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CERN

Summary

CERN is the particle physics laboratory near Geneva, founded in 1954, where the World Wide Web was born. Tim Berners-Lee proposed the web there in March 1989, the first web server and website went online on his NeXT computer at the end of 1990, and on April 30, 1993, CERN put the web software in the public domain. In 2013 CERN restored the first website at its original address, info.cern.ch.

Web Building Encyclopedia · Organizations · Last reviewed October 22, 2026 · 7 min read

What CERN is

CERN is a particle physics laboratory that sits on the border between France and Switzerland near Geneva. It was founded in 1954 and gives researchers a range of particle accelerators to study what the universe is made of.1

The name comes from the French Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, or European Council for Nuclear Research. Twelve states signed its founding convention in June 1953.2

As of October 22, 2026, CERN lists 25 Member States and 11 Associate Member States,3 and it employs about 2,500 people.1 Among its key achievements it lists the discovery of the W and Z bosons and the Higgs boson, and the Large Hadron Collider.2

CERN also counts the World Wide Web among its achievements.2 The laboratory says the web was developed to meet demand for automated information sharing between scientists at universities and institutes around the world.4

The 1989 proposal

In March 1989 Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist at CERN, wrote the first proposal for what became the web.5 Titled Information Management: A Proposal, it circulated at CERN that month.6

The document described a problem at CERN. People and projects changed constantly, and what they knew was lost when they left. Berners-Lee suggested a distributed system of linked notes, a form of hypertext, so that information could be recorded and found again.7

He sent the paper to his boss, Mike Sendall, who wrote “Vague, but exciting” on the cover and let the work continue.8 Berners-Lee later described Sendall as his friend and supervisor at CERN.9

The proposal was recirculated in May 1990. In September 1990 Sendall approved the purchase of a NeXT cube computer and allowed Berners-Lee to use it to build a global hypertext system.69

On November 12, 1990, Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau put the idea forward as a formal management proposal, WorldWideWeb: Proposal for a HyperText Project.105

The first server and the first website (1990 to 1991)

In October 1990 Berners-Lee began writing a hypertext browser and editor on the NeXT computer and named it WorldWideWeb, a name that became the project’s name too. Cailliau joined the project that month.6

According to W3C’s timeline, the first web server, nxoc01.cern.ch (later renamed info.cern.ch), and the first web page went online in November 1990.6 CERN’s own history says only that the first server and browser were running by the end of 1990,5 and CERN’s 2019 browser project dates the WorldWideWeb application to December 1990.11

The server software ran on the NeXT computer, which CERN calls the world’s first web server.5 The machine is still at CERN.12

The first website was about the World Wide Web project itself.4 Its top page introduced the project as “a wide-area hypermedia information retrieval initiative” and linked to help pages, software, technical notes, a bibliography and instructions for getting the code.13

WorldWideWeb ran only on NeXT machines.5 To reach everyone else, Nicola Pellow, who joined in November 1990,6 wrote a line-mode browser during a student placement at CERN.5 It could show only text and was used entirely from the keyboard, with no mouse, but it was the first browser with a cross-platform codebase, so it ran on many kinds of computers.14

By Christmas 1990 both browsers could be demonstrated.6

From CERN to the world (1991 to 1994)

The software reached colleagues on CERN computers in March 1991.5 W3C’s timeline records general release on CERN’s central machines on May 17, 1991, and in August 1991 the files were put up for download and announced on several Usenet newsgroups.6

The web soon left Europe. On December 12, 1991, Paul Kunz installed the first web server outside Europe, at SLAC in California.6 CERN describes it as the first web server in the United States.5

The small team kept spreading the word. W3C’s timeline dates the start of the www-interest and www-talk mailing lists to October 1991, and in December 1991 the project was shown with a poster and demonstration at the Hypertext ’91 conference in San Antonio, Texas. Browsers from outside CERN followed in 1992, including Erwise, a graphical client from Finland, in April, and a test version of Pei Wei’s Viola in May.6

A copy of the project pages from November 3, 1992, lists 26 reasonably reliable servers, and there were about 50 known servers in January 1993.6 Early in 1993 NCSA at the University of Illinois released the first version of its Mosaic browser.5

Counts from late 1993 differ by source. CERN says there were more than 500 known web servers by the end of 1993, carrying 1% of internet traffic.5 W3C’s timeline gives over 200 known servers in October 1993, and puts web traffic at 1% of the National Science Foundation (NSF) backbone network in September 1993.6

