Question

In which year @ selected for its use in e-mail addresses :

• A. 1969
• B. 1972
• C. 1975
• D. 1980

Answer 1

Answer:

B. 1972

• The @ symbol (at sign) was selected for use in email addresses in 1972 by Ray Tomlinson, a computer programmer working on ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), the precursor to the modern internet.

• Historical Context:

  • Ray Tomlinson is credited with inventing email as we know it today. When he was developing a system to send messages between computers on different networks, he needed a way to separate the user's name from the computer or network name in the address format.

• Why the @ symbol?

  • Tomlinson chose the @ symbol for several practical reasons:

    • It was available on the keyboard but rarely used in computing at that time

    • It had a clear meaning in English: "at" - indicating a person's location

    • It wouldn't appear in anyone's name, avoiding confusion

    • It provided a logical separator between username and host/domain

• The First Email Address Format:

  • The format became: username@hostname

  • This revolutionary format has remained unchanged for over 50 years and is still the standard for email addresses worldwide.

• Significance:

  • The year 1972 marks a pivotal moment in digital communication history, as this simple innovation laid the foundation for billions of email addresses used globally today.