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INVENTOR

Ray Tomlinson

1941 - 2016

Photo of Ray Tomlinson

Icon of person Ray Tomlinson

Raymond Samuel Tomlinson (April 23, 1941 – March 5, 2016) was an American computer programmer who implemented the first email program on the ARPANET system, the precursor to the Internet, in 1971; It was the first system able to send mail between users on different hosts connected to ARPANET. Previously, mail could be sent only to others who used the same computer. To achieve this, he used the @ sign to separate the user name from the name of their machine, a scheme which has been used in email addresses ever since. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Ray Tomlinson has received more than 856,576 page views. His biography is available in 46 different languages on Wikipedia. Ray Tomlinson is the 82nd most popular inventor (down from 81st in 2019), the 932nd most popular biography from United States (down from 888th in 2019) and the 20th most popular American Inventor.

Ray Tompkins is most famous for his comic strip, "Calvin and Hobbes."

Memorability Metrics

  • 860k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 62.59

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 46

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 8.61

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.28

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of Ray Tomlinsons by language


Among INVENTORS

Among inventors, Ray Tomlinson ranks 82 out of 354. Before him are Alexander Stepanovich Popov, James Hargreaves, André-Jacques Garnerin, Claude Chappe, Henry Bessemer, and Momofuku Ando. After him are Sakichi Toyoda, Bi Sheng, Franz Reichelt, Alois Senefelder, John Harrison, and Alphonse Bertillon.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1941, Ray Tomlinson ranks 63. Before him are Abdelkader Bensalah, Roberto Carlos, Frank Farian, Dan Shechtman, Otis Redding, and Pete Best. After him are Milan Kučan, Franco Columbu, Paul Anka, Claudine Auger, Igor Smirnov, and Mohamed Ghannouchi. Among people deceased in 2016, Ray Tomlinson ranks 48. Before him are Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, René Angélil, Robert Vaughn, Reinhard Selten, Zsa Zsa Gabor, and George Kennedy. After him are Junko Tabei, Michel Galabru, Vera Rubin, Ettore Scola, George Martin, and Konstantinos Stephanopoulos.

Others Born in 1941

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Others Deceased in 2016

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Ray Tomlinson ranks 932 out of 18,182. Before him are Jerry Goldsmith (1929), Neale Donald Walsch (1943), David Lee (1931), Otis Redding (1941), Tony Bennett (1926), and Sarah Knauss (1880). After him are Jennifer Connelly (1970), William Hurt (1950), Ambrose Bierce (1842), Louise Fletcher (1934), Whoopi Goldberg (1955), and George Jung (1942).

Others born in United States

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Among INVENTORS In United States

Among inventors born in United States, Ray Tomlinson ranks 20. Before him are Douglas Engelbart (1925), John Browning (1855), Jimmy Wales (1966), Josephine Cochrane (1839), Les Paul (1915), and George Eastman (1854). After him are Elisha Otis (1811), Leo Fender (1909), Bob Kahn (1938), Robert Noyce (1927), Jacque Fresco (1916), and Percy Spencer (1894).

American born Inventors

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