Fifty-five years ago today, a humble wooden block with two wheels, a button, and a trailing cord quietly changed the course of computing. On this day in 1968, Douglas Engelbart of the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) received the patent for what would become one of the most iconic tools in modern technology: the computer mouse.
A Big Idea, Born in a Conference Room
Engelbart’s inspiration struck in 1961 during a conference session on computer graphics. As others spoke, he found his mind drifting to a persistent challenge: how to make interactive computing faster, smoother, and more intuitive. His solution was elegantly mechanical—use a pair of small wheels rolling across a tabletop, one tracking horizontal movement and the other vertical. Their combined rotations would allow a computer to move a cursor across a screen.
It was a simple concept with world-changing potential.
Building the Future at the Augmentation Research Center
By 1963, Engelbart had established the Augmentation Research Center (ARC) at SRI to bring his ideas to life. His mission went far beyond the mouse. Engelbart believed computers shouldn’t be limited to number crunching—they should help humans think, collaborate, communicate, and retrieve information more effectively.
The mouse became a cornerstone of this vision.
A Wooden Block That Made History
The first working prototype was surprisingly modest: a block of wood, two metal wheels, a single button, and a cable that poked out the back—giving rise to the nickname “mouse.”
Engelbart publicly unveiled the device in 1968 during his legendary “Mother of All Demos,” a 90-minute live presentation that also introduced concepts we now take for granted: windows, hypertext, video conferencing, word processing, and more. It was a glimpse of the personal computing future, years before that future arrived.
Cursors, “Bugs,” and the Birth of the Arrow
Engelbart’s team referred to the on-screen cursor as a “bug,” though the name never caught on. The cursor we recognize today—an angled arrow—has roots in those early days. The arrow originally pointed straight up, but it was tilted slightly left to stand out against low-resolution displays.
That slanted design stuck, becoming one of the quiet but enduring standards of graphical computing.
From Patent to Personal Computers
Though Engelbart invented the mouse, he never received royalties—the patent belonged to SRI, and it expired before the mouse became mainstream. Still, his work paved the way for the devices that followed.
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1973: The Xerox Alto became the first modern computer to use a mouse, swapping the wheels for a rolling rubber ball that allowed free movement in any direction.
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1983: Apple released the Lisa, the first commercial computer sold with a mouse.
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1984: The Macintosh brought the mouse into millions of homes and workplaces, solidifying its place in everyday computing.
For the next three decades, the ball-based design dominated, eventually giving way to today’s optical and laser sensors.
Fun Facts You Might Not Know
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A “mickey” is the smallest measurable movement a mouse can detect—equal to 0.1 millimeters. Sensitivity is measured in mickeys per inch; speed in mickeys per second.
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The plural of the animal is always mice, but for the computer device, both mice and mouses are acceptable (with mice being more common).
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The average office worker makes 5,000 to 7,000 mouse clicks per day, depending on the job.
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In 2023, one of Engelbart’s original prototypes sold at auction for $178,936, making it arguably the world’s most expensive mouse.