Online Smiley turns 20 :-)


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On September 19, 1982, Fahlman typed :-) in an online message

It was 20 years ago today that Scott Fahlman taught the 'Net how to smile.

The IBM researcher has devoted his professional life to artificial intelligence, the practice of teaching computers how to think like humans.

Fahlman is known for his work with neural networks -- a computer technique designed to mimic the human brain -- and helping develop Common Lisp, a computer language that uses symbols instead of numbers, but the bearded scientist is perhaps best known for a flash of inspiration that helped to define Internet culture, in all of its ungrammatical glory.

On September 19, 1982, Fahlman typed :-) in an online message.

The "smiley face" has since become a staple of online communication, allowing 12-year-old girls and corporate lawyers alike to punctuate their messages with a quick symbol that says, "hey, I'm only joking."

Fahlman's innovation has since inspired countless other "emoticons" like ;-) to signify a wink or :-0 to show surprise.

"I've certainly spent 10 times as much time talking with people about it as I did coming up with it in the first place," Fahlman said from his Pittsburgh home. "Hopefully my actual research career will add up to more in the long run."

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