Douglas Engelbart is the inventor of a computer mouse

A child of the 21st century often gets used to manipulating a computer mouse before he starts talking. But not every adult knows the name of the inventor of this device, which played a major role in establishing a contact between a person and a computer.

Douglas Engelbart was also the author of other global inventions of the computer era - graphical interface, text editor, hypertext, online conferences, etc. Surprisingly, he did not become a multi-billionaire, but he deserved his work thanks to the multimillion army of users.

Son of a farmer from Oregon

He was born on January 30, 1925 on the family farm of Carla and Gladys Engelbart. In the pedigree of the family there were natives of Northern Europe - Germans, Norwegians and Swedes. Perhaps from ancestors, Douglas acquired a penchant for thoroughness and accuracy in his work, although he was not noticed any special abilities in his childhood.

Nevertheless, he successfully graduated from Franklin High School in Portland in 1942 and entered the University of Oregon in 1942, intending to become an electrical engineer. After studying for two years, he was forced to take part in the Second World War, raging far from American borders. Douglas Karl Engelbart was drafted to serve as a radio technician at the naval base in the Philippines.

"How can we think"

It was fatal for Douglas to become acquainted with an essay by an American engineer and scientist, one of the pioneers of the development of analogue computers by Weinivar Bush (1890-1974), entitled As We May Think, first published in July 1945. One of the variants of the Russian translation of the title of this visionary work sounds poetically - "If we are able to think".

Many of the ideas contained in Bush's text seemed to the young radio operator sitting in a small hut on stilts on a small Pacific island, half-mad. The great role of artificial intelligence for creating the future information society, which the author of the article spoke about, Douglas Engelbart considered relevant only for the distant future. But the conviction and energy that came from Bush's words seized him, and he was gradually determined with the priorities of his peaceful life.

Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering

After returning from the war, the young sergeant continued to receive a university education. Douglas Engelbart, having completed a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, received an engineering position at NASA Ames Laboratory, where he worked from 1948 to 1951. This small laboratory was the forerunner of the future aerospace giant NASA.

During these three years, he has strengthened his intention to devote his career to developing the potential of computers, solving the problems of the organization of the information space, which he read about from Waynevar Bush. He remembered how during military service he observed the display of air targets on the radar displays. Later, he participated as an engineer in the project CALDIC (California Digital Computer of the New Generation). Increasing the speed and flexibility of interaction between operators and computers has acquired the status of a priority direction for work for a young engineer.

At the University of Barkley

Scientific work seemed to him more responsive to his aspirations. Douglas holds a Master's Degree (1952), followed by a Doctor (1955) in Electrical Engineering and an Acting Associate Professor at the University of Barkley in California. Engelbart receives about fifteen patents for BI-stable plasma digital devices, in which he sees the components of future computers.

He is involved in the work carried out by the university to create a new supercomputer. The ideas that Douglas Engelbart shares with the leadership and colleagues seem that way too radical and even "savage," and he is forced to engage in purely technical work on the new device while he was a monster with the intelligence of an insect eating a lot of punch cards.

At the Stanford Research Institute

In search of support for his ideas, he leaves the university. In 1957, at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI - Stanford Research Institute) , located in the town of Menlo Park on the shores of the Bay of San Francisco, a scientific group of 47 people, led by Engelbart Douglas. The inventions made by him over the following years are revolutionary in nature and in many ways determine the development of computer technology.

The Engelbart laboratory was financed by the US military department through the Agency for Advanced Defense Research and Development (DARPA). This governmental structure showed interest in the report of the scientist, called Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework - "Strengthening the human intellect: a conceptual framework." It contained a specific research program on improving computer technology.

The first "mouse"

The most productive stage of the scientist's life began. Starting with the development of magnetic components of computers and miniaturization of computing devices, the laboratory began intensive research within the framework of the NLS (oN-Line System) project proposed by Douglas. It included the development of a new operating system and a fundamentally new system for managing digital devices. The intermediate result of the laboratory's work was revolutionary innovations: output to the screen of the monitor of raster images, developed on this basis a graphic interface, hypertext, means for joint work of several users.

Since September 9, 1968, with the public presentation of new devices to enter information, which was conducted by Douglas Engelbart, the biography of the computer abruptly changed. He introduced the "XY indicator for the display system", which received an informal name mouse - "mouse" among scientists. This device was a box of polished wood with a thin wire coming out of it, equipped with two metal wheels. When moving over the table surface, the turns and turns of the wheels were counted, affecting the position of the cursor on the monitor. Visual control of the input of information in online mode made a furor.

Confession

If Douglas had the goal of enrichment and knew how to profitably sell his inventions, he would have become the richest man, like Bill Gates. But he and his family had to endure difficult times when the team, working in the line of the defense department, disbanded. The contribution of Douglas Karl Engelbart in the formation of the computer era was truly appreciated only in the early 90s of the XX century. He became a laureate of numerous prizes, awarded many prestigious titles and awards.

He continued to work fruitfully until his death on July 2, 2013, which was followed by many formal and informal sincere condolences to the family, who came from all over the world.