Editing 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 [[Augmentation Research Center|ARC]]<br />[[PARC (company)|Xerox PARC]]<br />[[Sun Microsystems]]
|alma_mater        =
|doctoral_advisor  =
|academic_advisors =
|doctoral_students =
|notable_students  =
|known_for         = Development of the computer mouse
|author_abbrev_bot =
|author_abbrev_zoo =
|influences        =
|influenced        =
|awards            =
|footnotes         =
}}

'''William Kirk English''' (January 27, 1929{{spnd}}July 26, 2020) was an American [[Computer engineering|computer engineer]] who contributed to the development of the [[computer mouse]] while working for [[Douglas Engelbart]] at [[SRI International]]'s [[Augmentation Research Center]].<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref name="hist">{{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}}</ref> He would later work for [[PARC (company)|Xerox PARC]] and [[Sun Microsystems]].

==Early life==
English was born on January 27, 1929, in [[Lexington, Kentucky|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.<ref name="nytobit">{{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}}</ref> 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]].<ref name="hof">{{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}}</ref> In 1964, he was the first person to join Douglas Engelbart's lab, the [[Augmentation Research Center]].

[[File:SRI Computer Mouse.jpg|thumb|left|The SRI prototype mouse, designed by Engelbart and built by English]]
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.<ref name="Bülow_2009_Rollkugel"/><ref name=":0">{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref name="hof"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dougengelbart.org/firsts/mouse.html|title=Mouse|publisher=Doug Engelbart Institute|access-date=January 25, 2013}}</ref> 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 (computer system)|NLS]] (oN-Line System).<ref name="hof"/><ref name="smithsonian moad"/> In particular, English figured out how to connect a terminal in the [[Bill Graham Civic Auditorium|San Francisco Civic Auditorium]] to the host computer at SRI {{convert|30|miles|km}} away, and also transmitted audio and video between the locations.<ref name="hof"/><ref name="smithsonian moad">{{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]] }}</ref>

He left SRI in 1971 and went to [[PARC (company)|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.<ref name="hist"/> It worked similarly to a moveable ball-based mouse device called [[Rollkugel (mouse device)|Rollkugel]], which had been developed by [[Telefunken]], Germany, and was offered since <!-- at least October -->1968 as input device for their computers.<ref name="Bülow_2009_Rollkugel">{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref>

In 1989, he went to work for [[Sun Microsystems]] on internationalization efforts.<ref name="hist"/>

English died of respiratory failure in [[San Rafael, California]], on July 26, 2020, aged 91.<ref name="nytobit" /><ref name=":0" />

==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:English, Bill}}
[[Category:1929 births]]
[[Category:2020 deaths]]
[[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]]
[[Category:Scientists from Kentucky]]
[[Category:Engineers from Kentucky]]