Bill English (computer engineer)
{{Short description|American computer engineer (1929–2020)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name = Bill English
|image = William English in 2008.jpg
|image_size =
|alt = photo of William English in 2008
|caption = William English in 2008
|birth_name = William Kirk English
|birth_date = {{birth date|1929|1|27}}
|birth_place = Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.
|death_date = {{death date and age|2020|7|26|1929|1|27}}
|death_place = San Rafael, California, U.S.
|residence =
|fields =
|workplaces = SRI International's ARC
Xerox PARC
Sun Microsystems
|alma_mater =
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|notable_students =
|known_for = Development of the computer mouse
|author_abbrev_bot =
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|influences =
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William Kirk English (January 27, 1929{{spnd}}July 26, 2020) was an American computer engineer who contributed to the development of the computer mouse while working for Douglas Engelbart at SRI International's Augmentation Research Center.{{cite book |last1=Shearer |first1=Benjamin F. |title=Home Front Heroes: A Biographical Dictionary of Americans During Wartime |date=2007 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=9780313334214 |page=277 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UJhx8H8XLnQC&pg=PA277|access-date=December 9, 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://computerhistory.org/profile/bill-english/|title=Bill English|publisher=Computer History Museum|access-date=February 3, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120104025645/http://www.computerhistory.org/events/lectures/mouse_10172001/english/index.shtml|archive-date=January 4, 2012}} He would later work for Xerox PARC and Sun Microsystems.
Early life
English was born on January 27, 1929, in Lexington, Kentucky. The only son of Harry English and Caroline (Gray) English, he had two half-brothers from his father's previous marriage. Harry English was an electrical engineer who managed coal mines and Caroline was a homemaker. William, or Bill as he was known, attended a boarding school in Arizona and then studied electrical engineering at the University of Kentucky.{{r|nytobit}}
Career
English served in the US Navy until the late 1950s, including postings in northern California and Japan.{{cite news|last=Metz|first=Cade|date=July 31, 2020|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/31/technology/william-english-who-helped-build-the-computer-mouse-dies-at-91.html|title=William English, Who Helped Build the Computer Mouse, Dies at 91|access-date=July 31, 2020}} He then joined the Stanford Research Institute in the 1960s to work on magnets, and built one of the first all-magnetic arithmetic units with Hewitt Crane.{{cite web|url=http://www.sri.com/about/alumni/alumni-hall-fame-2006#English|title=Alumni Hall of Fame 2006: Bill English|publisher=SRI International|access-date=January 25, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130701192553/http://www.sri.com/about/alumni/alumni-hall-fame-2006#English|archive-date=July 1, 2013|url-status=dead}} In 1964, he was the first person to join Douglas Engelbart's lab, the Augmentation Research Center.
He and Douglas Engelbart share credit for creating the first computer mouse in 1963; English built the initial prototype, and was its first user, based on Engelbart's notes.{{Cite news|date=2020-08-03|title=Computer mouse co-creator dies at 91|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53638033|access-date=2020-08-04}} English led a 1965 project, sponsored by NASA, which evaluated the best way to select a point on a computer display; the mouse was the winner.{{cite web|url=http://www.dougengelbart.org/firsts/mouse.html|title=Mouse|publisher=Doug Engelbart Institute|access-date=January 25, 2013}} English was also instrumental at The Mother of All Demos in 1968, which showcased the mouse and other technologies developed as part of their NLS (oN-Line System). In particular, English figured out how to connect a terminal in the San Francisco Civic Auditorium to the host computer at SRI {{convert|30|miles|km}} away, and also transmitted audio and video between the locations.{{cite web | url = https://invention.si.edu/mother-all-demos | title = The Mother of All Demos | first = Eric | last = Hintz | date = December 10, 2018 | access-date = August 2, 2020 | work = Smithsonian Institution }}
He left SRI in 1971 and went to Xerox PARC, where he managed the Office Systems Research Group. While working at PARC, English developed a ball mouse, in which a ball replaced the original set of wheels. It worked similarly to a moveable ball-based mouse device called Rollkugel, which had been developed by Telefunken, Germany, and was offered since 1968 as input device for their computers.{{cite web|url=http://www.heise.de/newsticker/Auf-den-Spuren-der-deutschen-Computermaus--/meldung/136901 |title=Auf den Spuren der deutschen Computermaus |trans-title=In the footsteps of the German computer mouse |language=German |publisher=Heise Verlag|date=April 28, 2009|access-date=January 7, 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://www.oldmouse.com/mouse/misc/telefunken.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091126193715/http://www.oldmouse.com/mouse/misc/telefunken.shtml|url-status=usurped|archive-date=November 26, 2009|title=Telefunken's 'Rollkugel'|publisher=oldmouse.com}}
In 1989, he went to work for Sun Microsystems on internationalization efforts.
English died of respiratory failure in San Rafael, California, on July 26, 2020, aged 91.
References
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Category:Computer hardware engineers
Category:20th-century American engineers
Category:21st-century American engineers
Category:Place of birth missing
Category:SRI International people
Category:Scientists at PARC (company)
Category:People from Lexington, Kentucky