The Internet as we know it started out as a poorly supported idea by a British software programmer, Times Berners-Lee. In March 1989, he drafted a document entitled “Information Management: A Proposal.”

It was on this day, November 12th, in 1990 that the World Wide Web was formally proposed by Times Berners-Lee.

Berners-Lee’s initial proposal was met with little interest. His group leader, Mike Sendall, called it “vague, but exciting.” The next year, Berners-Lee handed in a formal proposal with engineer Robert Cailliau. This time, the project had a snappier name—the alliterative World Wide Web—and it was met with much more acclaim.