Father of email dead @ 74

Ray Tomlinson / AP-Yonhap

By Ko Dong-hwan

Ray Tomlinson, an American computer programmer widely credited with inventing email, has died. He was 74.

The late Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate invented direct electronic messages between users on different machines on a network in 1971. He used for the first time the “@” symbol to distinguish a user from its host.

Raytheon, an American defense contractor dealing with weapons and commercial electronics where the late inventor worked, said Tomlinson was “a true technology pioneer who brought us email in the early days of networked computers,” according to AFP. The company said despite his accomplishments, Tomlinson “remained humble, kind and generous with his time and talents.”

Google’s Gmail team tweeted: “Thank you, Ray Tomlinson, for inventing email and putting the @ sign on the map. #RIP.”