On December 9, 1968, engineer and inventor Douglas Engelbart demonstrates to 1,000 computer professionals at Brooks Hall in San Francisco the core elements of personal computing including the mouse, networking, hypertext, video conferencing, word processing and multiple windows.
As a radar technician in World War II, Engelbart reads “As We May Think,” by Vannevar Bush, an essay that anticipates the computer and the worldwide web. LIke Bush, Engelbart sees computers as a force for good, a means of boosting human intelligence. At the time of Engelbart’s presentation at the Fall Joint Computer Conference in 1968, computers are punchcard-driven number crunchers. Instead, Engelbart views them as partners in:
“Boosting mankind’s capability for coping with complex, urgent problems.”
His pioneering work is done at the Stanford Research Institute, now SRI International, in Menlo Park where he earns over a dozen patents. His 1962 Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework lays out his vision for what’s now known as personal computing. The project attracts funding from the U.S. Defense Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Engelbart and his team create the essentials of modern computing. At the computer conference, he unveils the “oN-Line System” he has created, called NLS. During his presentation, Engelbart incorporates live video feeds, switching back and forth from his “screen” to those of his team in Menlo Park. The cameraman there is Stewart Brand, the creator of the Whole Earth Catalog, and a special adviser to Gov. Jerry Brown from 1978 to 1979. Engelbart receives a standing ovation.
Overshadowed in later years by innovators like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, Engelbart continues working, creating an institute at SRI.
Stanford University celebrates the “Mother of All Demos” — a name first given to Engelbart’s presentation in a 1994 book – on its 30th anniversary in 1998, renewing interest in Engelbart’s innovation and vision. He dies at his home in Atherton on July 2, 2013, at 88.
TOP PHOTO: Engelbart presents his “Mother of All Demos” in 1968. Image Courtesy: SRI International (screen capture from video)