- Ray Tomlinson and the invention of email
- Electronic mail also known as Email was invented in 1971 by computer engineer, Ray Tomlinson
- Ray Tomlinson invented email not because of need but, “Mostly because it seemed like a neat idea.”
- Ray Tomlinson worked for Bolt Beranek and Newman (BBN)- same company also developed the first internet in 1968
- The first email message sent was “QWERTYUIOP” ( Top letter row on the keyboard)
- The first email was sent between two computers that were in reality sitting beside each other. The ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) was used as the connection between the two
- Used a transfer procedure called CYPNET to adapt the SNDMSG software so it could send electronic messages to any computer on the ARPANET network.
- Email essentially transformed human society by changing the way people communicated with each other
- The @ symbol was chosen by Ray Tomlinson to tell which user was “at” what computer or network.
Mary Bellis. History of Email & Ray Tomlinson. (2009). Retrieved October 25, 2009, from About.com: inventors website: http://inventors.about.com/od/estartinventions/a/email.htm
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