The World’s First Website Launched 30 Years Ago : NPR
The World’s First Website Launched 30 Years Ago The world’s first website, which contained information about the World Wide Web itself, was created by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee and published 30 years ago today.
History
This picture taken on April 30, 2013 in Geneva shows a 1992 copy of the world’s first web page.
Fabrice Coffrini /AFP via Getty Images
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Fabrice Coffrini /AFP via Getty Images
This picture taken on April 30, 2013 in Geneva shows a 1992 copy of the world’s first web page.
Fabrice Coffrini /AFP via Getty Images
On August 6, 1991, the first website was introduced to the world.
And while perhaps not as exciting or immersive as some of the nearly 1.9 billion websites that exist today, it makes sense that the first web page launched on the good ol’ W3 was, well, instructions about how to use it.
The first website contained information about the World Wide Web Project. It launched at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, where it was created by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee. On it, people could find out how to create web pages and learn about hypertext (coded words or phrases that link to content).
Berners-Lee created the web for the same reason a lot of us visit websites today: to make life just a little bit easier. For him, the problem to be solved rested in computers themselves: there was no way to share information between different devices.
And so in 1989, Berners-Lee proposed the idea for an information management system to his managers at CERN. The system would use hypertext to connect documents on separate computers connected to the Internet.
At first, the managers’ response was something along the lines of cool, but no thanks. But when Berners-Lee returned with a new-and-improved proposal a year later, the computer scientist was granted permission to work on the project. By 1991, it was ready to launch. Berners-Lee had developed HTML, HTTP and URLs — the building blocks for creating websites — all on his NeXT computer designed by Steve Jobs.
And so, with the creation of a single web page, the World Wide Web was born. And it’s grown quite a bit since then. There were 10 websites by 1992, 3,000 websites by 1994 (after the W3 became public domain), and 2 million by the time the search engine Google made its debut in 1996.
It’s worth mentioning that the first website was also lost. Excited by progress and unable at the time to fathom the true scope of the web’s abilities, computer scientists didn’t archive many of the very first websites.
A project to restore the world’s first web page was launched in 2013 by CERN.
But not to worry: It’s back now, even at its original URL, for you to explore.
Josie Fischels is an intern on NPR’s News Desk.
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This Is What the First-Ever Website Looked Like
FLASHBACK: This Is What the First-Ever Website Looked Like
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Tim Berners-Lee created the first web browser and World Wide Web.
<a href=»http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tim_Berners-Lee_April_2009.jpg»>Wikipedia</a>
There are millions of web pages now, but none of them existed 20 years ago.
The first web page went live on August 6, 1991. It was dedicated to information on the World Wide Web project and was made by Tim Berners-Lee. It ran on a NeXT computer at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN.
The first web page address was http://info.
cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html.
It outlined how to create Web pages and explained more about hypertext.
Here’s what it looked like in 1992 (below). No screenshots were taken of the site before then.
For more information on the early Internet and how it all works, check out What The Heck Is The Internet >>
There are no screenshots of the original page, but this is the closest copy, taken in 1992.
info.cern.ch
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On August 6, 1991, the Soviet «strategist» fired all 16 ballistic missiles for the first time in the world.
As a rule, each submarine carries 16 ballistic missiles. The Americans call the Soviet strategic missile submarines «city killers».
This is because the main targets of American missiles are the positions of Russian missiles and strategic defense facilities, and the main targets of Soviet and later Russian missiles are large US cities. From time to time, to check the readiness of missiles and train crews, «strategists» launch ballistic missiles at their ranges. They shoot one, less often two missiles. In this article, we will talk about a unique case, the only one in history, when, at the end of the existence of the Soviet Union, the «strategist» of the Northern Fleet launched all 16 ballistic missiles at once. queue. Neither before nor after, no country in the world repeated such shooting.
Cold War Submarine Strategy
Initially, ballistic missiles were installed on converted serial diesel-electric torpedo submarines, then on specially designed diesel-electric submarines.
The next step was nuclear submarines. The first generation of ballistic missiles had a very short range — only a few hundred kilometers. Therefore, the submariners on the first missile carriers had to approach the American continent literally within a “pistol shot”. In addition, the first nuclear submarines were very noisy. American submariners called the first generation of Soviet nuclear-powered ships «roaring cows.» All this did not make it possible to fulfill the combat mission with a guarantee — the boat had to break through the anti-submarine lines, which, given its noise, was difficult.
