• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
SRI logo
  • About
    • Press room
  • Expertise
    • Advanced imaging systems
    • Artificial intelligence
    • Biomedical R&D services
    • Biomedical sciences
    • Computer vision
    • Cyber & formal methods
    • Education and learning
    • Innovation strategy and policy
    • National security
    • Ocean & space
    • Quantum
    • QED-C
    • Robotics, sensors & devices
    • Speech & natural language
    • Video test & measurement
  • Ventures
  • NSIC
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • 日本支社
Search
Close
History of innovation November 16, 2021 Business, Communication, Computing, Firsts, Products, Seminal Innovations, Software, The 1960s

The computer mouse and interactive computing

first wooden computer mouse
The first computer mouse prototype changes how humans interact with computers in 1968.

Development of the mouse began in the early 1960s by SRI International’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 named 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 expired.

BusinessCommunicationComputingFirstsProductsSeminal InnovationsSoftwareThe 1960s

The mother of all demos

Recognized for its impact on computing and the world, the 1968 event has been dubbed “the mother of all demos“.

For Engelbart, the mouse was one part of a much larger technological system aimed at facilitating organizational learning and global online collaboration. When he was a graduate student in electrical engineering, Engelbart began to imagine ways in which all sorts of information could be displayed on the screens of cathode ray tubes, and he dreamed of “flying” through a variety of information spaces.

In early 1959, Engelbart pursued his visionary ideas by formulating a theoretical framework for the co-evolution of human skills, knowledge, and organizations. At the heart of his vision was the computer as an extension of human communication capabilities and a resource for the augmentation of human intellect.

In 1968, Engelbart created and became the director of SRI’s Augmentation Research Center. On December 9, 1968 he staged a 90-minute public multimedia demonstration at the 1968 Fall Joint Computer Conference in San Francisco, with a group of young computer scientists and electrical engineers from the center. It was the world debut of personal and interactive computing, featuring a computer mouse that controlled a networked computer system, which demonstrated:

  • Hypertext linking
  • Real-time text editing
  • Multiple windows with flexible view control
  • Cathode display tubes
  • Shared-screen teleconferencing

Read our 75th anniversary blog feature

75 Years of Innovation: The computer mouse

SRI 75 the computer mouse

Related innovations

Video of the demo

The patent

Wikipedia

National Medal of Technology and Innovation

Share this

How can we help?

Once you hit send…

We’ll match your inquiry to the person who can best help you.

Expect a response within 48 hours.

Career call to action image

Make your own mark.

Search jobs

Our work

Case studies

Publications

Timeline of innovation

Areas of expertise

Institute

Leadership

Press room

Media inquiries

Compliance

Careers

Job listings

Contact

SRI Ventures

Our locations

Headquarters

333 Ravenswood Ave
Menlo Park, CA 94025 USA

+1 (650) 859-2000

Subscribe to our newsletter


日本支社
SRI International
  • Contact us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
  • DMCA
  • Copyright © 2022 SRI International