Belgian Robert Cailliau co-inventor of the World Wide Web.

From Alaska to Fiji and from Japan to Ushuaia, every day the world benefits from the invention of this forgotten civil engineer and computer scientist from Tongeren.

Robert Cailliau was born in Tongeren in 1947. After studying civil engineering in Ghent and computer science in Michigan, USA, he accepted an appointment as a supervisor of the particle accelerator at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland. From 1987, he worked there in the computer department. In 1990, together with British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, he succeeded in linking all computers at CERN into a "web" by having them exchange information in one common language: HTML or hypertext mark-up language. HTML laid the foundation for web pages, which came to form the worldwide web through links.

The original green and white WWW logo was also created by Robert Cailliau. "Created", however, might not be the appropriate word. Cailliau has synesthesia, whereby certain sensory perceptions are spontaneously associated with each other. For example, when he sees the letter "w", he can think of nothing but the colour green. Hence the green and white logo.

Robert Cailliau, however, was not especially happy with his phenomenal invention. His great wish was for everyone to have free, unfettered access, with a few simple clicks, from their home PCs to a digital library that pooled the world's knowledge. But he has had to get used to the unsolicited emails, advertising and fake news too. In addition, large multinationals adopted the internet pioneers' invention in order to generate vast sums of money.

But credit where credit is due; we must thank Robert and his British colleague for throwing open the windows of the world.