The history of the World Wide Web started just 15 years ago on August 6, 1991 by Sir Tim Berners-Lee. On that date the first web site was built http://info.cern.ch and put online. Later on that day Tim Berners-Lee wrote a post on the alt.hypertext newsgroup introducing his world wide web project to the world. In the original post he said: "The WorldWideWeb (WWW) project aims to allow links to be made to any information anywhere. The address format includes an access method (=namespace), and for most name spaces a hostname and some sort of path. The WWW project was started to allow high energy physicists to share data, news, and documentation. We are very interested in spreading the web to other areas, and having gateway servers for other data. Collaborators welcome!"
The greatest thing is that his idea is available freely, with no patent and no royalties due, so it keeps spreading like a wild fire.