@
The symbol in e-mail addresses that separates the user’s name from the domain name. Credit for its first use goes to Ray Tomlinson, an engineer at Bolt, Beranek and Newman, an arpanet contractor. Tomlinson wrote the first e-mail programs for machines connected to Arpanet in 1972, choosing the @ symbol from the few available punctuation marks on his Model 33 Teletype and creating the internet’s most recognizable icon in the process. » Read more: Internet: @ and Acronyms