November 17, 1970

Douglas Engelbart receives US patent 3,541,541 for his ”X-Y Position Indicator For A Display System”, more commonly known as the computer mouse. Engelbart called his device a “mouse” because the cord looked like a tail. The mouse was first prototyped in 1964, wasn’t demoed until 1968, and was not included with a commercial computer until Apple’s Lisa in 1983. The mouse did not become ubiquitous until after 1984, when Apple’s Macintosh popularized the device.

The prototype of the first mouse