Sir Tim Berners-Lee
1 of 4 portraits of Sir Tim Berners-Lee
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Sir Tim Berners-Lee
by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin
chromogenic print, 13 April 2005
20 in. x 16 in. (508 mm x 406 mm)
Commissioned through Deloitte Acquisition Fund, 2006
Primary Collection
NPG P1103
Sitterback to top
- Sir Tim Berners-Lee (1955-), Inventor of the World Wide Web and Director of the World Wide Web Consortium. Sitter in 4 portraits.
Artistback to top
- Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin (1970-; 1971-), Photographers. Artist or producer of 18 portraits.
Linked publicationsback to top
- 100 Photographs, 2018, p. 135 Read entry
Sir Tim Berners-Lee (b.1955) graduated from Queen’s College, Oxford, in 1976. There he built his first computer with a soldering iron, a processor and an old television. He worked in telecommunications before inventing the World Wide Web in 1989, and joined the Laboratory for Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994. This portrait forms part of a series of key figures in the world of telecommunications commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery through the Deloitte Acquisition Fund. Utilising crafted lighting, redolent of classical painting, the portrait depicts an internal moment of reflection. London-based duo Adam Broomberg (b.1970) and Oliver Chanarin (b.1971) have worked together for over twenty years, developing an acclaimed conceptual practice.
Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top
- Icons and Idols: Commissioning Contemporary Portraits (2 March 2006 - 18 June 2006)
- Defying Distance (14 June 2005 - 25 September 2005)
Events of 2005back to top
Current affairs
London suffers its worst bomb attack since the Second World War when four devices are detonated during rush hour on public transport. Three of the bombs went off on tube trains, and one on a bus killing 56 people and injuring 700. A Leeds-based terror cell of British born or raised Islamic extremists committed the attacks.John Sentamu becomes the first black Archbishop of the Church of England.
Art and science
As part of the international Make Poverty History campaign, ten Live 8 concerts are held simultaneously around the world to coincide with the meeting of the G8 and persuade the world's richest countries to 'drop the debt' owed by the world's poorest countries, increase aid to the world's poorest people and negotiate fairer international trade rules.International
1,836 die in America as a result of Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding. The hurricane was the most costly in US history and one of the most deadly. It caused the levees of Lake Pontchartrain to break, which flooded 80% of New Orleans. About one million people evacuated the city while 25,000 stayed behind, many taking refuge in the city's Superdome.Comments back to top
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