Web creator hopes internet will lead to cure for cancer

Published on Tuesday 9 June 2009 22:04

THE man credited with inventing the worldwide web said he hoped the internet might help combat climate change and incurable diseases.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee said the increasing mass of online information could help experts to spot breakthroughs in the battles against illnesses such as cancer and Alzheimer's disease, as well as environmental concerns such as global warming.

The Oxford-educated professor was speaking in New York after receiving a lifetime achievement prize at the Webby awards, which honour internet excellence.

Sir Tim said: "The (internet] explodes when somebody has the creativity to look at a piece of data that's put there for one reason and realises they can connect it with something else.

"(Like] cure a disease or figure out something to do with Alzheimer's … or cancer …"

Sir Tim dreamed up the web in 1989 as a way of allowing scientists to share and search electronic documents.