Java was created in the early 1990s by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems. It was originally designed for use in set-top boxes, but is now used widely for both web applications and desktop applications. The key aspects of Java include its simplicity, object-oriented approach, security, robustness, portability, and distributed nature. The Java Virtual Machine (JVM) plays a central role, allowing Java programs to run on any platform that supports the JVM without needing to be recompiled. A Java program consists of classes with methods defined within, and always includes a main method that is the entry point of the program.