Everything changed with the advent of nuclear missile carriers of the Project 667 family — 667A, 667B, 667BD, 667BDR, 667BDRM. Project 667A boats had ballistic missiles, new at that time, which made it possible to launch missiles not from a «pistol shot» distance, but in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. They first solved the problem of noise. According to this parameter, our boats are equal to the American submarines.
Starting with these projects, 16 ballistic missiles were installed on boats, which dramatically increased the power of a volley.
The US Navy adequately responded to the increased capabilities of the Soviet fleet. The potential of basic anti-submarine aviation has increased, the number of boats — «hunters» and anti-submarine surface ships has increased. And finally, the SOSUS system was fully deployed. For the operation of this system of global listening of the World Ocean, see the paper version of the newspaper «Version» article «Quiet War. SOSUS and Quiet War. «Harmony»».
The skills of salvo rocket launches became topical for Soviet submariners. With single launches, the probability of disclosing the position of an underwater missile carrier with its possible destruction sharply increased.
First experience
For the Soviet fleet, the timing of missile launches became critical. The North Atlantic is a water area dominated by the fleets of NATO countries.
The capabilities of salvo launches began to be included in the projects of submarine missile carriers and worked out in exercises.
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The first was the K-140 project 667A nuclear submarine, commanded by Captain 2nd Rank Yuri Beketov . The boat completed two four-rocket volleys.
This teaching revealed that there were problems. The fact is that for swimming in a submerged position, the boat takes a certain amount of outboard water as ballast. The boat was supposed to fire four rockets from the mines of one side, and immediately four rockets from the mines of the other side at such intervals as to make an eight-rocket salvo.
But after the launch of the first four missiles, the boat left the starting depth and began to spontaneously emerge. To launch the second four (that is, reaching the depth of the underwater launch of missiles), it was necessary to take additional water and increase the speed of the underwater course. Therefore, the goal of the exercise was partially achieved — instead of an eight-rocket salvo, two four-rocket salvos were obtained. By the way, the Americans never fired more than four missiles in a salvo. But the fact was that the «cold» war was gaining momentum, and our submariners could not count on the luxury of four four-missile volleys.
There was another problem. The fact is that when preparing for the launch of a ballistic missile, the boat makes specific sounds that are easily identified by anti-submarine forces. Even if they “didn’t hear” the boat, they will definitely hear it during preparation for launch. And the sound of the launch of the first rocket is heard at a great distance.
If our «strategist» is accompanied by an American «hunter», then upon receipt of such acoustic information, he strikes immediately. Rumor has it that US submarine commanders have orders to destroy Soviet/Russian «strategists» if our boats in neutral waters begin to prepare for launch without advance notification of firing practice.
Therefore, it was necessary to shoot quickly, and always in one gulp. For the first time, this technological problem was solved on nuclear submarine missile carriers of projects 941 and 667 BDRM.
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Delta_IV_class_SSBN.svg
First Behemoth
The first time Operation Behemoth failed. December 5, 1989 SSBN K-84 — later K-84 «Yekaterinburg» project 667BDRM entered the Northern Fleet training ground in the Barents Sea. Then an emergency happened. A few minutes before the launch, even with the covers of the mines closed, one of the rockets caught fire. The launch was canceled and the boat needed repairs.
After the repair, another attempt was made — and again failure. Its main reason was that when all the missiles were fired, the mass of the boat itself and its trim changed dramatically. The systems of the nuclear-powered ship simply did not have time to restore the initial launch parameters during the intervals between missile launches. It turned out that it was possible to shoot all the missiles, but at the same time the missiles did not hit the target. The fact is that launched rockets, if the launch conditions were not met, cannot find the celestial bodies necessary for orientation, that is, carry out astrocorrection. And without it, hitting a target at a distance of more than 8,000 km is impossible. The problem was solved for two years. This was a very difficult job.
The second «Behemoth»
The conditions for the new shooting have been slightly adjusted. The fact is that firing live missiles is a very expensive pleasure, and the simultaneous launch of 16 missiles is a fantastic amount.
