Happy 20th Birthday, World Wide Web!

“Here you are, just a gleam in Dad’s eye.”

On Aug. 6, 1991, a scientist at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) named Tim Berners-Lee unveiled a project for organizing information that he called the World Wide Web. Of the many individual projects that went into creating the Internet as we know it, this was one of the most significant steps toward bringing the Internet to the general public. In honor of the World Wide Web’s 20^th birthday party, we’ve dug up some embarrassing baby photos for the occasion.

In 1989, Berners-Lee submitted a proposal for a linked system of information to keep track of all the documents at the laboratory. He called it “Mesh” at the time, but later went with “World Wide Web.” He boss responded that the idea was “vague but exciting.”
Courtesy of CERN.
“Your first baby photo. Such a serious child already!”

This “line-mode browser” allowed people at CERN who didn’t have sophisticated machines to access the information in Berners-Lee’s World Wide Web.

CREDIT: Courtesy of CERN.
“Remember that old heap where we lived? That was a state-of-the-art home back then.”

This computer—which was designed by a company called NeXT headed by Steve Jobs—functioned as the Web’s first server. As the note on the computer unit warns, if it was turned off then the entire system would become unavailable.

CREDIT: Courtesy of CERN.
“Already embarrassed to be seen with Dad.”

The earliest Web browsers, pictured here with Berners-Lee, had a graphical interface like a modern browser’s.
Courtesy of CERN.
“We’ll never forget the day we caught you hosting your first photo.”

This photo of Les Horribles Cernettes, a mock band formed by CERN employees, was the first photo to be uploaded to the World Wide Web.
Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
“Everyone adored you when you were a kid.”

Berners-Lee showed off his creation to attendees at the Hypertext 1991 conference in San Antonio, Tex.

CREDIT: Courtesy of CERN.
“We were so proud when you got to meet the president. And don’t worry, the vice president was just joking when he said he’s your real dad.”

Both Bill Clinton and Al Gore took part in NetDay ’96, an organizational effort to get California schools wired for the Internet. Three years later, in 1999, Al Gore misspoke during an interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN and claimed responsibility for the Internet.
Photograph by Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images.
“As you grew up and got so big, you got harder and harder to talk to.”

NCSA Mosaic 1.0, released in 1993, was one of the first popular Web browsers. According to Wired, Mosaic introduced the ability to display pictures and text on a single page. Previously pictures could be opened only in a separate window.
Screen grab via CREDIT: http://web.archive.org.
“We always thought Justin was a bad influence.”

Proto-blogger Justin Hall launched his website, links.net, while he was a student at Swarthmore College in 1994. It was part angsty, teenage online diary, and part guide to the early Web.
Screen grab via CREDIT: http://web.archive.org.
“We’ll never forget waking up at 3 a.m. to the pizza delivery guy’s car.”

Domino’s was one of the first pizza companies to introduce online ordering. In the 1995 movie, The Net, Sandra Bullock may have been the first actor to order a pizza online, on screen.
Screen grab via CREDIT: http://web.archive.org.
“Still, you always had a way as a matchmaker.”

AOL as we know it was launched in 1989. It quickly attracted millions of users with its mix of community-oriented gaming and chatting, geared toward the technically unsavvy user.
Screen grab via CREDIT: http://web.archive.org.
“We were so pleased when you started to take an interest in the world. Even though you eventually turned on newspapers and ran them out of business.”

The New York Times website was launched in 1995.
Screen grab via CREDIT: http://web.archive.org.