NEWARK, NJ — What do Livingston and Newark have in common? The birth of "Email," Shiva Ayyadurai and the American Dream.

Wednesday marks the 35th anniversary that Ayyadurai received the first U.S. copyright for "Email - Computer Program for Electronic Mail System," which is based on a system that the rock and roll scientist-turned senatorial candidate invented in 1978 as a 14-year-old working at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark.

While the Livingston High School hall of famer and Fulbright Scholar's claim that he "invented email" has been challenged [see Ayyadurai's full take on the debate here], what's indisputable is the pride that the former Essex County resident's achievements have brought to his old stomping grounds.

Here's how the system known as "Email" came to be, according to Neil Devine, executive director at the nonprofit Innovation Corps.