Month: August 2019

Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee (1955-) is responsible for helping to usher in the digital age with his revolutionary invention of the World Wide Web. Born in London to parents who themselves were computer scientists, Berners-Lee graduated in physics at the University of Oxford in 1976. Whilst there, he constructed his first computer using an old television set.

He then went into the computing industry, including a stint at CERN in Switzerland. By the time he returned there in 1984 with a Fellowship, it was clear to him that a program was needed to facilitate easier communication and sharing of documents among the thousands of CERN employees, associates and partner organisations. He proposed a global hypertext system in 1989 and devised the ‘WorldWideWeb’ program the following year.

The TCP/IP protocol had already been developed in the USA, but Berners-Lee came up with the first server (with a handwritten warning note adjacent to the switch!) the first browser and editor, http, html and much of the web jargon. He made the world’s first website, at info.cern.ch. Knighted in 2004, he has received many distinguished awards. He is now involved in institutes which “advance the open web as a public good and a basic right“.

(Image: Athanasios Kasampalis at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The first car designed and made by Sir Henry Royce (1863-1933) was a 2-cylinder 10HP model in 1904, closely followed by the 3-cylinder 15HP, the 4-cylinder 20HP,  the 6-cylinder 30HP and the powerful V-8. The sports version successfully raced in the Isle of Man in 1905-6. Royce’s mechanical expertise, his very high standards and his keenness to learn from each new distance and time trial, meant that innovative additions were made quickly and effectively to successive models.

On teaming up with Charles Rolls (1877-1910), the company of Rolls-Royce was born and proceeded to give us the most prestigious, reliable and elegant cars in the world. For example, from 1950 to 1956, just eighteen Rolls-Royce Phantoms were produced and almost all were sold to heads of state, including Queen Elizabeth II. Their smoothness and quiet ride made them ideal for parading.

Rolls-Royce represents the pinnacle of motor manufacturing, with models such as the Silver Ghost (dubbed ‘the best car in the world’ in the 1910s/20s), the Phantom, the Silver Shadow and the Corniche still revered and treasured by enthusiasts. In 1998 Rolls-Royce came under German ownership, but it is still being produced in the UK at Goodwood in the south of England.

(Image: Jack Snell at Flickr.com / CC BY-ND 2.0)