The first email system appeared in 1971 on the ARPANET, a pioneering computer network that preceded the modern Internet; this predates the World Wide Web (1989) and the widespread adoption of TCP/IP (1983).
Summary
Email began as a way to send messages between users on networked computers, providing asynchronous communication long before global Internet infrastructure and web services became widespread.
Brief History
In 1971 Raymond Tomlinson implemented the first system that allowed messages to be sent between users on different ARPANET hosts and introduced conventions such as using the @ symbol to separate user and host names.
Technical Context and Timeline
ARPANET started in 1969 using early protocols like NCP. TCP/IP became the standard for internetworking around 1983; the World Wide Web was proposed by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989, decades after email was already in use.
Importance
Email anticipated key patterns of digital communication and changed how people and organizations exchange information, demonstrating that application-level services can emerge before the global infrastructure that later scales them.
Quick Related Facts
- Year of first email: 1971
- Network: ARPANET
- TCP/IP adopted: 1983
- World Wide Web proposed: 1989