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Who invented the computer mouse?

A computer "mouse" is a hand-held device that inputs information to a computer. When the mouse is rolled across a flat surface, it causes a cursor to move in a corresponding way on a display screen. The mouse is a hand-held, button-activated device, which is connected to the computer with a wire that looks like a dangling tail. The mouse's name was derived from its physical appearance.

The first mouse was demonstrated by Douglas C. Englehart in 1968 at the Fall Joint Computer Conference in San Francisco. Over the next 15 years researchers refined the mouse, making it more flexible and easier to use. The mouse was popularized in 1984, when it was included as a component of Apple computers.

Sources: Compute, vol. 13 (August 1991), p. 52; Understanding Computers: Illustrated Chronology Index, pp. 62, 73.

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