The History of Web Servers

Physicists played a major role in the development of web servers.

Tim Berners-Lee, a Swiss physicist with CERN laboratories, developed the very first web server in December 1990. This was not the worldwide web that it is today. It only served between buildings and only with a black cube programmed with Unix produced by Steve Jobs.

Function

A web server allows for the unlimited transfer of information between computers. Web servers allow all people with computers to download, get books and music and connect with others around the world.

Time Frame

In 1991, Paul Kuntz from Stanford University visited Berners-Lee in Switzerland and became interested in making information retrieval possible between computers across the globe.

Types

Servers for scientific and academic settings, such as CERN, existed in 1991. Marc Andreessen developed a web server, Mosaic, for the masses that was a graphic user interface instead of a text-base model as previously used until October 1993.

Potential

Many web servers today enable people to buy goods and services; download books, movies and music; and perform video calling through other technology, such as MagicJack and other phone-type networks.

References

• Computerworld: The Story So Far---History of Websites