On September 19, 1982, Carnegie Mellon University computer science research assistant professor Scott Fahlman posted a message to the universityās bulletin board software that would later come to shape how people communicate online. His proposal: use š and š as markers to distinguish jokes from serious comments. While Fahlman describes himself as āthe inventorā¦or at least one of the inventorsā of what would later be called the smiley face emoticon, the full story reveals something more interesting than a lone genius moment.
The whole episode started three days earlier when computer scientist Neil Swartz posed a physics problem to colleagues on Carnegie Mellonās ābboard,ā which was an early online message board. The discussion thread had been exploring what happens to objects in a free-falling elevator, and Swartz presented a specific scenario involving a lit candle and a drop of mercury.
That evening, computer scientist Howard Gayle responded with a facetious message titled āWARNING!ā He claimed that an elevator had been ācontaminated with mercuryā and suffered āsome slight fire damageā due to a physics experiment. Despite clarifying posts noting the warning was a joke, some people took it seriously.
What an interesting look back at the origins of emoticons! It’s fascinating how a simple joke led to such a significant change in digital communication. Thanks for sharing this piece of history!
the creation of something that has become such a vital part of our online communication. Itās remarkable to think how emoticons evolved into emojis, transforming the way we express emotions digitally today!