Who is Shiva Ayyadurai, Mumbai-born 'Inventor of Email' interested in replacing Elon Musk as Twitter CEO

VA Shiva Ayyadurai, Indian-American engineer, politician, entrepreneur, and anti-vaccine activist shows interest in becoming the chief executive officer of the microblogging platform Twitter after Elon Musk declares that he wishes to step down as soon as he finds a replacement for himself. 

Shiva Ayyadurai claims to have invented ‘emails’ when he was of very young age. Ayyadurai is a Fulbright grantee and has four degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), including a Ph.D. in biological engineering. 

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“I am interested in the CEO position @Twitter. I have 4 degrees from MIT & have created 7 successful high-tech software companies. Kindly advise of the process to apply,” Ayyadurai tweeted. 

Dear Mr. Musk(@elonmusk):

I am interested in the CEO position @Twitter. I have 4 degrees from MIT & have created 7 successful high-tech software companies. Kindly advise of the process to apply.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai, MIT PhD
The Inventor of Email

m:1-617-631-6874

— Dr.SHIVA Ayyadurai, MIT PhD. Inventor of Email (@va_shiva) December 24, 2022

Vellayappa Ayyadurai Shiva was born in Bombay (Mumbai) in 1963. He grew up in a village in Tamil Nadu. He was raised by a Tamil family in Bombay before relocating to the US when he was seven years old. Ayyadurai's undergraduate degree from MIT was in electrical engineering and computer science; he took a master's degree in visual studies from the MIT Media Laboratory on scientific visualization; concurrently, he completed another master's degree in mechanical engineering. 

It should be mentioned that Ayyadurai developed a computer software he dubbed "email" in 1978. This programme mirrored all the interoffice mail system's features, including the Inbox, Outbox, Folders, Memo, Attachments, and Address Book, among others.

The US government later recognised Ayyadurai as the creator of email on August 30, 1982, and gave him the first US Copyright for Email for his creation from the year 1978.

Ayyadurai rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic for his social media COVID-19 disinformation campaigns, which included spreading unfounded theories about the disease's origins, endorsing unproven COVID-19 treatments, and calling for Anthony Fauci to be fired because he was allegedly a deep state actor.

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Ayyadurai founded a company called Millennium Cybernetics, which produces email management software originally called Xiva and now called EchoMail. Ayyadurai ran for the Republican Party in the 2020 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts but lost to Kevin O'Connor in the primary. In the 2018 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts, he received 3.39% of the vote as an independent candidate.

Notably, Elon Musk announced on Tuesday that he would step down as Twitter Inc.'s CEO once he found a replacement, but would continue to lead a number of crucial departments inside the social media site.