2007 General Studies, all questions
UPSC Prelims 2007 · General Studies
Question 2: Science and Technology
Who among the following is considered as the inventor of the World Wide Web (WWW)?
aEdward Kasner
bBill Gates
cTim Berners-Lee
dVinod Bham
AnswerThe answer is (c).
Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist at CERN in Switzerland, proposed the World Wide Web in 1989 and built the first web browser and server around 1990. The Web, pages linked by hyperlinks and carried over HTTP, is not the same as the Internet, which is the underlying network. Remember: Berners-Lee for the Web; Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn for the TCP/IP protocols of the Internet.
Why each option is right or wrong
- (a) Edward Kasner was an American mathematician who popularised the term googol; he had nothing to do with the Web.
- (b) Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft, a software company, not the Web.
- (c) Correct: Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web at CERN.
- (d) Vinod Dham is known as the father of the Pentium chip, not the Web.
Explanation: written by UPSC Grade, not by UPSC.
Source: UPSC, Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2007, General Studies. UPSC's own paper isn't online; the words are from a published compilation. The paper on upsc.gov.in.