For advancing the study of human-computer interaction, developing the mouse input device, and for the application of computers to improving organizational efficiency.

"The better we get at getting better, the faster we will get better."

Engelbart was born in 1925 in Portland, Oregon. He served as an electronics technician during WWII and went to Oregon State University on his return, graduating in 1948 with a B.S. in electrical engineering. His first job was at the Ames Research Laboratory at Moffett Field, California. He left in 1951 to pursue a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, which he obtained in 1955. He stayed on at Berkeley for two years as an assistant professor. Engelbart then left for the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in Menlo Park, California, where he stayed for two decades.

While at SRI, Engelbart pursued a number of interests. These included work on magnetic components, digital device phenomena, and issues related to the miniaturization of components. His most important work, however, began with his founding, in 1959, of the Augmentation Research Center within SRI, at which he developed some of the key technologies used in computing today. His primary test vehicle was his "oN Line System" (NLS), a suite of sophisticated software that explored the limits of human-machine interaction.

Engelbart brought the various strands of his research together for his "mother of all demos" in San Francisco on December 8, 1968, an event that presaged many of the technologies and computer-usage paradigms we would use decades later. NLS was the focus of the event and showed actual instances of or precursors to: hypertext, object addressing and dynamic file linking, shared screen collaboration, multiple windows, on-screen video teleconferencing, and the mouse as an input device. This demo embodied Engelbart's larger commitment to exploring methods of solving humanity's urgent problems by using computers as tools to improve communication and collaboration between people.

In 1989, Engelbart retired from McDonnell Douglas (which had purchased NLS via its acquisition of Tymshare) and founded the Bootstrap Institute.

Engelbart has authored over 25 publications, earned more than 20 patents, and received many honors, including the IEEE Computer Pioneer Award (1992); the Lemelson-MIT Prize (1997); and, in 2000, the National Medal of Technology.

Hall of Fellows