Which came first, email or Star Wars?
email came first, by 6 years. Ray Tomlinson sent the first message between two computers and chose the @ sign.
Side by side
| Star Wars | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1971 | 1977 |
| Date | — | 1977-05-25 |
| Category | technology | media |
| What happened | Ray Tomlinson sent the first message between two computers and chose the @ sign. | The first film opened in 32 American cinemas. |
Messages had been left for other users of the same machine since the mid-1960s. What Tomlinson did in 1971 was send one between two different computers on ARPANET, and pick @ to separate the user from the host because it was the only preposition on the keyboard that could not appear in a name. He did not record the first message and later said it was probably "QWERTYUIOP" or similar. Email is eighteen years older than the Web.
Star Wars
Star Wars opened in May 1977 on fewer than forty screens because the distributor had little faith in it, and it went on to be the highest-grossing film made to that point. Fox let Lucas keep the merchandising and sequel rights in exchange for a lower directing fee, a decision that transferred an extraordinary amount of money. It is eleven years younger than Star Trek.
Common questions
- Which came first, email or Star Wars?
- email, by 6 years — 1971 against 1977.
- When did email start?
- 1971. Ray Tomlinson sent the first message between two computers and chose the @ sign.
- When did Star Wars start?
- 1977. The first film opened in 32 American cinemas.
Related pages
- Microsoft or Star Wars? Microsoft
- Apple or email? email
- Apple or Star Wars? Apple
- the internet (ARPANET) or email? the internet (ARPANET)
- the internet (ARPANET) or Star Wars? the internet (ARPANET)
- email or Pakistan? Pakistan
- email or India? India
- email or Microsoft? email
- email or the Macintosh? email
- email or Windows? email
- email or the World Wide Web? email
- email or Python? email
Sources
- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)