Approximate message size15 B
10.4 millionthsFloppy disks
4.3 thousandthsPages of War and Peace
203 millionthsApollo computers
About 15 characters
Photo from Wikimedia Commons
First Email (1971)
The message that started the inbox era/Events & Phenomena
In late 1971, Ray Tomlinson sent the first email between two computers on ARPANET, using the @ symbol to separate the user name from the computer name. He later said the content was something like 'QWERTYUIOP' and was 'completely forgettable.' The two computers were side by side in the same room. Today, about 347 billion emails are sent per day worldwide.
Measurements
Distance between computers3 m
5.5 tenthsParking space lengths
1.09Pool tables
60,000Plant cells
Side by side in same room
ARPANET transmission speed6,250 m/s
18,939Crawling babies
12,500Escalators
25Passenger jets
50 kbps over phone lines
Years since first email (2026)1.7 billion s
19.3 millionRed lights
11.6 millionPopcorn bags
About 55 years
Daily emails sent worldwide (2024)347 trillion B
347,000Windows updates
235 millionFloppy disk capacities
347 billion emails, about 1 KB average