Raymond Samuel Tomlinson

Creator of email, Tomlinson implemented the first system able to send mail between users on different hosts connected to the ARPANet in 1971. Email had previously been sent on other networks such as AUTODIN and PLATO. Previously, mail could be sent only to others who used the same computer. To achieve this, Tomlinson used the @ sign to separate the user from their machine, which has been used in email addresses ever since.

The first email Tomlinson sent was a test e-mail. It was not preserved and Tomlinson described it as insignificant, something like "QWERTYUIOP". This is commonly misquoted as "The first e-mail was QWERTYUIOP". He later commented that these "test messages were entirely forgettable and I have, therefore, forgotten them."

At first, his email messaging system wasn't thought to be a big deal. When Tomlinson showed it to his colleague Jerry Burchfiel, he said "Don't tell anyone! This isn't what we're supposed to be working on."