Who invented the computer mouse?
Quick answer
The computer mouse was invented by Douglas Engelbart at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in California, with engineer Bill English building the first prototype in 1964. It was a wooden box with two metal wheels and a single button. Engelbart showed it to the world in 1968.
The first mouse
| Built | 1964 |
| Inventor | Douglas Engelbart; built by Bill English |
| Body | Carved wood |
| Tracking | Two perpendicular wheels, one for up–down, one for side to side |
| Buttons | One |
| Patent | Granted in 1970 as an “X-Y position indicator for a display system” |
It was nicknamed a “mouse” because the cord coming out of the back looked like a tail.
The Mother of All Demos
On December 9, 1968, in San Francisco, Engelbart gave a 90-minute presentation that astonished the audience. Using the mouse, he showed:
- Windows on a screen
- Hypertext links, an early version of what the web later used
- Video conferencing and real-time collaborative editing
It’s now remembered as “The Mother of All Demos.”
How the mouse went mainstream
- 1968German company Telefunken independently develops a ball-based mouse, the Rollkugel
- 1973Xerox PARC’s Alto computer uses a mouse with a graphical interface
- 1983The Apple Lisa ships with a mouse
- 1984The Apple Macintosh makes the mouse popular with ordinary users
- 1999Optical mice using light instead of a ball become common
Did Engelbart get rich?
No. SRI held the patent, which expired before the mouse became widespread, and Engelbart reportedly received about $10,000. He received many honors, including the Turing Award in 1997.
If your mouse stops working, see why is my mouse not working. Engelbart’s ideas helped inspire the web; see who invented the World Wide Web.
Still curious?
Jump to a random question from the archive.