In August 1982, the U.S. government accepted a patent for an electronic intra-office messaging system called "email" from then-teenager V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai. Ayyadurai's assertion that he invented email has been disputed by others in his field, but the inventor and CEO joined HuffPost Live on Thursday to defend his claims.
During the segment, actress Fran Drescher made a surprise appearance. The couple met a little over a year ago, at an event hosted by Deepak Chopra.
"I was speaking on sages and scientists -- in fact, talking about innovation and the fact that we need to more universally look at the models of innovation," Ayyadurai explained to host Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani. "And Fran heard my talk and we fell in love, and we've been together since that talk."
The couple have a lot to celebrate: the one-year anniversary of their relationship was less than two weeks ago, and the 32nd anniversary of the acceptance of Ayyadurai's patent is on Aug. 30. But Ayyadurai said that the couple doesn't have anything special planned.
"Every day is a celebration with Fran," he said. "Every day is almost a romantic hangout with her. We're always laughing, always enjoying ourselves."
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