Ray Tomlinson, the creator of email is dead

Ray Tomlinson, widely credited as the creator of email, has died, his employer, Raytheon, told CNN on Sunday. He was 74.

Tomlinson invented direct email messages in 1971. Before his invention, electronic messages could be shared only on a very limited network.

Among those paying tribute was Gmail, one of many offshoots of Tomlinson's creation."Thank you, Ray Tomlinson, for inventing email and putting the @ sign on the map," Gmail's Twitter account said.