Ray Tomlinson, Inventor of Email, and @ Symbol, Dies

He played a big part in most of our lives, even if we never got the message.

FOX’s Pat O’Neill has more:

He invented modern email. Ray Tomlinson, a pioneer of the computer world, has died at age 74.

Email had existed in a limited capacity before, but until 1971, when he invented the first network person-to-person email, there was no way to send something to someone at a specific address.

Tomlinson chose the “at” (@) symbol, connecting the username with the destination address, which has become a cultural icon.

He wrote and sent the first email on a government computer network, considered the precurser to the internet and contributed to the network’s development.

As for that very first email sent to a computer sitting next to his, Tomlinson had said he couldn’t remember the content, calling it completely forgettable.

Pat O’Neill, FOX News.