https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=890233.msg10321992#msg10321992
I think we came to a good consensus in the thread linked above that BitCoin was mostly created in the comment sections of the "Nanobarter", "BitGold" & "BitGold-Markets" blogs. What happened in private emails and Meet-ups may never be known. Szabo & Zooko or maybe Jim McCoy or Hal? We may never know. IMHO...Nick Szabo's "BitGold" and Hal Finney's "RPOW" along with Jim McCoys "MojoNation" and Adam Back's "HashCash" made all this possible in one way or another. They had dedicated their lives since at least 1993 to bring p2p anonymous digital currency to us.
http://unenumerated.blogspot.com/2007/06/nanobarter.html?m=1
http://unenumerated.blogspot.com/2005/12/bit-gold.html?m=1
http://unenumerated.blogspot.com/2008/04/bit-gold-markets.html?m=1