Who Invented the Computer Mouse?

Have you ever wondered who invented the computer mouse? The computer mouse is a pointing device that tracks its position on the desktop and uses the information to control the position of the cursor on screen. While mice are now common computer accessories, their acceptance was slow in coming.

Ancestors of the Modern Computer Mouse
In the 1950s, researchers working for the Royal Canadian Navy used a small bowling ball to create the first track ball. This pointing device was created as part of a top-secret project and never patented.

In 1968, Douglas Engelbart, working at the Stanford Research Institute, invented a single-button mouse he referred to as a "X-Y Position Indicator for a Display System." The first mouse was made of wood and used two wheels to track the X and Y positions, which were translated into motion on a computer monitor. Engelbart patented his invention in 1970, but his patent expired before the device became popular.

In 1972, Bill English, a colleague of Englbart's, developed the ball mouse while working for Xerox PARC. English's mouse worked like an inverted trackball and came as standard equipment with Xerox 8010 Star Information System distributed in 1981.

In 1984, Apple computer released the first Macintosh (Mac) computer. The graphical user interface of the Mac, which borrowed heavily from work done at Xerox, made extensive use of the mouse. The popularity of the Mac established the mouse as the standard pointing device for PCs.

What Is a Computer Mouse Today?
The ball mouse was popular in the 1980s and early 1990s. These older models had a small rubber ball in the base that triggered rollers to determine the X and Y coordinates on a monitor, and they only had one button. There were two big problems with the design: first, early mouse balls would swell in heat or high humidity, making the mouse inoperable. Second, all the dirt on a desk would eventually work its way into the mouse and gum up the roller wheels.

In the 1990s, optical mice were developed that used a light sensor to track the position of the device. Early optical mice needed to be used with special pads printed with a grid pattern. Advancements in technology allowed optical mice to be used on any surface, as long as it's not transparent.

Although the first mice had one button, later versions had two and sometimes three buttons. In 1997, Microsoft introduced the IntelliMouse that featured a scrolling wheel. With support built in to most major applications, the scroll wheel became a standard mouse feature for Windows PCs.