In the late 1980's Tim Berners-Lee had a bright idea. He wrote a paper about the idea which he then sent to his boss (who called it Vague but exciting ...).
The idea was arguably the biggest that any physicist has had in the last 25 years, in terms of impact on the planet. It is nothing to do with science or physics. It was, of course, the basic architecture of the World Wide Web.
The diagram is wonderfully self-referential.