சிவா ஐயாதுரை: முதன்முதலில் மின்னஞ்சலைக் கண்டுபிடித்த தமிழன் தமிழர்களுக்கு தமிழன் கண்டுபிடித்தான் என்று கண்டுபிடிக்கவே தெரியாது.

09.09.கி.ஆ2012 தமிழாண்டு 2043சிவா ஐயாத்துரையின் கண்டுபிடிப்பு இன்று உலகத்தையே கட்டிப்போட்டுத் தன் வயப்படுத்தி இருக்கிறது. தமிழனால் முடியும்! தமிழன் சாதிக்கப் பிறந்தவன்! என்பதற்கு சிறந்த எடுத்துக்காட்டாகத் திகழ்கிறார் சாதனைத் தமிழன் சிவா ஐயாதுரை.அமெரிக்க நாளிகை செய்தி - 30.10.1980

இன்று உலக மக்கள் ஒவ்வொருவருக்கும் தனித்தனியாக ஒரு முகவரி இருக்கிறது. அவரவர் வீட்டு முகவரி என நினைத்துவிடாதீர்கள்.

ஒரே வீட்டில் இருந்தாலும் ஒவ்வொருவருக்கும் தனித்தனியாக ஒரு முகவரி இருக்கிறது. அதுதான் மின்னஞ்சல்(e-mail) முகவரி. இன்றைய நவின காலத்தில் எல்லாருக்கும் எல்லாவற்றுக்கும் மின்னஞ்சல் கண்டிப்பாகத் தேவை என்று ஆகிவிட்டது.

இந்த மின்னஞ்சலைக் கண்டுபிடித்தவர் ஒரு ‘தமிழன்’ என அறியும்போது ‘தமிழன் என்று சொல்லடா; தலைநிமிர்ந்து நில்லடா’ என்று நெற்றிப் புருவம் மேலே ஏறுகின்றது! நரம்புகளில் ஏதோ ஓர் உணர்வு முறுக்கேறுகின்றது.

வெள்ளைத் தாளில் தூவலைப்(பேனா) பிடித்து கடிதம் எழுதிய பாரம்பரிய முறையை மாற்றிப்போட்டு மின்னியல் தொழில்நுட்பத்தைப் பயன்படுத்தி மின்மடல் எழுதும் புதிய பரிணாமம்தான் இந்த மின்னஞ்சல். ஆனால், இன்றோ அதனுடைய பயன்பாடு பல்வகைப்பட்டதாக மாறிவிட்டது. நவின உலகத்தில் மின்சாரம் இல்லாமல் எப்படி வாழ முடியாதோ அப்படி ஆகிவிட்டது இந்த மின்னஞ்சல். இ-மெயில் எனப்படும் மின்னஞ்சல் இல்லாமல் இன்றைய உலகத்தில் வாழ முடியாது என்னும் நிலைமை வந்துவிட்டது.

ஆகக் கடைசியாக வந்திருக்கும் முகநூல் (Facebook), டுவிட்டர் (Twitter), கூகிள் + (g+) யூ டியூப் (You Tube) என்று எந்தத் தொழில்நுட்பத்தை எடுத்துக்கொண்டாலும் இந்த மின்னஞ்சல் இல்லாமல் எதுவும் செயல்படாது; எதிலும் நாம் செயல்பட முடியாது.

அந்த அளவுக்கு முகமைத்தன்மை வாய்ந்த மின்னஞ்சலை முதன் முதலாகக் கண்டுபிடித்து உலகத்திற்கு வழங்கிய அறிவியலாளர் - தொழில்நுட்பர் வி.ஏ.சிவா ஐயாதுரை என்பவராவார். மின்னஞ்சல் தொழில்நுட்பத்தைக் கண்டுபிடித்ததற்கான காப்புரிமையையும் (copyright) இவர் பெற்றிருக்கிறார். இவர் தமிழ்நாட்டில், தமிழ்க் குடும்பத்தில் பிறந்து பின்னர் அமெரிக்காவில் குடியேறிய தமிழர்.

இளவயதில் சிவா ஐயாதுரை

தற்பொழுது 49 அகவை நிரம்பிய சிவா ஐயாதுரை, மின்னஞ்சலைக் கண்டுபிடித்த பொழுது 14 வயது இளைஞராக இருந்தார் என்னும் செய்தியை அறியும்போது நமக்குப் பெரும் வியப்பும் பெருமிதமும் ஏற்படுகிறது.

