Ik T / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
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Ray Tomlinson sent the first networked email in 1971 and chose the @ symbol because it was one of the few keys on the teletype that could not appear in a person's name. He later said the first message was probably something like QWERTYUIOP, and that he does not remember it, because it did not seem important at the time.
Guinness World Records; mail.com, 2021| # | Name | At a glance |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ray Tomlinson's first networked email | 1971 - the first ever |
| 2 | Queen Elizabeth II's first royal email | March 26, 1976 |
| 3 | The first spam email | May 3, 1978 - 393 recipients |
| 4 | AOL's "You've Got Mail" | Voiced by Elwood Edwards, 1989 |
| 5 | The first email from space | August 9, 1991 - Space Shuttle Atlantis |
| 6 | The first MIME email attachment | March 11, 1992 |
| 7 | Bill Gates' "Internet Tidal Wave" memo | May 26, 1995 |
| 8 | Hotmail's launch announcement | July 4, 1996 |
| 9 | The ILOVEYOU worm email | May 4, 2000 - 45M+ computers |
| 10 | The Sony Pictures email leak | Nov-Dec 2014 - 170,000+ emails |
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01
Ray Tomlinson's first networked email #
1971 - the first ever
Computer engineer Ray Tomlinson sent the first networked email between two machines at BBN Technologies, introducing the @ symbol as the address separator because it could not appear in anyone's name.
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02
Queen Elizabeth II's first royal email #
March 26, 1976
Sent from the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment in Malvern over ARPANET, announcing a Coral 66 compiler and signed Elizabeth R, making her the first head of state to send an email.
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03
The first spam email #
May 3, 1978 - 393 recipients
DEC marketer Gary Thuerk sent an unsolicited product announcement to 393 ARPANET addresses, now recognized as the earliest known spam email, and reportedly drove around 12 million dollars in sales.
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04
AOL's "You've Got Mail" #
Voiced by Elwood Edwards, 1989
Voice actor Elwood Edwards recorded the phrase for AOL in 1989. It became the defining sound of the dial-up email era, was trademarked by AOL, and inspired the 1998 Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan film of the same name.
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05
The first email from space #
August 9, 1991 - Space Shuttle Atlantis
Astronauts Shannon Lucid and James Adamson sent an AppleLink message from Space Shuttle Atlantis using a Mac Portable, the first email ever sent from orbit.
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06
The first MIME email attachment #
March 11, 1992
Nathaniel Borenstein sent the first standardized email attachment, an audio recording of his own barbershop quartet, establishing the MIME standard still used for attachments today.
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07
Bill Gates' "Internet Tidal Wave" memo #
May 26, 1995
An internal Microsoft memo declaring the internet a tidal wave that redirected the entire company's strategy toward it, later published in full online.
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08
Hotmail's launch announcement #
July 4, 1996
Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith launched one of the first free webmail services on Independence Day 1996. It reached 8.5 million subscribers within 18 months and was bought by Microsoft in 1997 for roughly 400 million dollars.
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09
The ILOVEYOU worm email #
May 4, 2000 - 45M+ computers
A malicious email with a hidden script attachment infected an estimated 45 million-plus computers within 24 hours, causing an estimated 10 to 15 billion dollars in damage and forcing shutdowns at the Pentagon, CIA, and UK Parliament.
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10
The Sony Pictures email leak #
Nov-Dec 2014 - 170,000+ emails
Hackers, attributed by US officials to North Korea, exfiltrated internal Sony Pictures emails that WikiLeaks later published, more than 170,000 in total, exposing exchanges that became a major entertainment-industry scandal.
FAQ
Who sent the first email?
Ray Tomlinson, an engineer at BBN Technologies, sent the first networked email in 1971 between two machines on ARPANET, and picked the @ symbol as the address separator.
What was the first spam email?
Gary Thuerk, a marketer at Digital Equipment Corporation, sent an unsolicited product announcement to 393 ARPANET addresses on May 3, 1978 - now recognized as the first known spam email.
When was the first email sent from space?
On August 9, 1991, astronauts Shannon Lucid and James Adamson sent an AppleLink message from Space Shuttle Atlantis using a Mac Portable.