1968
Computer mouse and interactive computing
First computer mouse prototype changes how humans interact with computers.
Development of the mouse began in the early 1960s by SRI’s Douglas Engelbart, while he was exploring the interactions between humans and computers. Bill English, then the chief engineer at SRI, built the first computer mouse prototype in 1964. Designs with multiple buttons soon followed.
A single wheel or a pair of wheels was used to translate the motion of the mouse into cursor movement on the screen. Engelbart was the inventor on the basic patent for what was then called the “X-Y Position Indicator for a Display System.” The patent was filed in 1967 and issued in 1970.
SRI licensed the computer mouse technology to Apple, Xerox, and other companies. The mouse became commercially viable in 1984, three years before the patent’s expiration.