30 ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முன்னர் இவர் மின்னஞ்சல் தொழில்நுட்பத்தைக் கண்டுபிடித்து உலகத்திற்கு அறிமுகப்படுத்திய பொழுது அதனை அமெரிக்க அரசாங்கம் அவ்வளவாகக் கண்டுகொள்ளவில்லை. குடியேற்ற சிறுபான்மை இனத்தவர் என்ற காரணத்தினாலோ என்னவோ இவருக்கு உரிய உறுதிபாட்டையும் காப்புரிமையையும் கொடுக்கவில்லை. இதனால், மின்னஞ்சலுக்குப் பலரும் சொந்தம் கொண்டாடினர்.

ஆனாலும், 4 ஆண்டுகள் கழித்து 1982ஆம் ஆண்டு ஆகத்து 30ஆம் நாள் சிவா ஐயாதுரையின் அரிய கண்டுபிடிப்புக்கு உரிய உறுதிப்பாடும் மின்னஞ்சல் காப்புரிமையும் (e-mail copyright) வழங்கப்பட்டது.

காப்புரிமை ஆவணம்

இ-மெயில் (e-mail) என்ற பெயரை உருவாக்கியவரும் இவர்தான். அதோடு, மின்னஞ்சலின் உள்ளடக்கங்கள் (inbox, outbox, draft), செயல்முறைகள் (reply, forward, attachment, broadcasting), குறிப்பான்கள் (to, from, subject, Cc, Bcc, Date, Body) ஆகிய எல்லாவற்றையும் உருவாக்கியவரும் பெயரிட்டவரும் இவரேதான்.

சிவா ஐயாதுரை தற்பொழுது அமெரிக்காவின் புகழ்பெற்ற எம்.ஐ.டி பல்கலையில் விரிவுரையாளராக பணியாற்றுகிறார். முன்பு மாணவனாக இருந்தபொழுது தன்னுடைய கண்டுபிடிப்புக்கு சரியான உறுதிப்பாடு கிடைக்காமல் போனதால் மிகவும் மனமுடைந்து போனதன் காரணமாக, தன்னைப்போல் எந்தவொரு மாணவரும் உரிய மதிப்பு கிடைக்காமல் வருத்தமடைய கூடாது என்னும் எண்ணத்தில் இன்னோவேசன் கார்ப்சு (Innovation Corps) என்ற ஒரு நிறுவனத்தை நிறுவியுள்ளார். இந்த நிறுவனம் மாணவர்களின் கண்டுபிடிப்புகளை வெளிப்படுத்தவும் அவற்றைத் தொழில்படுத்தவும் உதவும் என அறிவித்துள்ளார். அதுமட்டுமல்லாமல் நோவார்க்கு நகர உயர்நிலைப்பள்ளி மாணவர்களின் புதிய கண்டுபிடிப்புகளை ஊக்கப்படுத்தும் வகையில் ஒரு இலக்கம் அமெரிக்க டாலர் (USD100,000) பரிசுத் தொகையை வழங்கப்போவதாக அறிவித்துள்ளார்.

அமெரிக்க நாளிகை செய்தி - 30.10.1980

சிவா ஐயாத்துரையின் கண்டுபிடிப்பு இன்று உலகத்தையே கட்டிப்போட்டுத் தன் வயப்படுத்தி இருக்கிறது. தமிழனால் முடியும்! தமிழன் சாதிக்கப் பிறந்தவன்! என்பதற்கு சிறந்த எடுத்துக்காட்டாகத் திகழ்கிறார் சாதனைத் தமிழன் சிவா ஐயாதுரை.

Inventor of Email - The Facts

In 1978, a 14-year-old named V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai developed a computer program, which replicated the features of the interoffice, inter-organizational paper mail system. He named his program “EMAIL”. Shiva filed an application for copyright in his program and in 1982 the United States Copyright Office issued a Certificate of Registration, No. TXu-111-775, to him on the program. As required by the Regulations of the Copyright Office, he deposited portions of the original source code with the program. Prominent in the code is the name “EMAIL” that he gave to the program. He received a second Certificate of Registration, No. TXu-108-715, for the “EMAIL User’s Manual” he had prepared to accompany the program and that taught unsophisticated user’s how to use EMAIL’s features.

