Happy Mailday! The first German Internet e-mail turns 40
WhatsApp, Instagram and co. or not – it is the communication tool of our time: email.
More than 350 billion emails are sent every day, an impressive figure that speaks for itself.
What probably only a few people know: The first e-mail in Germany was received in Karlsruhe.
On August 3, 1984, an incredible 40 years ago, it arrived at what was then the University of Karlsruhe (TH), now the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).
This was the first time that a transatlantic connection was established between the American network CSNET (Computer Science Net) and the new Karlsruhe CSNET server via the forerunner of the Internet.
To mark the anniversary, we take a closer look at the history of e-mail in Karlsruhe.
Welcome to CSNET! Michael, This is your official welcome to CSNET.
The first German Internet e-mail was received on August 3, 1984 at 10:14 a.m. CEST by Michael Rotert at his address rotert@germany.csnet and the head of the project, Werner Zorn (zorn@germany.csnet, Admin-C). It had been sent one day earlier on August 2, 1984 at 12:21 p.m. CEST by Laura Breeden from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
“This is your official welcome to CSNET. We are glad to have you aboard,” said the employee of the Coordination and Information Center of the American network CSNET (Computer Science Net) at Bolt Beranek & Newman (BBN) in Boston, welcoming the new German members of the network and officially declaring the operational readiness of the German server. [Source: KIT]
Starting signal for the most popular means of communication of our time
The Computer Science Network (CSNET) was a computer network launched in the United States in 1981 to connect academic and research institutions that were unable to connect directly to the ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) due to funding or licensing restrictions. ARPANET was a computer network and was originally developed on behalf of the US Air Force from 1968 by a small group of researchers under the direction of MIT and the US Department of Defense. It is the forerunner of today’s Internet.
CSNET, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), aimed to go beyond the military-funded and therefore severely restricted ARPANET to facilitate or even enable scientific communication nationally and internationally. It was the first system to use the communication protocols that correspond to those of today’s Internet. Thanks to the success of CSNET, the next steps were taken towards NSFNET, which became the backbone of the Internet a few years later. With this first e-mail, the starting signal was given in Karlsruhe for the e-mail that is so commonplace and widely used today.
Computer scientist and network pioneer
The groundwork for connecting Germany to the CSNET was done by Professor Werner Zorn, who proposed to the Federal Ministry of Education and Research as early as 1982 that the German Research Network (DFN) be connected to the American CSNET and submitted the project proposal “Interconnection of Networks”.
As one of the founding fathers of the German Internet, the computer scientist and network pioneer set several milestones. The connection of China to the CSNET in 1987, in the middle of the “Cold War”, is also one of them. Until a functioning infrastructure was created for the People’s Republic of China, all domains were managed on Professor Zorn’s computers.
Professor Zorn also founded the service provider Xlink (eXtended Lokales Informatik Netzwerk) on November 1, 1989. Xlink’s first customer was the university network BelWü in Baden-Württemberg, which was connected to the Internet. In 1990, BASF AG was XLink’s first commercial customer.
In 2006, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon for his services and was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame in the Pioneers category in 2013.
Also a starting signal for the division of the German network community
Rotert, now a professor himself, is still considered an Internet pioneer today, as he was instrumental in establishing the first Internet connection at a German university at KIT in 1985 – a milestone in the history of digital education.
He is a luminary in the field of information and communication technology. In addition to his impressive professional career – including as founder and managing director of Xlink – and as managing director and board member of various Internet companies, he is a committed advocate for the success of the Internet in Germany on various national and international committees. He also works as an expert for the EU, the UN and the US Department of Commerce.
And for all those for whom the “short history” of the first Internet e-mail was too short, Werner Zorn’s commemorative publication on the 30th anniversary is highly recommended. Not only is it a detailed chronicle with vivid illustrations and documents, readers will also learn some exciting details and facts, such as how not only a new communication technology but also a conflict that would divide the German Internet community for years to come was inevitably initiated with its introduction in Karlsruhe.
Cover picture: The registration confirmation from the American CSNET was the first email to be received in Germany. Photo: Screenshot from the commemorative publication by Prof. Dr. Zorn on the occasion of the 30th anniversary.