Doug Engelbart (1925- )
Independent and idealistic electrical engineer with Ph.D. from Berkeley. Inspired by Vannevar Bush’s memex, Engelbart based his lifework on the concept that computers could be used to strengthen and extend human thought and knowledge. As a member of J. C. R. Licklider's Intergalactic Network, he founded the Augmentation Research Center at Stanford, the precursor to Xerox PARC. There Engelbart developed a working vision of a collaborative computing environment, with a graphic windowed interface, mouse, hypertext system, networking, and electronic mail. He helped to develop the ARPAnet and to inspire the work of Alan Kay and Ted Nelson.