Recently however, a substantial controversy has arisen as to who invented email. This controversy has resulted in an unfortunate series of attacks on Shiva. Part of the problem is that different people use to the term to mean somewhat different things.

The Invention of Email

In the summer of 1978, Shiva had been recruited for programming assignments at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) in Newark, New Jersey. One of his supervisors, Dr. Leslie P. Michelson, recognized his abilities and challenged him to translate the conventional paper-based interoffice and inter-organizational communication system (i.e., paper-based mail and memoranda) to an electronic communication system.

Systems for communications among widely dispersed computers were in existence at the time, but they were primitive and their usage was largely confined to computer scientists and specialists. Shiva envisioned something simpler, something that everyone, from secretary to CEO, could use to quickly and reliably send and receive digital messages.

Shiva embraced the project and began by performing a thorough evaluation of UMDNJ's paper-based mail system, the same as that used in offices and organizations around the world. He determined that the essential features of these systems included functions corresponding to “Inbox”, “Outbox”, “Drafts”, “Memo” (“To:”, “From:”, “Date:”, “Subject:”, “Body:”, “Cc:”, “Bcc:”), “Attachments”, “Folders”, “Compose”, “Forward”, “Reply”, “Address Book”, “Groups”, “Return Receipt”, “Sorting”. These capabilities were all to be provided in a software program having a sufficiently simple interface that needed no expertise in computer systems to use efficiently to “Send” and “Receive” mail electronically. It is these features that make his program “email” and that distinguish “email” from prior electronic communications.

Shiva went on to be recognized by the Westinghouse Science Talent Search Honors Group for his invention. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology highlighted his invention as one among four, in the incoming Freshman class of 1,040 students. His papers, documenting the invention of EMAIL were accepted by Smithsonian Institution. These are facts based on legal, governmental and institutional recognition and substantiation, and there is no disputing it.

Misconceptions About Email

Standard histories of the Internet, however, are full of claims that certain individuals (and teams) in the ARPAnet environment and other large companies in the 1970s and 1980s “invented email.” For example, the familiar “@” sign, early programs for sending and receiving messages, and technical specifications known as RFCs, are examples of such false claims to “email”. But as some claimants have admitted, even as late as December 1977, none of these innovations were intended to emulate the paper-based mail system - Inbox, Memo, Outbox, Folders, Address Book, etc.

Sending text messages electronically could be said to date back to the Morse code telegraph of the mid 1800s; or the 1939 World's Fair where IBM sent a message of congratulations from San Francisco to New York on an IBM radio-type, calling it a “high-speed substitute for mail service in the world of tomorrow.” The original text message, electronic transfer of content or images, ARPANET messaging, and even the “@” sign were used in primitive electronic communication systems. While the technology pioneers who created these systems should be heralded for their efforts, and given credit for their specific accomplishments and contributions, these early computer programs were clearly not email.

The Unfortunate Reaction to the Invention of Email

Based on false claims, over the past year (since the acceptance of Shiva's documents into the Smithsonian), industry insiders have chosen to launch an irrational denial of the invention. There is no direct dispute of the invention Copyright, but rather inaccurate claims, false statements, and personal attacks waged against Shiva. Attackers are attempting to discredit him, and his life's work. He has received threatening phone calls, unfair online comments, and his name and work has been maligned. It is but a sad commentary that a vocal minority have elected to hijack his accomplishment, apparently not satisfied with the recognition they have already received for their contributions to the field of text messaging. Following the Smithsonian news, they went into action. They began historical revisionism on their own “History of Electronic Mail” to hide the facts. They enlisted “historians” who started discussions among themselves to redefine the term “email” so as to credit their own work done prior to 1978, as “email”.

More blatantly, they registered the InternetHallofFame.Org web site, seven (7) days after the Smithsonian news and issued a new award to one of their own as “inventor of email”. Through the PR machine of BBN (a multi-billion dollar company), they were proclaimed as the “king of email”, and “godfather of email”. These actions were taken to protect their false branding and diminish the accolades and just recognition Shiva was beginning to receive. Shiva’s news likely threatens BBN’s entire brand, which has deliberately juxtaposed “innovation”, with the “@” logo, along with the face of their mascot, the self-proclaimed “inventor of email”. They have removed damaging references to eminent Internet pioneers of the time such as MA Padlipsky who exposed their lies, and showed that BBN’s mascot, was not the “inventor of email”.

