Amsterdam Native Who Put @ Symbol In Email Passes Away

Raymond Tomlinson, the first person to use the @ symbol in email communication, passed away Saturday at the age of 74.

According to the Times Union, Raymond was an Amsterdam native who graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1963. He eventually became an engineer at Massachusetts technology firm. That is where he changes the course of the internet by utilizing the @ for sending email messages between computers.

I bet Raymond never imagined one character would have such an impact on how we communicate. It's in emails, Twitter and Instagram addresses and has basically become a quick symbol for any worse of the word 'at.' Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense since at is only one more character, but it just looks better doesn't it?