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Technology Luminary Doug Engelbart Receives Computer History Museum Fellow Award

Inventor of the Computer Mouse and Other Individuals of Outstanding Merit Are Honored at Award Ceremony

MENLO PARK, Calif.– October 13, 2005 – SRI International alumnus Douglas Engelbart, Ph.D., inventor of the computer mouse, will be recognized as a Computer History Museum Fellow at the Museum's 2005 Fellow Awards Dinner and Ceremony on Tuesday, October 18.

Since 1987, a "who's who" of the computer technology industry has assembled at this annual event to recognize individuals of outstanding merit who have made significant, personal contributions to the development of computing.   Museum fellows are nominated by a panel of computer historians, past fellows, peers, and museum staff and trustees. Engelbart is being honored for advancing the study of human-computer interaction, developing the mouse input device, and for the application of computers to improving organizational efficiency.

"Dr. Engelbart's extraordinary innovations were ahead of their time and are still influencing our future," said John Toole, executive director and CEO of the Computer History Museum. "We would not be where we are today without his dedication to advancing technology and human-computer interaction. It is with great pride that we induct Dr. Engelbart into the Hall of Fellows."

SRI International President and CEO Curt Carlson, Ph.D., added, "Doug Engelbart has made tremendous and lasting contributions to society. His remarkable innovations, met with a standing ovation when first introduced in 1968, propelled us into a whole new world. Doug's 'bootstrap' approach to R&D, which accelerates the process, has inspired SRI's disciplined approach to innovation.   We are indebted to him for both his technology innovations and thought leadership."

Over the course of his career, Engelbart has authored more than 25 publications, earned more than 20 patents, and received multiple honors, including the IEEE Computer Pioneer Award in 1992 and the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 1997. In 2000, President Bill Clinton honored Engelbart with the National Medal of Technology, the nation's highest technology honor that recognizes innovators who have made lasting contributions to enhancing America's competitiveness and standard of living, and whose solid science has resulted in commercially successful products and services. Engelbart was inducted into the Silicon Valley Engineering Council Hall of Fame in February of this year.

While at SRI for two decades, Engelbart and his team created many of the concepts and tools that launched the global computer revolution. His vision in the 1950s and work in the 1960s resulted in the computer mouse, hypertext, object addressing and dynamic file linking, real-time text editing, shared-screen collaboration, and on-screen video teleconferencing. Engelbart was also a key contributor to the early formation of the ARPANET community and the founding of the Network Information Center (NIC). His work is the foundation of personal computing and the Internet. More information can be found at http://www.sri.com/about/timeline/mouse.html.  

Engelbart is currently senior technical adviser emeritus at SRI and founder of the Bootstrap Institute, which is dedicated to advancing Engelbart's vision of boosting mankind's collective capability for coping with complex and urgent problems.

Other distinguished 2005 Hall of Fellows inductees include Paul Baran, researcher and entrepreneur, for his fundamental contributions to the architecture of the Internet; Alan Shugart, engineer, manager and entrepreneur, for his lifelong contributions to the creation of the modern disk drive industry; and Ivan Sutherland, researcher, professor and entrepreneur, for the Sketchpad computer-aided design system and his lifelong contributions to computer graphics and education.

The 18th Fellow Awards Dinner and Ceremony will be held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. Four hundred business and technology leaders, luminaries and pioneers are expected to attend the event. Proceeds support the preservation and educational missions of the Computer History Museum.

About SRI International
Silicon Valley-based SRI International is one of the world's leading independent research and technology development organizations. Founded as Stanford Research Institute in 1946, SRI has been meeting the strategic needs of clients for almost 60 years. The nonprofit research institute performs contract research and development for government agencies, commercial businesses and private foundations. In addition to conducting contract R&D, SRI licenses its technologies, forms strategic partnerships and creates spin-off companies.