Some industry insiders have even gone to the extent, in the midst of the overwhelming facts, to now attempt to confuse the public that "EMAIL" is not "email". It is a fact that the term "email", the juxtaposition of those five characters "e", "m", "a", "i" and "l", did not exist prior to 1978. The naming of the software program EMAIL in all capitals was because at UMDNJ, the names of software programs, subroutines and variables written in FORTRAN IV used the upper-case naming convention. Moreover, at that time, the use of upper case for the naming of programs, subroutine and variable names, was also a carry over from the days of writing software programs using punch cards. The fact is EMAIL is email, upper case, lower case, any case.

A Time for Reflection

Sadly, some of these individuals have even gone further, deciding that false allegations are insufficient to make their case and have resorted to character assassination of the most debased nature including removal and destruction of facts on Wikipedia to discredit Shiva as an inventor of any kind. Threatening and racist emails telling him “to hang himself by his dhothi”, blogs referring to him as a “flagrant fraud”, and comments that EMAIL was “not an invention” are beyond disbelief, and reflect a parochial attitude that innovation can only take place in large universities, big companies, and the military. As MIT's Institute Professor Noam Chomsky reflected: “The efforts to belittle the innovation of a 14-year-old child should lead to reflection on the larger story of how power is gained, maintained, and expanded, and the need to encourage, not undermine, the capacities for creative inquiry that are widely shared and could flourish, if recognized and given the support they deserve.“

Of course a claim such as “I invented email” will leave anyone open to criticism and doubt, and as some suggest “hatred”. In this case, the victim has not made a “claim”, but rather been recognized by the government and top educational institutions in the world as an inventor. Regardless of the vitriol, animosity and bigotry by a vocal minority, a simple truth stands: email was invented by a 14-year-old working in Newark, NJ in 1978.

This is a fact. Innovation can occur, any place, any time, by anybody.

Example of Artifacts Submitted to Smithsonian (Feb 2012)

Learning Programming @ NYU, 1978

Professor Henry Mullish of the Courant Institute of Mathematical Science at New York University (NYU), a visionary, who recognized the importance of training America's future engineers and scientists in computer programming, organized a highly selective and intensive 8-week program. This program had 40 openings for students in the New York area. Shiva was one of the few who was fortunate to get accepted, after hearing about the program from Martin Feuerman, a colleague of Meenakshi Ayyadurai (Shiva's mom) at UMDNJ. The program offered both class room training by NYU graduate students and faculty, as well as a rigorous lab component for each of the classes in FORTRAN, PL/I, COBOL, SNOBOL, BASIC, Digital Circuit Design, ARTSPEAK. All of this was done in punch cards on old CDC main frames. Shiva graduated with Distinction and was one of the youngest of the entire group. He also won a special Computer Arts Award for artwork he developed using ARTSPEAK, one of the earliest computer graphic languages.

EMAIL was named in 1978 in FORTRAN IV

The FORTRAN IV compiler at the time being used at UMDNJ had a six-letter character limit on naming variables and subroutines. The operating system had an additional limit of five characters for the name of main programs. “EMAIL” was chosen as the name of the computer program for the system which would emulate the interoffice, inter-organizational mail system. This printout is just one example of the nearly 50,000 lines of code (there are other such examples on this website), that was submitted to the US Copyright Office and donated to the Smithsonian.

First EMAIL System, 1980

This article appeared in the West Essex Tribune entitled “Livingston Student Designs Electronic Mail System” on October 30, 1980.

His independent study teacher and coordinator at Livingston High School, Stella Oleksiak, was persistent with the Superintendent of Schools, the Principal and other teachers, who originally did not want to allow a student to travel back and forth to work in Newark, NJ, for a variety of reasons. Through her efforts and the support of Dr. Leslie P. Michelson, Shiva was allowed, starting in 1978, to do the independent study. This article was an important one, for it demonstrated to the local school board and others, that the concept of Independent Study could lead to fruitful results. Each day, Shiva traveled nearly 30 miles to UMDNJ.

