Ray Tomlinson

Date of Birth: April 23, 1941

Zodiac Sign: Taurus

Date of Death: March 5, 2016

Biography

Ray Tomlinson was an American computer programmer who made a significant contribution to the development of email. Born in Amsterdam, New York, he earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and later received his master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1971, while working at the technology company Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN), he implemented the first networked email system on the ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet. His system was groundbreaking because it allowed messages to be sent between users on different hosts connected to the ARPANET. Tomlinson is best known for choosing the “@” symbol to separate the user’s name from the computer name, which has become a standard in email addresses worldwide. He continued to work in the field of computer science until his death in 2016.

5 Interesting Facts about Ray Tomlinson

1. Ray Tomlinson was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame in 2012 for his pioneering work on email.

2. He originally chose the “@” symbol because it was rarely used and it did not appear in names, making it an ideal separator.

3. Tomlinson was working on a file transfer program called CPYNET when he decided to integrate the messaging feature.

4. He never patented his email invention and did not make any money directly from it.

5. Ray Tomlinson’s email innovation is considered one of the pivotal developments in the history of the Internet.

5 Most Interesting Quotes from Ray Tomlinson

1. “I see email being used, by and large, exactly the way I envisioned.”

2. “The first message was something like ‘QWERTYUIOP’ – I just pressed some keys on the keyboard.”

3. “The invention of email was not what I was doing that day.”

4. “I certainly didn’t anticipate that email would be as important as it has become.”

5. “The ‘at’ sign helped to distinguish between the user and the host, which was a key part of the system.”

Highest Net Worth Achieved

Ray Tomlinson did not amass significant wealth from his invention, as he did not patent the email system. His highest net worth is not publicly documented.