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Cyhist Feb 19 1997 O
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Date: Wed, 19 Feb 1997 10:21:47 -0800
Reply-To: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> Sender: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> From: Jessie Scanlon <jessie@WIRED.COM>
Subject: Re: Beginnings of E-mail
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Community Memory: Discussion List on the History of Cyberspace ______________________________________________________________________
David,
I believe the first email was sent by Ray Tomlinson, an engineer at BBN (Bolt, Beranek, and Newman), to another computer in his office.
As he told me, "If I'd known it was going to be *the* message I would have typed something wittier, but it probably said 'qwertyuiop' or 'this is a test.'"
As an aside, Tomlinson was also the person who chose the @ sign. He needed a character that didn't occur in names, so that the computer could easily distinguish between the name and the address. As Tomlinson tells it, he looked down at his Model 33 Teletype keyboard and "the @ seemed an obvious choice because I didn't know anyone with an @ in their name, and the character had the added meaning of being 'at' the institution."
Jessie Scanlon
Section Editor
Wired Magazine
jessie@wired.com
______________________________________________________________________
Reply-To: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> Sender: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> From: Jessie Scanlon <jessie@WIRED.COM>
Subject: Re: Beginnings of E-mail
In-Reply-To: <199702191608.IAA28178@wired.com> Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
______________________________________________________________________
Community Memory: Discussion List on the History of Cyberspace ______________________________________________________________________
David,
I believe the first email was sent by Ray Tomlinson, an engineer at BBN (Bolt, Beranek, and Newman), to another computer in his office.
As he told me, "If I'd known it was going to be *the* message I would have typed something wittier, but it probably said 'qwertyuiop' or 'this is a test.'"
As an aside, Tomlinson was also the person who chose the @ sign. He needed a character that didn't occur in names, so that the computer could easily distinguish between the name and the address. As Tomlinson tells it, he looked down at his Model 33 Teletype keyboard and "the @ seemed an obvious choice because I didn't know anyone with an @ in their name, and the character had the added meaning of being 'at' the institution."
Jessie Scanlon
Section Editor
Wired Magazine
jessie@wired.com
______________________________________________________________________
