EOTO: The First Email

History:

The first email was sent in 1971 by Raymond Tomlinson, a computer engineer at Bolt Beranek and Newman (BBN), a company now known as Raytheon BBN Technologies. At the time, Tomlinson was working on ARPANET, a forerunner to the modern internet, which connected different computers across distances. 

Tomlinson's goal was to enable communication between users on different computers through ARPANET. He developed a system that allowed people to send simple messages to each other over the network. The person-to-person network email was then born and the @ sign became the standard for email addresses and it remains today. The first email was sent in 1971, the same year it was invented. Tomlinson chose the @ sign so that people could send messages to specific usernames or domains. 

Tomlinson sent the first email to himself as a test, he claims his first email said something like "QWERTYUIOP," which is the first line of letters on the keyboard. Early emails were very basic compared to what we use today. They did not include features like attachments, formatting options, or subject lines. They were plain text messages sent from one user to another.

The Significance:

Tomlinson's email creation brought a revolution in the way people communicate. This includes businesses and how people keep in touch with family and friends no matter the distance. The creation of email played a crucial role in globalization, allowing quick communication no matter the time zone or distance. It allowed for people to communicate almost instantly! For businesses, email allows them to market their products and be in contact with clients. His invention changed the world forever and paved the way for modern communication tools like texting and video calls. He was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame in 2012. Raymond is referred to as "the father of email." 

Interesting Facts: 

The first spam email was sent in 1978. Gary Thuerk was working for a computer company and sent an email advertising a new computer model the company had created. He became known as the father of spam and made the company 13 million dollars in sales for his spam email sent to about 400 users. 

Twenty years after the invention of email the first email was sent from space in 1991. It was sent from the NASA space shuttle, Atlantis. 

The first U.S. president to have a public email was Bill Clinton in 1933. He wasn't known to use it often, it is said that he only sent two emails his entire presidency. One was to Senator John Glenn when he was in outer space on a NASA mission. 

My thoughts:

It’s interesting to reflect on how essential email has become in our daily lives, especially when we consider that not too long ago, the concept didn’t even exist. Email has revolutionized the way we communicate, making it nearly impossible to imagine a world without it. I feel that I would be lost without email in my daily life! Whether for work, staying in touch with loved ones, or even shopping online, email is second nature in our daily lives. I really enjoyed learning more about Raymond Tomlinson and how email was created. It was specifically interesting because I use email everyday to communicate.