Douglas Engelbart is best known as the inventor of the computer mouse but his pioneering work and influence extend far beyond that device. A towering figure in computer science, Engelbart’s fundamental tenet is that computers should help us become smarter and work together better.
In December 1968, at the Fall Joint Computer Conference, Engelbart gave the first public multimedia demonstration of a networked computer system which brought together the mouse, cathode-ray tube displays, windowing systems, text editing, hyperlinks, videoconferencing and networked collaboration.
This 90-minute presentation, dubbed the “mother of all demos”, presented a compelling vision of how computers and online networks could be used to augment human capability. It’s a vision that we are still trying to realize today.
For more on Doug Engelbart check out the Invisible Revolution documentary and MouseSite.
