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Genius inventors who missed out on millions

Sir Tim Berners-Lee is selling the code to the World Wide Web
John Walker – friction match
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster – Superman
László Bíró – ballpoint pen
Mikhail Kalashnikov – AK-47 assault rifle
The McDonald brothers – McDonald's
Nick Holonyak, Jr. – LED light
Ron Klein – credit card strip
Douglas Engelbart – computer mouse
Daisuke Inoue – karaoke machine
Trevor Baylis – wind-up radio
Alexey Pajitnov – Tetris computer game
Sir Tim Berners-Lee – the World Wide Web
Sir Tim Berners-Lee – the World Wide Web
Shane Chen – hoverboard
1 of 15
Courtesy Sotheby's

Sir Tim Berners-Lee is selling the code to the World Wide Web

Throughout history, people have come up with incredible inventions which have achieved global success without reaping the full rewards of their genius. Sir Tim Berners-Lee (pictured) famously refused to patent his invention more than 30 years ago, and never monetised it, instead gifting it freely to the world. Click or scroll through inventors who definitely could have got rich off their creations but, for various reasons, didn't.

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lovemoney staff

16 June 2021

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