Westinghouse Award Entry, 1981

This is the original of the Westinghouse Award Entry that Shiva submitted to the Westinghouse Science Talent Search Committee in 1981. The review of this document is what was used to determine the issuance of the Westinghouse Science Talent Honors Award.

By reviewing this document, one can see some of the details of his thinking, design approach and thoughts on where email could go in the future. The document is typewritten. This was at a time when programs like MS Word, Powerpoint, Adobe, etc. did not exist.

Westinghouse Award Finalist, 1981

The Westinghouse Science Talent Search, now known as the Intel Science Talent Search to, has been referred to as the ‘Baby Nobels.’”

In 1981, V. A. Shiva Ayyadurai was awarded an Honors Group award for “The Software Design, Development and Implementation of a High-Reliability Network-Wide Electronic Mail System.”

MIT Tech Talk, 1981

The incoming Class of 1985 to MIT entered in the Fall of 1981. The front-page article in Tech Talk, MIT's official newspaper highlighted the work of four incoming students, one being the invention of EMAIL.

Even while at MIT, Shiva continued, for a few more years to consult as a Research Fellow for UMDNJ to continue additional work on EMAIL.

In 1982, the U.S. Copyright Office issued TXu-111-775, the first Copyright for EMAIL, to Shiva Ayyadurai. At that time, the only protection available for software was through Copyright. The U.S. intellectual property laws, at that time, treated software similar to music, art or literary work. The original Copyright application was submitted in 1980.

COMAND, 1982

Dr. Leslie Michelson, Ph.D., a former physicist was Shiva's mentor, who provided this unique opportunity and access to infrastructure at UMDNJ as well as other colleagues twenty to fifty years older than him. Dr. Michelson recruited Shiva to be a Scholar in his Lab after hearing about his work and results at the NYU Summer program, offered by Henry Mullish. Initially, there was no pay offered, but free lunch at the UMDNJ cafeteria. Later on, he earned $1.25 per hour. The screen you see on the left was the size of the display that one had to work with.

Every software system needs a User's Manual, so did the world's first email system. At that time, Shiva was everything on the project: software engineer, network manager, project manager, architect, quality assurance AND technical writer.

The User's Manual for which he received Copyright TXu-108-715 was also tested. He wrote and updated multiple versions based on feedback from his user base of doctors. It had to be easy-to-read and accessible to all.

In 1984, the U.S. Copyright Office issued TXu-169-126, the first Copyright for EMS (EMAIL Management System), to (V.A.) Shiva Ayyadurai. The EMAIL copyright had been awarded to Shiva two years earlier. This copyright recognized his additional contribution for creating all the internal tools needed by system administrators to maintain EMAIL and messages long-term, e.g. archiving, password management, etc.

Even in 1984, the only protection available for software was through Copyright. The U.S. intellectual property laws, at that time, treated software similar to music, art or literary work. The original Copyright application was submitted in 1980.

U.S Patent: Relationship Management System and Method using

Asynchronous Electronic Messaging, 2003

This patent was awarded in recognition for Shiva's contribution to create a holistic and integrated system for electronic management of on-line relationships through the use of ANY asynchronous electronic messages. This broad patent was issued after considerable deliberation by the USPTO.

Shiva, at one point, was asked to appear in Washington, DC at the USPTO to explain aspects, given the broad protection for all asynchronous messaging he was seeking.

U.S Patent: System and Method for Content-Sensitive Automatic Reply Message Generation, 2004

In 2004, over 20 years, after creating the worlds' first email system, Shiva was issued U.S. Patent #6,718,368 for inventing a method for automatically analyzing an email and formulating a response. This patent was issued to Shiva's company General Interactive, LLC, which developed the product EchoMail. EchoMail became the leading application for intelligent message analysis, sorting and routing used by such companies as Hilton, QVC, Citigroup and others.

The patent enabled the automatic and adaptive retrieval of information from a database while enabling the transmission of reply messages based on content of a received message.

U.S Patent: Filter for Modeling System and Method for Handling and Routing of

Text Based Aynchronous Commmunications, 2004

This patent was awarded to Shiva for developing a unique method to route incoming text-based asynchronous communications. The system applied pattern analysis methods of Feature Extraction, Clustering and Learning, deploying a hybrid and integrated systems model of nearly 19 different technologies in a unique frame work.

குமரிநாடு.நெற்