Email has become an indispensable tool for communication in the modern world. We use email for work, personal communication, and everything in between. But have you ever wondered who invented email and how it came to be? In this blog post, we'll explore the history of email and the contributions of computer engineer Ray Tomlinson.

Early Beginnings of Email

The origins of email can be traced back to the early days of computer networking. In the 1960s, researchers began working on ways to send messages between computers connected to the same network. The first email-like system was called MAILBOX and was developed by computer programmer John Vittal in 1965. MAILBOX allowed users to leave messages for each other on a central computer.

Over the next few years, various other email systems were developed, such as SNDMSG and READMAIL. However, these systems were limited to users on the same network and did not allow for communication with users on other networks.

Introduction of the @ Symbol and First Email

In 1971, computer engineer Ray Tomlinson was working on a project to improve the existing email systems. He was the first person to come up with the idea of using the "@" symbol in email addresses to separate the user name from the domain name. Tomlinson also developed the first email system that allowed communication between users on different networks.

The first email was sent by Tomlinson to himself as a test message. He chose to use the "@" symbol because it was not commonly used in other contexts and it made sense as a divider between the user name and the domain name. Tomlinson's email system quickly became popular and was soon adopted by other researchers and organizations.

Evolution of Email

Over the years, email has evolved to become a much more sophisticated and feature-rich system. In the 1980s and 1990s, email became widely used in the business world and various email clients were developed, such as Eudora, Outlook, and Lotus Notes.

With the advent of the internet, email became even more ubiquitous. Web-based email services like Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, and Gmail made it easy for anyone with an internet connection to access their email from anywhere in the world.

Conclusion

Email has come a long way since its early beginnings in the 1960s. Ray Tomlinson's contributions to the development of email, particularly his introduction of the "@" symbol and the first email system that allowed communication between users on different networks, were crucial in making email the ubiquitous communication tool that it is today. While there have been many advancements and changes to email over the years, it remains an essential part of our daily lives.

‍