Raymond Tomlinson, the American computer programmer credited as the inventor of email, implemented the first email program on the ARPANET system in the early 1970s. Despite a controversy over its invention following his death in 2016, Tomlinson is widely recognized for innovating the use of the “@” sign to separate user names from machine names, a concept later adapted for email addresses. Tomlinson, born and raised in New York, earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He played a significant role in the development of the TENEX operating system and created a program for sending messages to other users during his time at Bolt Beranek and Newman.
Quick Facts
- Also Known As: Томлинсон, Рэй
- Died At Age: 74
- Died on: March 5, 2016
- Place of Death: Lincoln, Massachusetts, U.S.
- U.S. State: New Yorkers
- Discoveries/Inventions: Inventor Of The First E-mail System
- Education: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Awards: IEEE Internet Award
Childhood & Early Life
Raymond Samuel Tomlinson was born on April 23, 1941 in Amsterdam, New York. He had three brothers. He received his primary education from the Broadalbin Central School in Broadalbin, New York. He then went to the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) where he participated in the co-op program with IBM. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1963. Following this, he enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). There he worked in the Speech Communication Group and developed an analog-digital hybrid speech synthesizer and earned his master’s degree in electrical engineering in 1965.
Career
He was appointed by the technology company of Bolt, Beranek and Newman (now BBN Technologies) as a computer engineer in 1967. There he helped to develop the TENEX operating system. The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), an early packet switching network, was a part of the TENEX operating system which also included TELNET implementations. Tomlinson, a pioneering computer genius, wrote a file transfer program called CPYNET to transfer files through the ARPANET.
During this period, a lot of developments were taking place in computer technology and networking. His employers asked him to work on SNDMSG, which was an early electronic mail program used to send messages to other users of a time-sharing computer. He was told to change the program so that it could run on TENEX. Tomlinson extended the program by adding code from CPYNET to SNDMSG to create a version that enabled sending messages to users on other computers accessible over the ARPANET. He innovated the use of the “@” sign to separate the user name from the name of their machine.
His message sending innovation, launched in 1971, is generally believed to be the first email that was ever sent. The text of the first email Tomlinson sent was a test, so it was not preserved. According to his own accounts, it was a very forgettable message not worth remembering. Tomlinson’s email program revolutionized the world of communication. His email software became widely popular and over the years email became one of the most used forms of communication for people all over the world. In addition, he also played a leading role in developing the required services for email, including setting a standard format for email messages and designing a tool for creating and reading email. He participated in a meeting to enhance FTP to support email, which was used until 1982 before being replaced by SMTP.
Major Works
Raymond Tomlinson is widely credited as the inventor of email. In 1971, he updated an existing utility called SNDMSG so that it could copy messages over the network and sent a message from one Digital Equipment Corporation DEC-10 computer to another DEC-10. This message is regarded as the first email ever sent.
Awards & Achievements
In 2000, he was honored with the George R. Stibitz Computer Pioneer Award from the American Computer Museum (with the Computer Science Department of Montana State University). He received a Webby Award from the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for lifetime achievement in 2001. In 2012, Tomlinson was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame by the Internet Society.
Personal Life & Legacy
Raymond Tomlinson died on March 5, 2016, in Lincoln, Massachusetts from a heart attack. He was 74. Following his death, VA Shiva Ayyadurai, an American inventor of Indian origin, has claimed that it was he, and not Tomlinson, who actually invented email.