Who is credited with sending the first email?

Ray Tomlinson is credited with sending the first email between different computers.

In 1971, while working at Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Tomlinson adapted the SNDMSG program and combined it with code from his CPYNET file-transfer program. This allowed users on separate computers connected to ARPANET to exchange messages.

Earlier electronic messaging systems could leave messages for users on the same computer, but Tomlinson's innovation made networked person-to-person email possible. He also chose the @ symbol to separate a user's name from the destination computer, creating the pattern that modern email addresses still use.

The exact text of his first test message was not preserved. It was probably an unimportant string typed during testing, so claims that it was definitely “QWERTYUIOP” are commonly overstated.