Email inventor Ray Tomlinson dies at age 74

The end of a era is approaching. Many of the engineers/inventors of the base of today’s technology are getting to a ripe old age. I would call them the first generation architects of the information age. I would fall under what I believe to be the second generation, hitting high school when the personal computing revolution came about.

Fun fact: it appears I was born the year Email was invented


ABC

Raymond Tomlinson, the inventor of modern email and a technological leader, has died, his employer said Sunday. Tomlinson died Saturday, the Raytheon Co. said; the details were not immediately available. Email existed in a limited capacity before Tomlinson in that electronic messages could be shared amid multiple people within a limited framework. But until his invention in 1971 of the first network person-to-person email, there was no way to send something to a specific person at a specific address. Tomlinson wrote and sent the first email on the ARPANET system, a computer network that was created for the U.S. government that is considered a precursor to the Internet. Tomlinson also contributed to the network's development, among numerous other pioneering technologies in the programming world.

CNN

Well, Tomlinson told the Verge, the telephone was fine, "but someone had to be there to receive the call." No voicemail back then; there were few answering machines and people who could afford it subscribed to answering services. "Everyone latched onto the idea that you could leave messages on the computer," he said. "As the network grew and the growth of all that accelerated, it became a really useful tool: there were millions of people you could potentially reach."

Sad news. And it's also sadder that these major inventors aren't household names, with Presidents and Prime Ministers going to their funerals. What an amazing contribution he made, and the world is very much better for it.

a reply to: Dreamwatcher

Sometimes, I think that e-mail is the bane of my life (yeah, I know, first world problems) but sometimes it is so essential.

Nonetheless, it is sad to hear of the passing of another of the pioneers in this new digital world where we live.

His invention has cost the world billions in spam and scam emails.

What would Nigeria do for money without it?!

Actually, all the great ones are getting old.

I remember when the inventor of cntl-alt-del died.

All we got left now is Zuckerberg.

I stand corrected. David Bradley RETIRED, he isnt dead.