Brewster Kahle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Brewster Kahle
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Kahle in 2015
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Brewster Lurton Kahle
October 21, 1960 |
| Education | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BS) |
| Occupation | Digital librarian Computer engineer Internet entrepreneur |
| Employer | Internet Archive, Electronic Frontier Foundation |
| Known for | Development of WAIS Co-founder of Alexa Internet Founder of Internet Archive |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Austin |
| Children | 2 |
Brewster Kahle (born October 21, 1960) is an American expert in computers and the internet. He is like a "digital librarian" because he helps collect and save information from the internet. He also helps make it available for everyone to use.
Brewster Kahle studied computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1996, he started two important internet companies: Alexa Internet and the Internet Archive. He is most famous for creating the Internet Archive, which includes the Wayback Machine. This tool lets people see how websites looked in the past. In 2012, he was recognized for his work and joined the Internet Hall of Fame.
Contents
About Brewster Kahle
His Early Life and School
Brewster Kahle was born in New York City. He grew up in a town called Scarsdale, New York. His father was an engineer.
Brewster went to Scarsdale High School. After that, he studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He earned a degree in computer science in 1982. At MIT, he focused on artificial intelligence, which is about making computers think like humans.
His Career and Internet Projects
After college, Kahle worked at a company called Thinking Machines. There, he helped create the WAIS system. This was one of the first systems that let people search for information across different computers on the internet. It was an early version of what we now know as the World Wide Web.
In 1992, he started a company called WAIS, Inc. Later, in 1996, he co-founded Alexa Internet. This company helped people find information on the internet.
At the same time, he started the Internet Archive. This is a non-profit organization that aims to build a digital library of all human knowledge. He still leads the Internet Archive today.
Creating the Wayback Machine
In 2001, Brewster Kahle launched the Wayback Machine. This part of the Internet Archive lets you look at old versions of websites. It's like a time machine for the internet!
Kahle got the idea for the Wayback Machine when he saw how much information was on the internet. He realized it was possible to save everything. He wanted to make sure that all this information would not be lost. He said it was an "aha moment" when he understood that "You can do everything."
Brewster Kahle and his wife, Mary Austin, also run a foundation called the Kahle/Austin Foundation. This foundation helps support projects that make software free for everyone to use.
How People See His Work
Brewster Kahle was chosen to be a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2010. This was because he helped save and share so much digital information. He is also a member of the Internet Hall of Fame.
He serves on the boards of several important groups. These include the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which protects digital rights, and Public Knowledge, which works on internet policy. He also advises the Library of Congress on how to preserve digital information.
In 2010, he received an honorary degree from Simmons University for his important contributions.
Why His Work Matters
Saving Digital Information
Brewster Kahle believes it's important to save digital information. He explained in 1997 that these digital archives help historians. They also make the internet more reliable. For example, they can help fix "404 Document not found" errors. They also help people find related information more easily.
Kahle has also talked about how important it is to save information about the data itself. This is called "metadata." He says we don't know what future researchers will want to know. So, saving this extra information makes it easier to find things later.
His Thoughts on Digitizing Books
Kahle has shared his concerns about how some companies digitize books. He believes that digital books should be easy for everyone to access. He thinks that the internet has moved from being controlled locally to being controlled by a few big companies. He wants to make sure that even books that are very old and not protected by copyright are still free for everyone to use and share.
In 2009, Kahle said that creating a large digital library is not too expensive. He believes that for a reasonable cost, we can have millions of books available online. This would help a generation that is growing up reading on screens. He wants students to be able to find books from many libraries, not just one private company.
Saving Physical Books
Brewster Kahle also believes in saving physical books. He said in 2011 that "Knowledge lives in lots of different forms over time." He wants to collect one physical copy of every book ever published. He knows it's a huge goal, but he wants to see books "live forever."
He started by using large shipping containers. These containers are specially set up to keep books safe from damage. Each container can hold about 40,000 books. As of 2011, he had collected about 500,000 books. He plans to store about a million books in his warehouse. These physical books are not for lending out. Instead, they are used to check the information in digital copies.
In 2024, Kahle moved 350,000 old dissertations (long research papers) from a university library in the Netherlands to the Internet Archive's storage in Pennsylvania.
His Blog
Brewster Kahle also writes a blog. He shares his thoughts on topics like housing, education, food, and health in the United States.
Awards and Recognitions
- 2004: Paul Evan Peters Award
- 2005: American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 2007: Knowledge Trust Honors award
- 2008: Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award
- 2009: Named one of "50 Visionaries Changing Your World" by Utne Reader
- 2010: National Academy of Engineering
- 2010: Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Alberta
- 2010: Zoia Horn Intellectual Freedom Award
- 2012: SIIA Peter Jackson Award
- 2012: Inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame
- 2013: LITA/Library Hi Tech Award
- 2016: Fellowship of the Digital Preservation Coalition
- 2024: Lifetime Achievement in Building Internet Infrastructure Award
See also
In Spanish: Brewster Kahle para niños
- List of archivists
