Computer pioneer Douglas Engelbart, who is credited with the invention of the computer mouse and graphical user interface, has died at the age of 88.
Engelbart died at his home in Atherton, California on Tuesday night, according to a statement on Wednesday by research organisation SRI International, his employer for more than 20 years.
Engelbart received the National Medal of Technology in 2000, the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 1997 and the Turing Award, also in 1997.
Engelbart, who had worked as a radar technician during World War II, was an early computer visionary who dreamed of using technology to improve communications among people.
He unveiled the prototype of the now standard computer mouse in a December 1968 demonstration in San Francisco. Initially called an “X-Y position indicator for a display system” the device was a clunky wooden box with two rolling disks and a tiny red button.
At the same demo Englebart also initiated the first ever video conference with a colleague some 50 kilometres away and also laid the basis for the internet by describing how information could be tied using text-based laws.
SRI licensed Englebart’s mouse design for $40,000 and later released the first commercial mouse with Apple’s Lisa computer in 1983.
SRI statement: >http://goo.gl/MW8n8