Raymond Samuel Tomlinson

"Mostly because it seemed like a neat idea."

-Ray Tomlinson

Ray Tomlinson was born on April 23, 1941 in Amsterdam, New York. He attended Broadalbin Central School in Broadalbin, New York. Later, he attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from RPI in 1963. After graduating from RPI he entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to continue his electrical engineering education. He received a S.M in Electrical Engineering degree in 1965. In 1967 he joined the technology company of Bolt, Beranek and Newman, now BBN Technologies.

At BBN technologies he helped develop the TENEX operating system. He wrote a file-transfer program called CPYNET to transfer files through the ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Networks) . It was the first system able to send mail between users on different hosts connected to the APRANET. Ray, as an American programmer, implemented the first email system on ARPANET system, the precursor to the Internet, in 1971. He then died March 6, 2016 from a heart attack at the age of 74.

We found our information at-

“Internet Hall of Fame.” Official Biography: Raymond Tomlinson | Internet Hall of Fame, 2016, www.internethalloffame.org/official-biography-raymond-tomlinson.

“The Centre ForComputing History.” Computing History, www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/1787/Ray-Tomlinson/.

By: Kyla & Cynthia

Here's is an informational video about the invention of email:

You can find more information about Ray Tomlinson here:

The Computer History Museum

Centre For Computing History

Above you can view a video and website about the early emails and the process in which he created the email.

The ‘@’ symbol was almost lost to history. Here’s how Ray Tomlinson saved it.Tomlinson, who resurrected the symbol from obscurity, died over the weekend at age 74.

The Accidental History of the @ SymbolOnce a rarely used key on the typewriter, the graceful character has become the very symbol of modern electronic communication

Ray Tomlinson, who chose @ for the first e-mail, dies at 74 - The Boston GlobeRay Tomlinson, 74, of Lincoln, who died March 5, was a principal scientist at Raytheon BBN Technologies and in 1971 chose @ as a key symbol when he sent the world’s first e-mail.