For the Soviet Union in 1991, this was unbearable. So we decided to do so. Of the 16 missiles, only two were combat R-29RM, which went to the Kura training ground in Kamchatka, and 14 were the so-called junk weight models. After all, the essence of the test was not in a volley of 16 missiles, but in the fact that the boat was at the same depth all the time of the volley, and after leaving the water, the missiles could carry out astro-correction. To this it must be added that shooting is carried out not only at a certain depth. The boat must move at a certain, low speed. For large nuclear-powered ships, this was a difficult maneuver, since at low speed the boat with an underwater displacement of 18,200 tons was poorly controlled.
The newest at that time submarine K-407 «Novomoskovsk» of project 667BDRM was supposed to shoot. Boat commander captain 2nd rank Sergei Yegorov. On August 6, 1991, K-407 for the first time in the world launched all 16 missiles that were on a submarine.
The missiles came out one after another, with an interval of 8 seconds. The huge nuclear-powered ship shuddered from each launched rocket, but the control systems kept it at the right depth. In the event of a real war, all 16 missiles would hit, as the rocket scientists say, «on the peg.» It was a victory, the last victory of the Soviet Union in a quiet war. The captain of the 1st rank shoulder straps were handed to the boat commander Sergei Yegorov under water, immediately after the launch. He was introduced to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but a week later the State Emergency Committee took place. The Soviet Union ceased to exist, Soviet orders were abolished …
It must be understood that the cost of a ballistic missile is high. Thus, the Trident II is comparable in cost to the latest generation fighter. Therefore, the Americans, even with their fantastic military budget, conducted only one four-missile salvo from the Ohio missile carrier «Ohio» SSGN-726 with Trident II missiles
Behemoth lessons
«Dolphins» — such a code is used by nuclear submarine missile carriers of project 667BDRM — can carry out such complex shooting without lengthy special training.
This experience is still relevant today, since the new project 9 missile carriers55 and 955A Borey ciphers have so far fired only four-rocket volleys of Bulava missiles. You can be sure that the algorithm of their combat training also includes a 16-missile salvo.
Operation «Behemoth-2» was called by military sailors a dress rehearsal for the apocalypse. The total power of all charges of 16 ballistic missiles R-29RM «Sineva» was equal to the total power of all ammunition used by all countries in World War II. Fortunately, these were only exercises.
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Exactly twenty years have passed since the launch of the world’s first website, Info.
cern.ch, created by the «father» of the Internet, Tim Berners-Lee.
Saturday, August 6, marks the 20th anniversary of the world’s first website and World Wide Web (WWW) technology, invented by Tim Burners-Lee (Tim Burners-Lee).
On August 6, 1991, the creator of the Internet launched the first website at Info.cern.ch and published a description of the new World Wide Web (WWW) technology based on the HTTP data transfer protocol, the URL addressing system, and the HTML hypertext markup language.
The site also described the principles of installation and operation of web servers and web browsers. Info.cern.ch also became the world’s first Internet directory, since Tim Berners-Lee later posted a list of links to other resources on it.
The world’s first web page is now available to the public for viewing in a special Web museum founded by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), also founded by Tim Berners-Lee.
You can see her here.
The creator of the Internet believed that hypertext could serve as the basis for data exchange networks, and he managed to put his idea into practice. Back in 1980, Tim Berners-Lee created the hypertext software Enquire, which uses random associations to store data. Then, while working at the European Center for Nuclear Research in Geneva (CERN), he invited his colleagues to publish hypertext documents linked by hyperlinks.
On August 6, 1991, the creator of the Internet, Tim Berners-Lee, launched the first website at Info.cern.ch and published a description of the new technology World Wide Web 9 on it.0008
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Berners-Lee demonstrated the possibility of hypertext access to internal search engine and documents, as well as Internet news resources.
As a result, in May 1991, the WWW standard was approved by CERN.
Berners-Lee prepared all the tools necessary for the operation of the first site even earlier — at the end of 1990, the first WorldWideWeb hypertext web browser with web editor functionality, the first NeXTcube-based web server and the first web pages appeared.
Today, the «father» of the World Wide Web is still actively involved in its work. So, he is the founder of several non-profit organizations (World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Science Trust and World Wide Web Foundation), which aim to help develop innovation on the Internet.
In particular, the goal of the World Wide Web Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in late 2009, is to work to overcome the «digital divide» in Internet use and to explore the Web. Now only about 25% of the world’s population uses the Web, while more than 70% of the world’s inhabitants have access to mobile or fixed communication devices capable of displaying web content.
