Gizmorama - March 9, 2016

Good Morning,

You would not be reading this newsletter if it weren't for email. Ray Tomlinson, inventor of email, has passed away. Today, we have a story about the man and his electronic messaging.

Learn about this and more interesting stories from the scientific community in today's issue.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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*-- Ray Tomlinson, inventor of email, dies at 74 --*
LINCOLN, Mass. - Ray Tomlinson, the man who created email in the early 1970s, has died. He was 74.

Tomlinson's employer, Raytheon, announced the news on Sunday. Details were not released.

Electronic messages could be sent before Tomlinson's creation, but within a very limited network. There was no voicemail and no answering machines, either.

Tomlinson was working for a tech firm in Boston in 1971 when he saw the need to send electronic messages -- with a simple mailbox protocol -- and be able to leave a message for whomever you needed.

"Everyone latched onto the idea that you could leave messages on the computer," he told the Verge. "As the network grew and the growth of all that accelerated, it became a really useful tool. There were millions of people you could potentially reach."

The first email was sent between two side-by-side machines with an "entirely forgettable" message, Tomlinson said. He sent a group email to co-workers soon after, explaining how to use his new invention.

It remained something of a novelty until the rise of the personal computer in the late 1980s and early 1990s where it became a essential part of American life. Even with smart phones and texting, email continues to play a role in business and in the lives of people around the world.

Tomlinson also chose the "@" symbol to connect the username with the destination address and it has now become a cultural icon. In 2010, MoMA's Department of Architecture and Design added the symbol into its collection, crediting Tomlinson.

Though Tomlinson, who was inducted into the internet Hall of Fame in 2012, achieved his goals with the invention, it's usage far exceeded his original intent.

"I see email being used, by and large, exactly the way I envisioned" he told the Verge. "In particular, it's not strictly a work tool or strictly a personal thing. Everybody uses it in different ways, but they use it in a way they find works for them."

"People just loved to work with him," Raytheon spokesperson Joyce Kuzman said. "He was so patient and generous with his time. He was just a really nice, down-to-earth, good guy."


*-- German scientists successfully teleport classical information --*
JENA, Germany - Using a series of laser beams, a pair of German scientists successfully teleported classical information without the transfer or matter or energy.

Researchers have previously demonstrated local teleportation within the world of quantum particles. But the latest experiment successfully translates the phenomenon for classical physics.

"Elementary particles such as electrons and light particles exist per se in a spatially delocalized state," Alexander Szameit, a professor at the University of Jena, explained in a press release.

In other words, these particles can be in two places at the same time.

"Within such a system spread across multiple locations, it is possible to transmit information from one location to another without any loss of time," Szameit.

By coupling the properties of classical information, researchers were able to use quantum teleportation for classical teleportation. Classical information is coupled using a process called "entanglement."

"As can be done with the physical states of elementary particles, the properties of light beams can also be entangled," said researcher Marco Ornigotti. "You link the information you would like to transmit to a particular property of the light."

Researchers used polarization to encode information within a laser beam, enabling the teleportation of information instantly and in its entirety without loss of time.

Whereas quantum information and quantum systems describe particle properties that are inferred, classical information describes physical properties directly measured.

The first-of-its-kind demonstration was detailed this week in the journal Laser & Photonics Reviews.

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