Augmentation Research Center
| Private | |
| Industry |
Computer software Computer hardware |
| Founded | 1960s |
| Founder | Douglas Engelbart |
| Parent | SRI International |
SRI International's Augmentation Research Center (ARC) was founded in the 1960s by electrical engineer Douglas Engelbart to develop and experiment with new tools and techniques for collaboration and information processing.
The main product to come out of ARC was the revolutionary oN-Line System, better known by its abbreviation, NLS. ARC is also known for the invention of the "computer mouse" pointing device, and its role in the early formation of the Internet.
Engelbart recruited workers and ran the organization until the late 1970s when the project was commercialized and sold to Tymshare, which was eventually purchased by McDonnell Douglas.
Some early ideas by Douglas Engelbart were developed in 1959 funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (now Rome Laboratory). By 1962 a framework document was published.
J. C. R. Licklider, the first director of the US Defense Department's Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO), funded the project in early 1963. First experiments were done trying to connect a display at SRI to the massive one-of-a-kind AN/FSQ-32 computer at the System Development Corporation in Santa Monica, California.
NASA provided major funding through Robert Taylor in 1964. A custom graphical workstation was built around a commercial computer, the CDC 160A, and a CDC 3100, which handled a single user at a time. In 1965 Taylor became IPTO director, which increased the funding. In 1968 an SDS 940 computer running the Berkeley Timesharing System allowed multiple users.
...
Wikipedia