Tim-Berners Lee (an Englishman) came up with idea for the browser and the HTML language that is used to display text and images on a web page
http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/
So some say he invented the "web" (although he worked with others on the technology)
But the internet (the network of connections between computers that allowed them to share information) existed long before Tim Berners Lee came up with the idea of the browser.
The internet was originaly used by various research organizations and universities to help them share information (and of course the military).
Tim Berners Lee came up with the idea of the web browser to make it easier to share that information and to provide hyperlinks so you could quickly link to information on other computer.
Of course at the tme he had no idea it would be used in the ways it is used today.