Gavan Reilly

Thank you for conceiving of the means through which I’m writing to you this morning.

Thank you for envisaging a system which did not penalise me for allowing a blog to languish without updates for two years, and with only three updates since late 2010.

Thank you for choosing a career in science (there’s not nearly enough of that) and for having the pluck to take a job overseas. Not everyone would have the nerve or bravery to do either.

Thank you for your ingenuity in envisaging a series of interlinked pages of data, separated from each other only by a single click.

Thank you for not being too fussy about the fact that people described your conception as the ‘web’ and not as the ‘mesh’ by which you christened it – and for not trying to shoehorn the ‘mmm’ acronym in anywhere.

Thank you for standing back and allowing your principle to replicate, proliferate and spread, and to be used in scenarios far beyond that which you originally envisaged, without putting money in the way.

Thank you for creating a medium which provided me with a professional platform, and ultimately my first real job.

Thank you for creating the hub of a wheel, the spokes of which are leading an unparalleled wave of scientific breakthrough and innovation.

Thank you for empowering the Malala Yousafzais and Julian Assanges (and yes, even the Belle du Jours) of this world to educate, entertain and infuriate us.

Thank you for helping to make this big old frightening world infinitely easier to comprehend.

Thank you for allowing us to create new friendships and to maintain existing ones, even when seas and international borders get in the way.

Thank you.

PS: If you’re annoyed about how little money you’ve made from your creation, check your email – a deposed Nigerian prince is trying to get in touch.

PPS: Editing this post, eight years later, to include user ID verification for Mastodon.