Ray Tomlinson, the American computer programmer credited for inventing email, died of a heart attack at the age of 74 on Saturday.
Tomlinson, who joined the Internet Hall of Fame in 2012, used the existing “at” sign to separate a username from its host in 1971.
Now the sign is found across the Web and on different social media platforms.
Professor David Carlson, who teaches Internet history and online services at UF, met Tomlinson at a conference in Colorado Springs more than 22 years ago.
He said Tomlinson seemed like an easy-going, humble man.
Despite having invented something influential, Carlson said, most people will never know who Tomlinson was.
“If we think about how much online communication has changed the world and changed the way we interact, (email) is one of the most important inventions of the last 50 years,” he said.
Carlson said he could previously only contact a friend in St. Petersburg, Russia, with a phone call at 4 a.m. or air mail, which could take weeks.
Now, there are no geographic limitations to friendship, he said.
“The world has gotten larger because of communication,” Carlson said.
Daniel Helbig, a 19-year-old UF computer science freshman, said he got his first email in fifth grade and now checks his university email about four times per day.
“Instead of having to wait weeks, you get someone’s message in a couple seconds,” he said. “That’s pretty amazing.”
