Technology Luminary and Pioneer Doug Engelbart Joins Silicon Valley Engineering Council Hall of Fame

Inventor of the Computer Mouse Joins Other Industry Pioneers at Tonight's Induction Ceremony

MENLO PARK, Calif. – February 23, 2005– SRI International, an independent nonprofit research and development organization, today announced that Douglas Engelbart, Ph.D., inventor of the computer mouse while at SRI, has been named to the Silicon Valley Engineering Council Hall of Fame.

Engelbart and four other industry pioneers will be formally inducted at a ceremony tonight hosted by the Silicon Valley Engineering Council (SVEC), an umbrella organization of more than 40 professional societies representing 60,000 engineers, scientists and technologists in the region. The Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame recognizes local engineers for their outstanding engineering and technology achievements and significant contributions to the community.

The other distinguished Hall of Fame inductees include Dr. T.J. Rodgers, the founder, president and CEO of Cypress Semiconductor Corp., Mr. Kenneth Levy, chairman of KLA-Tencor Corp.; Dr. Dan Maydan, president emeritus of Applied Materials, Inc.; and Dr. David Patterson, professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. Past inductees include technology luminaries William R. Hewlett and David Packard, the founders of Hewlett-Packard, and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.  

"Dr. Engelbart's extraordinary commitment to advanced computing revolutionized the way we communicate and collaborate, and paved the way for the digital age," said Dr. Sam David Haddad, consulting professor of engineering at Stanford University and chairman of the SVEC Hall of Fame and Awards Committee.   "His life's work is an inspiration to engineers of the future. We are deeply honored to induct him into the Hall of Fame."

While at SRI, Engelbart and his team created many of the concepts and tools that set the global computer revolution in motion. His vision and work in the 1960s resulted in the computer mouse, hypertext linking, real-time text editing, online journals, shared-screen teleconferencing, and remote collaboration technology. Engelbart was also a key contributor to the early formation of the ARPANET community and the founding of the Network Information Center (NIC). His work is the very foundation of personal computing and the Internet. More information can be found at http://www.sri.com/about/timeline/mouse.html.

In 2000, President Bill Clinton honored Engelbart with the National Medal of Technology for the work he led in advancing computer science during his tenure at SRI. The Medal is the nation's highest technology honor, recognizing innovators who have made lasting contributions to enhancing America's competitiveness and standard of living, and whose solid science has resulted in commercially successful products and services.

Engelbart is currently senior technical adviser emeritus at SRI and founder of the Bootstrap Institute ( www.bootstrap.org ), which is dedicated to furthering Engelbart's vision of boosting mankind's collective capability for coping with complex and urgent problems.

The 15th annual Hall of Fame ceremony and banquet will be held tonight at the Westin Santa Clara in Santa Clara, Calif. SRI, an event sponsor, will make a contribution that will fund a student scholarship for academic excellence.

About SRI International
Silicon Valley-based SRI International ( www.sri.com ) is one of the world's leading independent research and technology development organizations. Founded as Stanford Research Institute in 1946, SRI has been meeting the strategic needs of clients for almost 60 years. The nonprofit research institute performs client-sponsored research and development for government agencies, commercial businesses and private foundations. In addition to conducting contract R&D, SRI licenses its technologies, forms strategic partnerships and creates spin-off companies.

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