Tech Icon

Computer Mouse Inventor Dies

Douglas Engelbart was 88.

The decorated visionary behind the computer mouse, Douglas C. Engelbart, passed away on Tuesday of kidney failure. The 88-year-old tech whiz began working on the mouse in 1964, and guided a team of researchers to make computers--then massive industrial machines--work on a personal level. The group also developed the concept of windows, hypertext to link digital files, and shared-screen teleconferencing. “With his help, the computer has become a friendly servant rather than a stern taskmaster,” the economist Lester Thurow once said about Engelbart's work. Let's all give three clicks to salute the man whose invention has reached all corners of the Earth.