technology

What is Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s net worth as the World Wide Web celebrates its 30th anniversary?


Sir Tim Berners-Lee is marking the 30th anniversary of the World Wide Web (Picture: Henry Thomas)

It’s hard to imagine a time before World Wide Web existed, since it’s become such an essential part of our lives.

But in fact it’s only 30 years since the Web was created, courtesy of engineer and computer scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

The anniversary is honoured in today’s Google Doodle, while various other celebrations are set to take place online during the day.

Berners-Lee, meanwhile, continues his work as the director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which oversees new developments on the Web – as well as being the founder of the World Wide Web Foundation.

He also earned himself a knighthood for his pioneering work in 2004 – and played a key role in the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony.

Yet despite inventing one of the most essential tools of modern life Tim’s not nearly as wealthy as others who’ve dabbled in technology.

What is Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s net worth?

The computer scientist gave the World Wide Web to us for free (Picture: Getty Images)

Berners-Lee is reported to have a net worth of round $50m (£37.7m) – which of course is a pretty hefty sum.

Unlike some inventors however he didn’t become a billionaire from his creation despite its impact on society – because he gave it to the world for free, with no patent and no royalties due.

Berners-Lee had been working as a scientist at CERN at the time he built the first Web browser in March 1989, based on a project he had proposed in 1980 around the concept of hypertext.

The idea of the project was to aid the sharing and updating of information among researchers – but of course it’s gone on to be something far bigger than that.

What has Tim Berners-Lee said about the Web?

Berners-Lee made a big contribution to the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics (Picture: PA)

Berners-Lee has shared his current thoughts about the Web in an open letter to mark the anniversary – in which he shares his hopes and concerns for the future.

‘While the web has created opportunity, given marginalised groups a voice, and made our daily lives easier, it has also created opportunity for scammers, given a voice to those who spread hatred, and made all kinds of crime easier to commit,’ he said in an open letter on Monday.

Against the backdrop of news stories about how the web is misused, it’s understandable that many people feel afraid and unsure if the web is really a force for good. But given how much the web has changed in the past 30 years, it would be defeatist and unimaginative to assume that the web as we know it can’t be changed for the better in the next 30.’





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