Ray Tomlinson

Raymond Samuel Tomlinson was an American computer programmer who implemented the first email program on the ARPANET system, the precursor to the Internet, in 1971; It was the first system able to send mail between users on different hosts connected to ARPANET. Previously, mail could be sent only to others who used the same computer. To achieve this, he used the @ sign to separate the user name from the name of their machine, a scheme which has been used in email addresses ever since. The Internet Hall of Fame in its account of his work commented "Tomlinson's email program brought about a complete revolution, fundamentally changing the way people communicate." He is credited with the invention of the TCP three-way handshake which underlies HTTP and many other key Internet protocols.

23 April 1941

Born on the same birth date (23 April 1941): Arie den Hartog • Ed Stewart • Jacqueline Boyer • Michael Lynne • Paavo Lipponen

Born on the same birth day (23 April): Barbara McIlvaine Smith • Frederick Whitaker • Frédéric Ozanam • Félix Vicq-d'Azyr • Guy Simonds • Kyle Beckerman • Lenka Wienerová • Paul Belmondo • Rui Fonte • Tony Esposito • William Shakespeare • Willie Mitchell (ice hockey) • Zach Apple

Born in the same month (April 1941): Bertrand Tavernier • Jacqueline Boyer • John Madejski • John Williams (guitarist) • Michael D. Higgins • Michael Lynne • Pete Rose • Peter Fluck