Economic Times Article :
Email turned 32 today but how many of us know that this quick method of message transfer was invented by Indian American V A Shiva Ayyadurai when he was just 14. In 1978, Ayyadurai created a computer programme, which he called
"email," that replicated all the functions of the interoffice mail
system: Inbox, Outbox, Folders, Memo, Attachments, Address Book, etc.
These features are now familiar parts of every email system.
On August 30, 1982, the US government officially recognised
Ayyadurai as the inventor of email by awarding him the first US
Copyright for Email for his 1978 invention. At that time copyright was
the only way to protect software inventions.
Email wasn't created, with a massive research budget, in big institutions like the ARPANET, MIT
or the military. Such institutions had thought it "impossible" to
create such a system, believing it far too complex, Huffington Post
said. Ayyadurai was born to a Tamil Family in Bombay. At the age of seven, he left with his family to live in the US. At 14, he attended a special summer programme at the Courant Institute
of Mathematical Sciences of New York University (NYU) to study computer
programming, and later went on to graduate from Livingston High School
in Livingston, New Jersey. While attending high school, he also worked
at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) as a
research fellow.
Ayyadurai's talent, passion and commitment
immediately impressed Dr Leslie Michelson, then Director of the
Laboratory Computer Network (LCN) at UMDNJ. He gave him a challenge: to
convert the old system of paper-based mail communications used at UMDNJ
to an electronic one.
This complex system of office-to-office communications was the
interoffice mail system. This system was not unique to UMDNJ but used in
nearly every office including those of presidents and prime ministers.
Ayyadurai closely observed that the desktop of each secretary, in
addition to the typewriter, had an Inbox, Outbox, Drafts, Carbon Copy
Paper, Folders, Address Book, Paper Clips (for attachments), etc, which
they used each day to create and process incoming and outgoing mail. The he conceived an electronic version of this system. He created a
computer programme of over 50,000 lines of code, which electronically
replicated all the features of the interoffice mail system.
In
1978, a 14-year-old named VA Shiva Ayyadurai developed a computer
program, which replicated the features of the interoffice,
inter-organizational paper mail system. He named his program “EMAIL”.
Shiva filed an application for copyright in his program and in 1982 the
United States Copyright Office issued a Certificate of Registration, No. TXu-111-775, to him on the program.
 |
| First US Copyright for "EMAIL, Computer Program for Electronic Mail System" issued to VA Shiva Ayyadurai. |
As required by the Regulations of the Copyright Office, he deposited
portions of the original source code with the program. Prominent in the
code is the name “EMAIL” that he gave to the program. He received a
second Certificate of Registration, No. TXu-108-715, for the “EMAIL User’s Manual” he had prepared to accompany the program and that taught unsophisticated user’s how to use EMAIL’s features.
Recently however, a substantial controversy has
arisen as to who invented email. This controversy has resulted in an
unfortunate series of attacks on Shiva. Part of the problem is that
different people use to the term to mean somewhat different things.
The Man Who Invented Email
|
In the summer of 1978, Shiva had been recruited for
programming assignments at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of
New Jersey (UMDNJ) in Newark, New Jersey. One of his supervisors, Dr. Leslie P. Michelson,
recognized his abilities and challenged him to translate the
conventional paper-based interoffice and inter-organizational
communication system (i.e., paper-based mail and memoranda) to an
electronic communication system.
Systems for communications among widely dispersed
computers were in existence at the time, but they were primitive and
their usage was largely confined to computer scientists and specialists.
|
|
Shiva envisioned something simpler, something that
everyone, from secretary to CEO, could use to quickly and reliably send
and receive digital messages. Shiva embraced the project and began by
performing a thorough evaluation of UMDNJ's paper-based mail system, the same as that used in offices and organizations around the world.
- See more at: http://www.inventorofemail.com/index.asp#sthash.OnjOl93B.dpuf
n
1978, a 14-year-old named VA Shiva Ayyadurai developed a computer
program, which replicated the features of the interoffice,
inter-organizational paper mail system. He named his program “EMAIL”.
Shiva filed an application for copyright in his program and in 1982 the
United States Copyright Office issued a Certificate of Registration, No. TXu-111-775, to him on the program.
|
| First US Copyright for "EMAIL, Computer Program for Electronic Mail System" issued to VA Shiva Ayyadurai. |
As required by the Regulations of the Copyright Office, he deposited
portions of the original source code with the program. Prominent in the
code is the name “EMAIL” that he gave to the program. He received a
second Certificate of Registration, No. TXu-108-715, for the “EMAIL User’s Manual” he had prepared to accompany the program and that taught unsophisticated user’s how to use EMAIL’s features.
Recently however, a substantial controversy has
arisen as to who invented email. This controversy has resulted in an
unfortunate series of attacks on Shiva. Part of the problem is that
different people use to the term to mean somewhat different things.
The Man Who Invented Email
|
In the summer of 1978, Shiva had been recruited for
programming assignments at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of
New Jersey (UMDNJ) in Newark, New Jersey. One of his supervisors, Dr. Leslie P. Michelson,
recognized his abilities and challenged him to translate the
conventional paper-based interoffice and inter-organizational
communication system (i.e., paper-based mail and memoranda) to an
electronic communication system.
Systems for communications among widely dispersed
computers were in existence at the time, but they were primitive and
their usage was largely confined to computer scientists and specialists.
|
|
Shiva envisioned something simpler, something that
everyone, from secretary to CEO, could use to quickly and reliably send
and receive digital messages. Shiva embraced the project and began by
performing a thorough evaluation of UMDNJ's paper-based mail system, the same as that used in offices and organizations around the world.
- See more at: http://www.inventorofemail.com/index.asp#sthash.OnjOl93B.dpuf
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