Cyberspace Pioneer Honored

Well before the creation of the world wide web, there was the "open hypermedia system" Microcosm, put together at the University of Southampton in the UK by Wendy Hall – then just 32 – and her colleagues in 1984.

Just 10 years later she became the first female professor of engineering at the university, and in 2000 she was made a CBE for her services to science and technology.

Now the woman who is deemed one of the top computer scientists in the world has been made a Dame in the Queen’s New Year’s Honors list. According to the BBC, Hall was president of the British Computer Society 2003-2004, then in 2005 became the first woman to be appointed senior vice president of the Royal Academy of Engineering. She also co-founded the Web Science Research Initiative (WSRI) with web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee and others.