“To introduce myself, I should mention that I studied Physics at Oxford, but on graduating discovered the new world of microprocessors and joined the electronics and computer science industry for several years. In 1980, I worked on a contract at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory, and wrote for my own benefit a simple program for tracking the various parts of the project using linked note cards. In 1984 I returned to CERN for ten years, during which time I found the need for a universal information system, and developed the World Wide Web as a side project in 1990. “
— Andrew Hinton, Inkblurt, writing on the value of the side project Tim Berners Lee engaged in when he did some little “side projects” at CERN, like inventing the World Wide Web.
(See the transcript of his talk at Hearing on the “Digital Future of the United States: Part I — The Future of the World Wide Web”)