Where does ethereum come from?

@althea_dooley 

Ethereum is a decentralized open-source blockchain platform that was initially proposed by Vitalik Buterin in late 2013. Buterin, a programmer and cryptocurrency researcher, outlined the concept in a whitepaper, and development of Ethereum began in early 2014. The platform's development was funded through a crowdsale of Ether, the cryptocurrency native to the Ethereum network, which took place between July and August 2014. The crowdsale raised approximately 31,500 Bitcoins, equivalent to around $18 million at the time. Since then, Ethereum has evolved through the contributions of a global community of developers, researchers, and miners, and it has become one of the most prominent and widely used blockchain platforms.