From a dancing baby to Obama’s mic drop moment: 50 of the world’s most iconic GIFs are revealed as computer scientist Stephen Wilhite who created the internet sensation in 1987 dies from Covid aged 74
- Computer scientist Stephen Wilhite created the first GIF of a plane 35 years ago
- Invention became an online phenomenon in 2012, was named word of the year
- DailyMail.com put together 50 of the most popular GIFS from early noughties
Since the creation of the first ever GIF over 35 years ago, the internet has been home to millions of animated pictures, bringing reactions and funny moments to life.
Computer scientist Stephen Wilhite, the innovative creator of the GIF, died earlier this month aged 74 after battling Covid-19, and his wife Kathleen said it was the thing he was ‘most proud of’ in his lifetime.
In 2012, the invention became an online phenomenon and was even named word of the year by Oxford American Dictionary.
The first ever GIF made by Wilhite was of a black and white plane flying through blue cloudy moving skies behind it.
The pronunciation of the word GIF has been widely debated over the years, but founder Wilhite settled this by saying it is a soft ‘g’, spoken as ‘JIF’ instead of the hard G, ‘GIF’.
He receieved a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Webby Awards in New York for the invention and contribution to internet culture in 2013, with a five-word speech: ‘It’s pronounced Jif not Gif’.
GIF stands for ‘graphics interchange format’, by Wilhite when he worked for internet service provider CompuServe – it is a series of still images strung together to make a graphic that loops to appear as though it is a short video clip.
It is widely shareable on various social media and messaging platforms nowadays, making it an go-to-tool for those who wanted an animation to express their reaction to something online, instead of text.
Wilhite also told the New York Times that his favorite GIF was the dancing baby meme, which ‘went viral before going viral’ was a thing.
‘He invented GIF all by himself – he actually did that at home and brought it into work after he perfected it,’ wife Kathleen told The Verge.
‘He would figure out everything privately in his head and the go to town programming it on the computer.’
DailyMail.com has put together 50 of the best GIFS from the early noughties right up to the present day, with sites Influencer Marketing Hub and GIPHY having outlined the most popular animations over the years.
Some of the best ones used by millions of people across the globe include the dancing baby, Wilhite’s favourite, Tyra Banks screaming at an America’s Next Top Model candidate, or Lisa Simpson dancing in the living room.
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