V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai: Inventor of e-mail honored by Smithsonian
As the article later clarified after readers sent Emi email:
V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai also has his own website at www.InventorOfEmail.comClarification: A number of readers have accurately pointed out that electronic messaging predates V. A. Shiva Ayyadurai’s work in 1978. However, Ayyadurai holds the copyright to the computer program called“email,” establishing him as the creator of the “computer program for [an] electronic mail system” with that name, according to the U.S. Copyright Office.
Here is a nice graphic that details the history of email.