You might want to look at Wikipedia entry "E-mail". There was a formal timeshare messaging system: 1978 – EMAIL at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Medicine_and_Dentistry_of_New_Jersey> [36] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail#cite_note-37>
It's very likely that the the term was simultaneously invented in multiple places, as deriving "e-mail" in any of its various forms is an obvious acronym for "electronic mail". BTW, the routine capitalization of 'E' in E-mail came in the 1990's from William Safire's "On Language" column in the NY Times newspaper: He made the analogy with "T-shirt". Clive P. Hohberger, PhD MBA Managing Director *Clive Hohberger, LLC* +1 847 910 8794 [email protected] On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 4:14 AM, N. Ganesan <[email protected]> wrote: > There are interviews in Tamil and English language media about > V. A. Shiva Ayyadurai and his work in high school > and later with respect to electronic mail. > > A statement issued by MIT will be useful to make things clear. > http://tech.mit.edu/V132/N5/corrections.html > "A brief published on Jan. 11 incorrectly titled Shiva Ayyaduri and credits > him with the first copyright to email. He is a faculty lecturer. Also, > while he holds a copyright from 1982 titled “EMAIL,” Ayyaduri is not the > inventor of email, which began in the 1960s." > > This raises the question of who was the first to > coin and use the term, email. It appears this > coinage was done by Shiva Ayyadurai in 1978 when > he was 14, and at high school. He explains that > there was a six-letter limit on program names > in the Fortran IV language, he chose ‘email’ inside > the code. > http://www.vashiva.com/innovation/email/vashiva-inventor-history.asp#inv03 > > In early 70s, the term "electronic mail" was used for > fax machines. In late 70's and early 80's > "electronic mail" was used for what we > now call email. For example, > > (1) J. M. McQuillan and D. C. Walden, “Designing Electronic Mail Systems > That People Will Use,” > SIGOA Newsletter, May l980, vol. 1, no. 2; InfoMail User Guide, BBN > Information Management > Corporation, Cambridge, MA. > > (2) J. M. McQuillan and D. C. Walden, “Portable Software for Electronic > Mail Makes it Hardware- > Independent,” Electronics, March 10, 1981, pp. 167–171. > networked e-mail, > http://walden-family.com/bbn/chapter-19.pdf > > It will be nice if some one can post the > 1979 article from Electronics magazine that > uses E-mail for the first time. See Oxford English > Dictionary site, > http://public.oed.com/appeals/email/ > "1979 Electronics 7 June 63 (heading) > Postal Service pushes ahead with E-mail." > > While email tech development has a long history but it was known > by different names. It does seem that in 1978, a high school > student has coined the word, email, which is > now used by everyone. > > N. Ganesan > > > --
