The First Photo Uploaded to the Web

During the early ’90s computer scientists at CERN, Switzerland were testing a new technology that would soon become the World Wide Web. In those early days, the content of the Internet was mostly text.

The photo, uploaded on July 18th, 1992, is a photoshopped and heavily compressed image of a group of CERN administrative assistants singing a physics-themed song.

Silvano de Gennaro recalles his conversation about the photo with Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the Web:

“The Web, back in ’92 and ’93, was exclusively used by physicists. I was like, ‘Why do you want to put the Cernettes on that? It’s only text!’ And [Tim Berners-Lee] said, ‘No, it’s gonna be fun!’”