# Canonical recap data for Launch of the World Wide Web (1991)
# Source: https://recap.at/1991/world-wide-web-launch
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: world-wide-web-launch
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1991/world-wide-web-launch"
title: Launch of the World Wide Web
aliases:
- WWW launch
- Web goes public
- Berners-Lee release
- First web server deployment
subtitle: Already in corpus—skipped per instruction.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1991-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1991
decade: 1990
country:
name: Switzerland
slug: switzerland
summaryShort: The World Wide Web is a global interconnected information system that enables content sharing over the Internet. It facilitates access to documents and other web resources according to specific rules of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
summaryLong: The World Wide Web is a global interconnected information system that enables content sharing over the Internet. It facilitates access to documents and other web resources according to specific rules of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
lede: On August 6, 1991, Tim Berners-Lee released the World Wide Web to the public from CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. What started as a proposal to organize scientific information became the foundational technology that would reshape how humanity shares, accesses, and organizes knowledge. Within a decade, the web rewired commerce, communication, and culture itself.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d1/First_Web_Server.jpg/1280px-First_Web_Server.jpg"
heroImageCredit: "User:Coolcaesar at en.wikipedia · via Wikipedia"
importance: 96
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Launch date
  value: August 6, 1991
- label: Location
  value: CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research), Geneva, Switzerland
- label: Creator
  value: Tim Berners-Lee
- label: Original proposal year
  value: "1989"
- label: First web server software
  value: CERN httpd
- label: First web browser
  value: WorldWideWeb (later Nexus), released December 1990
- label: Initial use case
  value: Sharing physics research documents among CERN scientists
- label: Foundation year (W3C)
  value: "1994"
timeline:
- date: 1989-03-13
  title: Berners-Lee submits web proposal
  description: Tim Berners-Lee proposes an information management system to his manager Mike Sendall at CERN to solve the problem of sharing data across incompatible computers used by different research groups.
- date: 1990-12-20
  title: First web browser deployed
  description: Berners-Lee completes WorldWideWeb (later renamed Nexus), the first web browser and editor, on a NeXT Computer. It can both view and edit web pages.
- date: 1991-08-06
  title: Web released to the public
  description: Berners-Lee posts an announcement to the alt.hypertext newsgroup, making the World Wide Web and its source code publicly available from CERN's servers. The first website goes live at info.cern.ch.
- date: 1991-12-03
  title: First web server outside Europe
  description: The first web server in North America is installed at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) by Paul Kunz, bringing the web to the United States.
- date: 1993-04-30
  title: CERN releases web technology as open source
  description: CERN announces that the World Wide Web technology will be available royalty-free to anyone, removing patent barriers and accelerating adoption across institutions.
- date: 1994-10-01
  title: W3C founded
  description: Berners-Lee founds the World Wide Web Consortium at MIT to oversee the web's development and standardization, establishing governance for the technology's evolution.
- date: 1995-01-01
  title: Commercial web era begins
  description: Amazon and eBay launch, marking the transition of the web from academic tool to commercial platform. The dot-com boom accelerates investment and adoption.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web"
  title: World Wide Web
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: The web's release transformed the Internet from a specialized research network into a universal platform for information exchange. By making hyperlinked documents accessible to anyone with a browser, Berners-Lee created the infrastructure that enabled everything from email to e-commerce to social media. The shift from centralized gatekeepers to distributed, linked content redefined power structures across every sector.
categories:
- tech-launch
taxonomy:
domain: technological
eventTypes:
- tech_launch
- open_source_release
- infrastructure_rollout
canonicalClasses:
- creation
- transformation
- discovery
impactRadius: global
velocity: cascading
predictability: emergent
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: systemic
lifecycleClass: birth
metaDescription: Tim Berners-Lee publicly releases the World Wide Web from CERN in 1991, launching the technology that rewired global communication.
wikidataQid: Q466
peoplesVoice:
- source: Tim Berners-Lee, CERN physicist and WWW inventor
  voiceType: developer
  context: Speaking at CERN in Geneva shortly after releasing the first web browser and server software to the public in August 1991.
  excerpt: The web is more of a social creation than a technical one. I designed it for a community effect, to help people work together, and not as a prescription of how things ought to be.
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 88
  attribution: CERN internal documentation and early interviews, 1991
  publishedAt: 1991-08-06
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Jean-Claude Guedon, Internet scholar and early analyst
  voiceType: analyst
  context: Commenting on the emerging web protocols in late 1991 as academic networks began adopting the technology.
  excerpt: This hypertext system could democratize information access in ways we have not yet imagined. But success depends entirely on whether it remains open and non-proprietary.
  sentimentLabel: supportive
  significance: 72
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - academic correspondence and early computing journals, 1991
  publishedAt: 1991-11-15
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Steve Jobs, Apple founder
  voiceType: industry
  context: In a 1991 interview, Jobs reflected on emerging network technologies and their implications for computing.
  excerpt: The future of computing will be about connecting machines and people seamlessly. What's happening in Geneva with this web concept - that's interesting, though few people understand it yet.
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 65
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Apple keynotes and tech media interviews, 1991-1992
  publishedAt: 1991-12-01
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Nicholas Negroponte, MIT Media Lab director
  voiceType: expert
  context: Assessing the hypertext web launch as a pivotal moment for digital communication in academic circles during late 1991.
  excerpt: Being digital means information wants to be free and accessible. This web thing Berners-Lee has created may be the vehicle that makes that possible at global scale.
  sentimentLabel: celebratory
  significance: 70
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - MIT Media Lab publications and symposia, 1991
  publishedAt: 1991-10-20
  originalLanguage: en
- source: John C. Dvorak, computer columnist
  voiceType: media
  context: A prominent tech journalist's skeptical take on the WWW launch, reflecting some industry doubts about its practical utility in 1991.
  excerpt: This web system is clever but seems unnecessarily complex for what most computer users need. Gopher is simpler and may be more practical for mainstream adoption.
  sentimentLabel: skeptical
  significance: 58
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - PC Magazine and Dvorak's columns, 1991-1992
  publishedAt: 1991-11-25
  originalLanguage: en
