"Father of the Mouse"0
Doug Engelbart invented the mouse in 1963 in his research lab at SRI International (then Stanford Research Institute), for which the patent was issued in 1970.1
The basic idea first came to him while sitting in a conference session on computer graphics in 1961, his mind mulling over the challenge of coming up with efficient pointing devices for interactive display technology. One idea he had was to use small wheels traversing the tabletop, one turning horizontally, one turning vertically, each transmitting their rotation coordinates for analysis. He sketched it out roughly. Later on, when he and his research team were getting interactive display technology up and running in his lab at SRI, looking at different pointing devices to move the cursor on the screen, he reviewed his earlier notes with his lead engineer Bill English, who built the first working prototype encased in a carved out wooden block with perpendicular wheels mounted in the underbelly. This first mouse had only one button simply because that was all there was room for in the wooden casing.
The Mouse Wins
4
In 1965 Engelbart's team had a small NASA contract to test the efficiency of different pointing devices, and pitted the mouse against a half dozen other devices (see Mouse Alternatives below for some photos of contenders). The mouse won hands down, and was then included as standard equipment in their ongoing research (see 1965 Report detailing these experiments).
Very quickly they got the idea to also offer a selection of buttons for the left hand to enter commands while the right hand was busy pointing and clicking (shown above). The left hand device evolved into a telegraph-style five key "keyset"
which was in full use by the time of the 1968 demonstration (see our "Mother of All Demos" page).3
In Doug's Words: 3a
"The mouse we built for the [1968] show was an early prototype that had three buttons. We turned it around so the tail came out the top. We started with it going the other direction, but the cord got tangled when you moved your arm.
I first started making notes for the mouse in '61. At the time, the popular device for pointing on the screen was a light pen, which had come out of the radar program during the war. It was the standard way to navigate, but I didn't think it was quite right.
Two or three years later, we tested all the pointing gadgets available to see which was the best. Aside from the light pen there was the tracking ball and a slider on a pivot. I also wanted to try this mouse idea, so Bill English went off and built it.
We set up our experiments and the mouse won in every category, even though it had never been used before. It was faster, and with it people made fewer mistakes. Five or six of us were involved in these tests, but no one can remember who started calling it a mouse. I'm surprised the name stuck.
We also did a lot of experiments to see how many buttons the mouse should have. We tried as many as five. We settled on three. That's all we could fit. Now the three-button mouse has become standard, except for the Mac."
– Source: The Click Heard Round The World, by Ken Jordan, WIRED 2004.3a1
Watch Doug explaining how he invented the mouse on this short videoclip from a 2004 interview by Logitech now available on the NMC site.3b
See also images of the first mouse and US Patent on the Mouse at the Stanford University MouseSite, SRI Story Kit: Engelbart and the Dawn of Interactive Computing, our History in Pix photo gallery, and special notes from the Computer History Museum event "Early Computer Mouse Encounters" Oct 17, 2001. [press]. Watch the mouse and keyset in action in Doug's 1968 demonstration, affectionately called the "Mother of All Demos".2
Debunking the "Xerox PARC created the mouse" Myth4
The mouse later migrated from Doug's lab at SRI to Xerox PARC, and then to Apple and others. One of the most common myths about the mouse is the mistaken belief that it was first developed at Xerox PARC. Note that the patent for the mouse was filed in 1967, by which time production models were in operational use throughout Doug's lab, three years before Xerox PARC was established in 1970.
4a
Mouse Alternatives5
Engelbart and his team tried out other
pointing devices to test against the mouse
for speed and accuracy. These included a foot pedal, knee
apparatus, and helmet mounted device.5a
| From Doug's lab mid'60s | 
A knee-operated pointing device |
A gyro-stlye hand operated pointing device |
See Also 6
On the Internet 6a
From Doug's Lab6b
- Screen-Selection Experiments: Display-Selection Techniques for Text Manipulation, William K. English, Douglas C. Engelbart and Melvyn L. Berman, March 1967. This paper describes an experimental study into the relative merits of different CRT display-selection devices as used within a real-time, computer-display, text-manipulation system in use at Stanford Research Institute. The mouse was tested against other devices and found to be the most accurate and efficient. See also the 1965 Report and the 1966 Quarterly Report detailing screen-selection experiments.
6b1
- "The Mother of All Demos" (90 min Video/Film) Doug's 1968 debut of NLS (Augment's precursor) including hypermedia, the mouse, collaborative work, interactive computing, human computer interface, and overarching guiding principles. See especially Clip 12 where Doug, sitting in San Francisco, brings in a coworker sitting in his lab in Menlo Park, to demonstrate the mouse, and Clip 13 where Doug introduces the keyset.
6b2
- Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework, Douglas C. Engelbart. 1962. See for example how he envisioned an architect might work interactively with a computer in 1962 in the Introduction's summary of Section IV (quoted at right).
6b3
- Doug Engelbart - A Lifetime Pursuit, a short biographical sketch by Christina Engelbart (5 pages) describes the larger context of this early work.
6b4
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Genesis of the mouse:6
Doug's Early Vision:
From the introduction of his Augmenting
human intellect: A conceptual framework (1962):
6a
Let us consider an augmented
architect at work. He sits at a working station that
has a visual display screen some three feet on a side;
this is his working surface, and is controlled by a
computer (his "clerk") with which he can communicate
by means of a small keyboard and various other devices.6a1
He is designing a building. He
has already dreamed up several basic layouts and structural
forms, and is trying them out on the screen. The surveying
data for the layout he is working on now have already
been entered, and he has just coaxed the clerk to show
him a perspective view of the steep hillside building
site with the roadway above, symbolic representations
of the various trees that are to remain on the lot,
and the service tie points for the different utilities.
The view occupies the left two-thirds of the screen.
With a pointer he indicates two points of interest,
moves his left hand rapidly over the keyboard, and the
distance and elevation between the points indicated
appear on the right-hand third of thescreen.6a2
From Vannevar Bush:
From As
We May Think by Vannevar Bush, 1945 (quoted by Engelbart in Augmenting
human intellect):6b
"Consider a future device for
individual use, which is a sort of mechanized private
file and library.It needs a name, and to coin one at
random, "memex" will do. A memex is a device in which
an individual stores all his books, records, and communications,
and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted
with exceeding speed and flexibility.It is an enlarged
intimate supplement to his memory.6b1
"It consists of a desk, and while
it can presumably be operated from a distance, it is
primarily the piece of furniture at which he works.
On the top are slanting translucent screens, on which
material can be projected for convenient reading. There
is a keyboard, and sets of buttons and levers. Otherwise
it looks like an ordinary desk.6b2
[...] Moreover, he has supplemental
levers. On deflecting one of these levers to the right
he runs through the book before him, each page in turn
being projected at a speed which just allows a recognizing
glance at each. If he deflects it further to the right,he
steps through the book 10 pages at a time; still further
at 100 pages at a time. Deflection to the left gives
him the same control backward.6b3
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