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(Image source: CNET / Stanford Research Institute)
BY COLLIN RUANE
The man responsible for inventing the first computer mouse died late Tuesday night of
kidney failure.
Douglas Engelbart was widely known as a trailblazer in the tech industry, coming up with the concept
for the mouse back in 1964. (Via YouTube / bigkif)
He's also one of the great minds behind the hyperlink. (Via TechCrunch)
A writer for GigaOM said it's hard to summarize all of Engelbart's accomplishments but does
detail the history of his most notable invention.
"In 1967, [Engelbart] filed for a patent for a rudimentary form of computer mouse — [Stanford
Research Institute] patented the mouse and licensed it to Apple for about $40,000."
The New York Times reports when Engelbart first started his work, computers were so
large they took up entire rooms. Engelbart's accolades throughout his life include the
National Medal of Technology, awarded by former President Bill Clinton in 2000, the Lemelson-MIT
Prize and the Turing Award.
According to CNET, Engelbart's daughter said he passed away peacefully after a long struggle
with illness took a turn for the worse over the weekend.
Engelbart is survived by his wife, four children and nine grandchildren. He was 88
years old.