Communication · 1971
Ray Tomlinson picks the @ sign, and messages start moving between computers.
In 1971 Ray Tomlinson at BBN sent the first network email between two computers on ARPANET, using @ to separate user and host. Email quickly became ARPANET's most used application and remains a core internet service with billions of users.
What it built on 2
Related measurements
The dashed line marks when it first worked.
Letters and parcels handled in the UK Latest: 16.7B items per year (1993) Source: Our World in Data
Internet users in the United States Latest: 322M people (2024) Source: Our World in Data
Share of people online Latest: 73.6 % (2025) Source: Our World in Data