Berners-Lee developed the basic protocols of the World Wide Web while at CERN, initially just for internal use. But when the brilliance of the invention became clear he devoted his life to its growth and spread, even if he did make a few mistakes along the way (see Geek 5).

Had he patented his invention, Berners-Lee would probably have wealth equalling that of a small country. Instead he gave it away, recognising that profiting from something like this would inhibit the growth of a technology that had the potential to revolutionise human affairs.

Some younger readers may not remember a world without the internet, but those of us who do recognise the enormous changes it has wrought know that the world would be a poorer place, both intellectually and financially, without it.

Berners-Lee is still active in nurturing his invention, leading the fight against internet monitoring by ISPs and remaining a vocal supporter of net neutrality. He is also working on the next generation of the internet, the semantic web.

Shaun Nichols: Sometimes it can be hard to comprehend the scale on which certain technologies can influence the world. The tens of billions of dollars in commerce which stemmed from Berners-Lee's work is simply mind-blowing.

It's also a testament to the work done by CERN and its benefits to the rest of society. Had it not been for the Large Hadron Collider, most people would not have the slightest clue about the organisation and what it has done.

Legend has it that, at the age of 10, Cray used an erector set to construct a Morse decoding tool. Later in his life, Cray spent his free time redesigning the logic circuits for his computing systems.

Iain Thomson: Cray is similar to many on this list in that he was never happy as the head of a company. The true geek never is, because there's so much to distract them from the really important stuff, i.e. doing it better than anyone else.

Although his machines were often seen as the backbone of the military/industrial complex they were more often used for good. We would lack many great medical treatments and materials, and knowledge of the changing climate, without his machines.