CERN hosted the First International WWW Conference from May 25 to 27, 1994. CERN’s history gives 380 attendees,5 while W3C’s timeline records 800 applicants and 400 people admitted.6

That year Berners-Lee left CERN for MIT, where he founded the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), and CERN decided that further web development was beyond its primary mission.5 W3C was founded in October 1994 in collaboration with CERN.15

On December 16, 1994, the same day the CERN Council approved the Large Hadron Collider, CERN decided not to continue web development and transferred its WebCore project to INRIA, with the European Commission.6 By the end of 1994, CERN says, the web had 10,000 servers, 2,000 of them commercial, and 10 million users.5

The 1993 public-domain release

On April 30, 1993, CERN put the World Wide Web software in the public domain.4 The document that did it was signed by Walter Hoogland and Helmut Weber, then CERN’s Director of Research and Director of Administration.16

It said CERN gave up all intellectual property rights to the code and that anyone could use, copy, modify and redistribute it.16 W3C’s timeline summarizes it as a declaration that anyone could use the technology freely, with no fees payable to CERN.6

The release covered the software needed to run a web server, a basic browser and a library of code for developers.17 The timing mattered. Gopher was one of the other information retrieval systems available at the time.17 In February 1993 the University of Minnesota announced that it would begin charging licensing fees for Gopher, and W3C’s timeline records that many users then moved to the web.6

The public-domain status lasted one version. In 1994 CERN released the next version under an open-source license instead, keeping the copyright while still letting anyone use and modify it.16 CERN describes the open license as a surer way to spread the software widely.4

CERN links the decision to its values. Its 2023 anniversary article says the openness of the release is now part of the laboratory’s Open Science Policy, and Hoogland is quoted calling the release “the best thing we could have done.”16

Restoring the first website (2013 to today)

By 2013 the first web address no longer worked. On April 3, 2013, Dan Noyes of CERN’s communications group told a W3C history mailing list that CERN had set up a project to restore and preserve the first URL.18

CERN announced the project on April 30, 2013, the 20th anniversary of the public-domain release, with the goals of bringing back the first website and preserving the digital assets from the web’s birth.174

The original pages changed daily and few backups existed. The earliest copy the team found was a snapshot from November 1992,19 and Noyes said CERN would keep looking for earlier ones.20 A copy of the project pages as they stood on November 3, 1992, is also preserved on W3C’s site.21

On April 29, 2013, the project reported that the first URL, which had been redirecting to the top of info.cern.ch, was active once more, using a 1992 copy of the pages kept by W3C.22 A project note of May 27, 2013, records Jean-François Groff’s confirmation that the first IP address for info.cern.ch was 128.141.201.74.23 CERN’s IT department says the first website was put back at its original address in 2013.12

The restoration grew to cover the early browsers. CERN invited developers to a two-day event on September 19 and 20, 2013, to recreate the line-mode browser,24 and a team of about twelve developers, designers and writers spent two days rebuilding it as a simulator.2526

Anniversaries brought the founders back. On March 13, 2009, 20 years after the proposal, Berners-Lee returned to CERN to give the keynote at a celebration that also featured other web pioneers.8

In February 2019, for the 30th anniversary, a group of developers and designers met at CERN to rebuild the original WorldWideWeb browser so it can be tried in a modern browser. The US Mission in Geneva supported the work through the CERN & Society Foundation.11 CERN marked 30 years since the proposal with a Web@30 event on March 12, 2019, organized with the W3C and the World Wide Web Foundation.27

Today info.cern.ch serves as the home of the first website, with links to browse it directly or through the line-mode simulator.26 The project’s own site, first-website.web.cern.ch, carries a notice that it was archived on October 2, 2026, and no longer receives updates.28

Timeline

  1. CERN archives its first-website project site28
  2. Web@30 event at CERN marks 30 years since the proposal27
  3. Developers at CERN rebuild the WorldWideWeb browser for modern browsers11
  4. Two-day event at CERN starts recreating the line-mode browser24
  5. First URL active once more22
  6. CERN announces the project to restore the first website17
  7. CERN transfers its web work to INRIA6
  8. First International WWW Conference opens at CERN6
  9. CERN puts the World Wide Web software in the public domain4
  10. First web server outside Europe goes online at SLAC6
  11. Web software announced on Usenet newsgroups6
  12. Berners-Lee and Cailliau submit the formal WorldWideWeb proposal10
  13. First web server, nxoc01.cern.ch, and first web page go online6
  14. Mike Sendall approves the purchase of a NeXT computer6
  15. Tim Berners-Lee circulates his proposal "Information Management"6

What it means for your website

The story of the first website is mostly about addresses that last and files that get lost. Both lessons apply to a small business site.

