Ray Tomlinson, the creator of direct email messages, has died. The cause of death, according to various sources, was a heart attack. He was 74.




Tomlinson set in motion the first email program on the ARPANET system, the precursor to the Internet, in 1971. It was the first system able to send mail between users on different hosts connected to ARPANET. Previously, mail could be sent only to others who used the same computer.

The first email Ray Tomlinson sent was a test e-mail. It was not preserved in any way and Tomlinson described it as insignificant, something like "QWERTYUIOP". This is commonly misquoted as "The first e-mail was QWERTYUIOP". Tomlinson later commented that these "test messages were entirely forgettable and I have, therefore, forgotten them." But with his contributions, he will not be soon forgotten.

He also decided to use the @ symbol to designate a user from its host. The decision lifted the humble symbol from obscurity to international icon — it even entered MOMA's collection in 2010. The fact it was little-used at the time made it appealing to Tomlinson, as it reduced ambiguity. Also, as he liked to say, "It's the only preposition on the keyboard."

Source: The Verge