Robert Cailliau
Encyclopedia
Informatics (academic field)
Informatics is the science of information, the practice of information processing, and the engineering of information systems. Informatics studies the structure, algorithms, behavior, and interactions of natural and artificial systems that store, process, access and communicate information...
and computer scientist
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
who, together with Sir Tim Berners-Lee
Tim Berners-Lee
Sir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee, , also known as "TimBL", is a British computer scientist, MIT professor and the inventor of the World Wide Web...
, developed
Software developer
A software developer is a person concerned with facets of the software development process. Their work includes researching, designing, developing, and testing software. A software developer may take part in design, computer programming, or software project management...
the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
.
Biography
Cailliau was born in Tongeren, BelgiumBelgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. In 1958 he moved with his parents to Antwerp. After secondary school he graduated from Ghent University
Ghent University
Ghent University is a Dutch-speaking public university located in Ghent, Belgium. It is one of the larger Flemish universities, consisting of 32,000 students and 7,100 staff members. The current rector is Paul Van Cauwenberge.It was established in 1817 by King William I of the Netherlands...
in 1969 as civil engineer in electrical and mechanical engineering . He also has an MSc
MSC
- Computers:* Mario Strikers Charged* Microsoft Common Console Document, file for the Microsoft Management Console* Microelectronics Support Centre* Microsoft Corporation* MIDI Show Control* Message Sequence Chart...
from the of University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
in Computer, Information and Control Engineering, 1971.
During his military service in the Belgian Army he maintained Fortran
Fortran
Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing...
programs to simulate troop movements.
In December 1974 he started working at CERN
CERN
The European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , is an international organization whose purpose is to operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory, which is situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border...
as a Fellow in the Proton Synchrotron (PS) division, working on the control system of the accelerator. In April 1987 he left the PS division to become group leader of Office Computing Systems in the Data Handling division. In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee
Tim Berners-Lee
Sir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee, , also known as "TimBL", is a British computer scientist, MIT professor and the inventor of the World Wide Web...
proposed a hypertext
Hypertext
Hypertext is text displayed on a computer or other electronic device with references to other text that the reader can immediately access, usually by a mouse click or keypress sequence. Apart from running text, hypertext may contain tables, images and other presentational devices. Hypertext is the...
system for access to the many forms of documentation at and related to CERN. Berners-Lee created the system, calling it World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
, between September to December 1990. During this time, Cailliau and he co-authored a proposal for funding for the project. Cailliau later became a key proponent of the project and developed with Nicola Pellow
Nicola Pellow
Nicola Pellow was a member of the WWW Project at CERN, working with Tim Berners-Lee. She joined the project in November 1990, while an undergraduate maths student at Leicester Polytechnic ....
the first web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
for the Mac OS
Mac OS
Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
called MacWWW
MacWWW
MacWWW, also known as Samba, is an early minimalist web browser from 1992 meant to run on Macintosh computers. It was the first web browser for the Mac OS platform, and the first for any non-Unix operating system. MacWWW tries to emulate the design of WorldWideWeb. Unlike modern browsers it opens...
.
In 1993, in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft Cailliau started the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
's first web-based project for information dissemination in Europe (WISE). As a result of his work with CERN's Legal Service, CERN released the web technology into the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
on 30 April 1993.
In December 1993 Cailliau called for the first International WWW Conference
World Wide Web Conference 1
The first World Wide Web Conference which was organized by Robert Cailliau was held at Geneva, Switzerland from May 25 to May 27 in 1994 and was hosted by CERN....
which was held at CERN in May 1994. The oversubscribed conference brought together 380 web pioneers and was a milestone in the development of the web. The conference led to the forming of the International World Wide Web Conferences Steering Committee
The International World Wide Web Conferences Steering Committee
The International World Wide Web Conferences Steering Committee is a professional non-profit organization registered in Switzerland which promotes Web research and development...
which has organized an annual conference since then. Cailliau was a member of the Committee from 1994 until 2002.
In 1994 Cailliau started the "Web for Schools" project with the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
, introducing the web as a resource for education. After helping to transfer the web development from CERN to the World Wide Web Consortium
World Wide Web Consortium
The World Wide Web Consortium is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web .Founded and headed by Tim Berners-Lee, the consortium is made up of member organizations which maintain full-time staff for the purpose of working together in the development of standards for the...
, he devoted his time to public communication. He went on early retirement from CERN in January 2007.
Cailliau is now an active member of Newropeans
Newropeans
Newropeans is a European political party running for European Parliament elections in all European Union member states simultaneously. It therefore claims to be the first truly pan-European political party...
, a transeuropean political movement for which he and Luca Cominassi have recently drafted a proposal concerning the European information society.
He is a public speaker on the past and future of the World Wide Web and delivered the keynote opening speech at the annual Runtime Revolution developer conference in Edinburgh, Scotland on 1 September 2009.
Awards
- 1995: ACMAssociation for Computing MachineryThe Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
Software System Award (with Tim Berners-LeeTim Berners-LeeSir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee, , also known as "TimBL", is a British computer scientist, MIT professor and the inventor of the World Wide Web...
) - 1999: Christophe Plantin PrizeChristophe Plantin PrizeThe Christophe Plantin Prize , is a Belgian civilian prize, intended to reward a Belgian citizen who resides abroad, who has made significant contributions to cultural, artistic or scientific activities....
, Antwerp - 1999: Dr. Hon.Honorary degreeAn honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
Southern Cross UniversitySouthern Cross UniversitySouthern Cross University is a university based on the North and Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia. It is a regional University with more than 14,000 students. The University's primary campus is in Lismore, with other campuses located at Coffs Harbour and Tweed Heads.The University is... - 2000: Dr. Hon. University of Ghent
- 2001: Médaille Genève Reconnaissante (with Tim Berners-Lee)
- 2004: Commander in the Order of King LeopoldOrder of LéopoldThe Order of Leopold is one of the three Belgian national honorary orders of knighthood. It is the highest order of Belgium and is named in honour of King Leopold I. It consists of a military, a maritime and a civilian division...
(awarded by King Albert II of BelgiumAlbert II of BelgiumAlbert II is the current reigning King of the Belgians, a constitutional monarch. He is a member of the royal house "of Belgium"; formerly this house was named Saxe-Coburg-Gotha...
) - 2006: Honorary citizenship of the city of Tongeren
- 2008: Gold Medal of the Flemish Academy of Sciences and the Arts
- 2009: Dr. Hon. University of LiègeUniversity of LiègeThe University of Liège , in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium, is a major public university in the French Community of Belgium. Its official language is French.-History:...
(with Tim Berners-Lee) - 2010: Ehrenpreis Best of Swiss Web (http://www.bestofswissweb.ch/honor2o1o)
Works
- How the Web Was Born: The Story of the World Wide Web, James Gillies, Robert Cailliau (Oxford Paperbacks, 2000) ISBN 0-19-286207-3