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This article is about the item of computer hardware. For the pointer or cursor it controls,
see Cursor (user interface) § Pointer. For the animal, see Mouse.

A computer mouse with the most common features: two buttons (left and right) and a scroll wheel
(which can also function as a button when pressed inwards)

A typical wireless computer mouse

[nb 1]
A computer mouse (plural mice, also mouses) is a hand-held pointing device that
detects two-dimensional motion relative to a surface. This motion is typically translated
into the motion of the pointer (called a cursor) on a display, which allows a smooth
control of the graphical user interface of a computer.

The first public demonstration of a mouse controlling a computer system was done by
[1]
Doug Engelbart in 1968 as part of the Mother of All Demos. Mice originally used two
separate wheels to directly track movement across a surface: one in the x-dimension
and one in the Y. Later, the standard design shifted to use a ball rolling on a surface to
detect motion, in turn connected to internal rollers. Most modern mice use optical
movement detection with no moving parts. Though originally all mice were connected to
a computer by a cable, many modern mice are cordless, relying on short-range radio
communication with the connected system.

In addition to moving a cursor, computer mice have one or more buttons to allow
operations such as the selection of a menu item on a display. Mice often also feature
other elements, such as touch surfaces and scroll wheels, which enable additional
control and dimensional input.

Etymology

A computer mouse is named for its resemblance to the rodent.

The earliest known written use of the term mouse or mice in reference to a computer
pointing device is in Bill English's July 1965 publication, "Computer-Aided Display
[2]
Control". This likely originated from its resemblance to the shape and size of a mouse,
[3][4]
with the cord resembling its tail. The popularity of wireless mice without cords
makes the resemblance less obvious.

According to Roger Bates, a hardware designer under English, the term also came
about because the cursor on the screen was, for an unknown reason, referred to as
[5][6]
"CAT" and was seen by the team as if it would be chasing the new desktop device.
The plural for the small rodent is always "mice" in modern usage. The plural for a
computer mouse is either "mice" or "mouses" according to most dictionaries, with "mice"
[7]
being more common. The first recorded plural usage is "mice"; the online Oxford
Dictionaries cites a 1984 use, and earlier uses include J. C. R. Licklider's "The
[8]
Computer as a Communication Device" of 1968.

History
Stationary trackballs

The trackball, a related pointing device, was invented in 1946 by Ralph Benjamin as
part of a post-World War II-era fire-control radar plotting system called the
Comprehensive Display System (CDS). Benjamin was then working for the British Royal
Navy Scientific Service. Benjamin's project used analog computers to calculate the
future position of target aircraft based on several initial input points provided by a user
with a joystick. Benjamin felt that a more elegant input device was needed and invented
[9][10]
what they called a "roller ball" for this purpose.

[10]
The device was patented in 1947, but only a prototype using a metal ball rolling on
[9]
two rubber-coated wheels was ever built, and the device was kept as a military secret.

Another early trackball was built by Kenyon Taylor, a British electrical engineer working
in collaboration with Tom Cranston and Fred Longstaff. Taylor was part of the original
Ferranti Canada, working on the Royal Canadian Navy's DATAR (Digital Automated
[11]
Tracking and Resolving) system in 1952.

DATAR was similar in concept to Benjamin's display. The trackball used four disks to
pick up motion, two each for the X and Y directions. Several rollers provided mechanical
support. When the ball was rolled, the pickup discs spun and contacts on their outer rim
made periodic contact with wires, producing pulses of output with each movement of the
ball. By counting the pulses, the physical movement of the ball could be determined. A
digital computer calculated the tracks and sent the resulting data to other ships in a task
force using pulse-code modulation radio signals. This trackball used a standard
Canadian five-pin bowling ball. It was not patented, since it was a secret military
[12][13]
project.

Engelbart's first "mouse"

[14]
Inventor Douglas Engelbart holding the first computer mouse, showing the wheels that make
contact with the working surface

Douglas Engelbart of the Stanford Research Institute (now SRI International) has been
[15] [16]
credited in published books by Thierry Bardini, Paul Ceruzzi, Howard
[17] [18][19][20]
Rheingold, and several others as the inventor of the computer mouse.
Engelbart was also recognized as such in various obituary titles after his death in July
[21][22][23][24]
2013.

By 1963, Engelbart had already established a research lab at SRI, the Augmentation
Research Center (ARC), to pursue his objective of developing both hardware and
software computer technology to "augment" human intelligence. That November, while
attending a conference on computer graphics in Reno, Nevada, Engelbart began to
ponder how to adapt the underlying principles of the planimeter to inputting X- and
[15]
Y-coordinate data. On 14 November 1963, he first recorded his thoughts in his
personal notebook about something he initially called a "bug", which is a "3-point" form
[5][15]
could have a "drop point and 2 orthogonal wheels". He wrote that the "bug" would
be "easier" and "more natural" to use, and unlike a stylus, it would stay still when let go,
[15]
which meant it would be "much better for coordination with the keyboard".

Bottom view of a replica of the Engelbart mouse

In 1964, Bill English joined ARC, where he helped Engelbart build the first mouse
[4][25]
prototype. They christened the device the mouse as early models had a cord
attached to the rear part of the device which looked like a tail, and in turn, resembled
[26]
the common mouse. According to Roger Bates, a hardware designer under English,
another reason for choosing this name was because the cursor on the screen was also
[5][6]
referred to as "CAT" at this time.

As noted above, this "mouse" was first mentioned in print in a July 1965 report, on
[3][4][2]
which English was the lead author. On 9 December 1968, Engelbart publicly
demonstrated the mouse at what would come to be known as The Mother of All Demos.
Engelbart never received any royalties for it, as his employer SRI held the patent, which
[27]
expired before the mouse became widely used in personal computers. In any event,
the invention of the mouse was just a small part of Engelbart's much larger project of
[28][29]
augmenting human intellect.

Early mouse patents. From left to right: Opposing track wheels by Engelbart, November 1970,
U.S. patent 3,541,541. Ball and Wheel by Rider, September 1974, U.S. patent 3,835,464. Ball
and two rollers with spring by Opocensky, October 1976, U.S. patent 3,987,685

Several other experimental pointing-devices developed for Engelbart's oN-Line System

(NLS) exploited different body movements – for example, head-mounted devices
attached to the chin or nose – but ultimately the mouse won out because of its speed
[30]
and convenience. The first mouse, a bulky device (pictured) used two potentiometers
perpendicular to each other and connected to wheels: the rotation of each wheel
[31]
translated into motion along one axis. At the time of the "Mother of All Demos",
Engelbart's group had been using their second-generation, 3-button mouse for about a
year.

First rolling-ball mouse

The ball-based Telefunken Rollkugelsteuerung RKS 100-86 from 1968

On 2 October 1968, three years after Engelbart's prototype but more than two months
before his public demo, a mouse device named Rollkugelsteuerung (German for
"Trackball control") was shown in a sales brochure by the German company
AEG-Telefunken as an optional input device for the SIG 100 vector graphics terminal,
part of the system around their process computer TR 86 and the TR 440 [de] ma