  • Keep your URLs. CERN put the first website back at its original address,12 so the 1992 copy of its top page still loads at info.cern.ch.2013 In his 1998 note “Cool URIs don’t change,” Berners-Lee argued that broken links come from poor planning, and advised leaving file extensions and software names out of page addresses.29
  • Redirect when you must move. If a page’s address has to change, Google recommends a permanent server-side redirect (status 301 or 308), which tells it the new address should replace the old one in search results.30 Our guide to moving your website walks through it.
  • Keep your own copies. CERN’s team found few backups of the first site because it changed every day, and the earliest copy they found dated from 1992.19 Before any redesign, save your pages, images and form settings; our redesign checklist lists what to keep, and our glossary explains website backups.

See also

References

  1. Who we are. CERN. accessed October 22, 2026.
  2. Our history. CERN. accessed October 22, 2026.
  3. Member States. CERN. accessed October 22, 2026.
  4. The birth of the Web. CERN. accessed October 22, 2026.
  5. A short history of the Web. CERN. accessed October 22, 2026.
  6. A Little History of the World Wide Web (created by Robert Cailliau, maintained by Dan Connolly). W3C. accessed October 22, 2026.
  7. Information Management: A Proposal. Tim Berners-Lee, CERN (HTML copy hosted by W3C). 1989-03. accessed October 22, 2026.
  8. CERN celebrates 20th anniversary of World Wide Web (press release). CERN. 2009-03-13. accessed October 22, 2026.
  9. D.M. Sendall. Tim Berners-Lee, W3C. 1999-07. accessed October 22, 2026.
  10. WorldWideWeb: Proposal for a HyperText Project. Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau, CERN (copy hosted by W3C). 1990-11-12. accessed October 22, 2026.
  11. WorldWideWeb: rebuilding the original browser. CERN. 2019-02. accessed October 22, 2026.
  12. NeXT server (Computer Centre visit point display). CERN IT Department. accessed October 22, 2026.
  13. The World Wide Web project (restored copy of the first website). CERN. accessed October 22, 2026.
  14. Line Mode Browser 2013. CERN. 2013. accessed October 22, 2026.
  15. W3C history. World Wide Web Consortium. accessed October 22, 2026.
  16. 30 years of a free and open Web (Naomi Dinmore). CERN. 2023-04-30. accessed October 22, 2026.
  17. CERN celebrates 20 years of a free, open web (press release). CERN. 2013-04-30. accessed October 22, 2026.
  18. Restoring the first website (public-webhistory mailing list). Dan Noyes, CERN, archived by W3C. 2013-04-03. accessed October 22, 2026.
  19. CERN recreates first webpage to revive lost Web history. The Register. 2013-04-30. accessed October 22, 2026.
  20. 1st website ever restored to its 1992 glory. CBC News. 2013-04. accessed October 22, 2026.
  21. The World Wide Web project (WWW project pages as of November 3, 1992). CERN, preserved by W3C. 1992. accessed October 22, 2026.
  22. First URL active once more (Restoring the first website project blog, Dan Noyes). CERN. 2013-04-29. accessed October 22, 2026.
  23. Original IP address for info.cern.ch (Restoring the first website project note, Dan Noyes). CERN. 2013-05-27. accessed October 22, 2026.
  24. Recreating one of the web’s first browsers. CERN. 2013. accessed October 22, 2026.
  25. Making of LMB 2013. CERN. 2013. accessed October 22, 2026.
  26. info.cern.ch: home of the first website. CERN. accessed October 22, 2026.
  27. Web@30 event at CERN. CERN. 2019-03-12. accessed October 22, 2026.
  28. Restoring the first website (archived project site). CERN Web Team. accessed October 22, 2026.
  29. Cool URIs don’t change. Tim Berners-Lee, W3C. 1998. accessed October 22, 2026.
  30. Redirects and Google Search. Google Search Central. accessed October 22, 2026.

Web Building Encyclopedia. First published October 22, 2026. Last reviewed October 22, 2026. Every fact on this page is linked to a source we opened. Spotted an error? Write to [email protected].