TIME

The World Wide Web

1989–1991

A black NeXT computer with a dark monitor and keyboard in a museum case, next to an open book, with a handwritten note on the machine reading This machine is a server, do not power it down.

Recorded HistoryThe World Wide Web

A web of linked documents.

In March 1989 Tim Berners-Lee of CERN proposed a system to link documents across the laboratory’s computers. By Christmas 1990 the first browser and web page were running.

He announced the project publicly on 6 August 1991. TIME marks 1989 to 1991 and gives no single launch day.

1989–1991, placed on the scale of its era on a line leading toward now.

Era
Recorded History
Period
1989–1991
Edition
1/1
Status
Not Released
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Background artwork

Cinematic background showing a glowing network around the Earth. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. It is symbolic.