Who knew that 32 years later we would have another amazing leap with technology and communication?
In 1971, Ray Tomlinson changed how computers would be used when he helped invent a way to allow computer users to exchange messages. Mr. Tomlinson worked for a company that helped design what would finally become the Internet. The first electronic message program only worked on one computer. It let all users of that computer exchange messages with each other in a “mailbox” file inside the computer. The next step was to send a message between two computers. The first electronic message sent was letters he tapped on the keyboard (QWERTYUIOP). If you look at your computer keyboard, you will notice these letters are on the same row on the keyboard. To send this message, Mr. Tomlinson did something for which he became famous. He included the AT (@) symbol to tell the computer sending the message where the message should go. In many ways, E-mail is sent and received in steps that are similar to the U.S. Postal Service (your Post Office). You type a letter on your computer to a friend just as
