Ray Tomlinson passed away ?Saturday at age 74. Some of you may have never heard of this man or his accomplishments. That needs to change.
Ray Tomlinson invented the email. He was the first to choose the @ symbol for electronic messaging. He accomplished this before many of us were even born. In 1971, he was the first to use a direct electronic message, at a time when messages were conducted only on limited networks. Decades later, Tomlinson recalled the first message between two machines. The first message was QWERTYUIOP, the first letter row on a keyboard. When he saw the message got through to the other machine, he messaged his colleagues explaining how to send them over the network. At the same time, Tomlinson invented the user@host email standard. ?The email concept was born. Even in the early ’70s, he envisioned the email being used around the world by all people. His vision didn’t really come true until the 1990s, when the Internet exploded globally, first used for a US government network. Tomlinson’s innovations won him a spot in the Internet Hall of Fame in 2012. Tributes are pouring out from former employers and Twitter feeds. He’s being remembered as a technology pioneer. More importantly, Tomlinson is being remembered as being humble, kind and generous.
Ray Tomilson’s cause of death is unknown. We at Computer Geeks sent our condolences to Ray Tomlinson’s family, friends and other loved ones. We thank Mr. Tomilson’s for his innovations and contributions to the tech world. Just about everybody uses emails today. That wouldn’t have happened if not for Ray Tomlinson. It’s amazing how one man’s invention changed the course of the world forever, though it took over 25 years to change it. We should not only remember Ray Tomlinson, but other tech heroes whose names aren’t known about. I think of people calling Tomilson humble and kind. Those adjectives are hard to come by in the tech world today. So let’s pay honor to all tech heroes, preferably while they’re still alive. Who is a tech innovator whose story needs to be told?