Who invented the first computer mouse and when?
The computer mouse was invented and developed by Douglas Engelbart, with the assistance of Bill English, during the 1960s and was patented on November 17, 1970.
While creating the mouse, Douglas worked at the SRI (Stanford Research Institute) in Menlo Park, California, United States, a think tank sponsored by Stanford University. The mouse was initially called an "X-Y Position Indicator for a Display System" due to its ability to move a cursor in two dimensions (x-axis and y-axis) on a screen. The mouse was introduced to the general public when Douglas demonstrated moving a mouse cursor on the Alto computer in The Mother of All Demos in 1968. While it was first used with the Xerox Alto computer system in 1973, it did not achieve commercial success until the Apple Lisa computer was released in 1983.
The picture shown here was taken by Maracin Wichary at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science and is an example of the first computer mouse. As shown, the mouse was made of wood, was much larger than today's mouse, rectangular in size, and only had one small button in the top-right corner.
The mouse pictured is not the same mouse used in The Mother of All Demos, which had three control buttons.
Today, the mouse is still used on every desktop computer and has influenced other input devices like the touchpad on a laptop computer and touch screens on smartphones and tablets.
Why is the computer mouse called a mouse?
With the cord coming out of the back of the mouse, Douglas said the device reminded him of the rodent mouse, and the name stuck. It's easier to remember than an X-Y Position Indicator for a Display System.
What company created the computer mouse?
The computer mouse was invented by Douglas Carl Engelbart while at SRI. It later gained more recognition when it was used with the Xerox Alto computer that was developed at Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center). Later, Apple introduced the Apple Lisa computer in 1983, which introduced the mouse to the general public.
Therefore, to answer this question, no company created the mouse; it was developed by a few people at SRI. However, Apple was the first company to manufacture and include it with their computers that were sold to the public.
Engelbart never profited financially from the invention of the mouse, as his patent expired before it gained popularity.
What technology did the first mouse use?
The first computer mouse was a mechanical mouse with two rollers on the bottom to move a cursor in two dimensions (x-axis and y-axis) on a screen. Later, technologies like the optomechanical mouse and optical mouse were invented and released by others.
How did the mouse impact computing?
The mouse helped lay the groundwork for the modern GUI (Graphical User Interface) that made computers easier to use with its point-and-click actions rather than relying on the command line.