing to read the actual chapter. Besides that, I too admire him for not wanting to be in the media; most people would want to be known, especially if they did what Tim Berners-Lee did.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that there was no "Eureka", light bulb above the head moment that so many people associate with impactful innovations. I too admire him for keeping a low profile and not getting a huge ego. I think his almost anti-famous behavior shows that he is a genuine person and created the web out of good intentions, not to just become famous.
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