Historic Events 0

Overview 1

Following are the most celebrated events in which Doug Engelbart and/or key members of his team described his seminal work in detail. See also our Videography and Awards pages, as well as the comprehensive Engelbart Archive Collection. To learn about the future from Doug, see the Engelbart Academy. 1a

1968 Demo & Anniversary Events 2

1968 "Mother of All Demos" -
In 1968 Doug Engelbart "wowed" a packed audience at the Fall Joint Computer Conference in San Francisco, CA, with a live demonstation of his research. Visit our portal page into the event, with links to the archive video footage, photos, "behind the scenes" retrospectives, and more.

1998 30th Anniversary Event
"Engelbart's Unfinished Revolution"
Marking the 30th anniversary of Doug's 1968 demo, a special day long public symposium held at Stanford University on December 9th, 1998 to celebrate and reflect upon Doug Engelbart's vision of computing as put forth in his now famous 1968 demo (special thanks to Paul Saffo/Institute for the Future and the Stanford Libraries as well as all the event sponsors for making this a most magical commemorative event). See our 30th Anniversary Event webpage with photos and links, visit the unRev website dedicated to this event, or watch the sessions online. 2b

2008 40th Anniversary Event
"Engelbart and the Dawn of Interactive Computing"
Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Doug's 1968 Demo. A special commemorative public event hosted by SRI International at Stanford University on December 9th, 2008 to celebrate and reflect upon Doug Engelbart's vision for the future, and the brilliant breakthrough innovations that came pouring out of his SRI lab in the 1960s and '70s. See our 40th Anniversary Event page for details and to watch the sessions online. 2c

2018 50th Anniversary Event
"Celebrating the Demo @50"
Events were held on three continents during the month of December, 2018, to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Doug's 1968 Demo. These included a special commemorative public event hosted by the Computer History Museum with sponsors Logitech and SRI Internationa on the eventing of December 12th, 2018, and several day long celebrations on the day of December 9th in Silicon Valley, London, and Japan. See our 50th Anniversary website for details and to watch the sessions online. 2d

More Anniversary Events 3

1997 Symposium
"Augmenting Human Intellect: 35 Years Later"
A special commemorative event marking the 35th anniversary of Doug Engelbart's foundational 1962 thinkpiece Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework, which informed and drove his life's work. Speaking on the vision, key implementations, and what is yet to be accomplished, watch the event in full, or watch the individual presentations by Doug and his chief architects: Jeff Rulifson | Bill English | Charles Irby | Doug Engelbart | with introductory remarks by Peter Nurske. Event Sponsors: Bay Area Computer History Perspectives and Sun Microsystems. 3a

Framework Expedition
"Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework"
Professor Gardner Campbell of Virginia Commonwealth University, foremost Engelbart scholar and practitioner, has studied Doug's foundational 1962 thinkpiece Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework in depth. Watch Dr. Campbell's 2018 lecture, presented at the Engelbart Symposium commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Doug's great Demo. The following spring semester, Dr. Campbell conducted an online 'expedition' of study and annotation of the document; see his Framework project website, watch his welcoming conversation with Christina Engelbart, and browse our companion Field Guide to Doug's 1962 Framework document. 3b

2019 Twin Anniversaries
"1969 Demo" and "Networked"
2019 marked the 50th Anniversary of TWO great milestones in Doug's work, both occurred in October 1969 and fed off each other. We celebrated each anniversary online, complete with historic footage, memorabilia, fun facts, and more. For details see: Doug's 1969 Demo Sequel, and Engelbart's Role in Early Computer Networking. 3c

In-Depth Management Seminars 4

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Doug Engelbart presented numerous lectures, interviews, and management seminars, many of which are showcased in our online Engelbart Academy. Following are two of his more epic seminar events.

2000 Colloquium
"An In-Depth Look at The Unfinished Revolution"
Doug Engelbart's ten-week colloquium at Stanford University provided an unprecedented opportunity to present his motivation and vision in the context of the professional views of 30-plus guest speakers working the frontiers of society, technology, business, and urgent concerns of people around the world. Nicknamed Unrev-II, it culminated in a stepped-up effort to bring the open hyperdocument system (OHS) to fruition. Special thanks to Marcelo Hoffmann and Peter Yim, to the folks at Stanford, and to all our sponsors and speakers making this a great success. Visit the Colloquium website, and watch the sessions online at the Stanford Center for Professional Development (SCPD). 4a

1992 Bootstrap Seminar
"Bootstrapping Organizations into the 21st Century"
Doug Engelbart and Christina Engelbart produced numerous half day, all day, and three day management seminars and workshops from 1990-1998 at Stanford University and surrounding venues, as well as in Washington DC and Tokyo. Watch the March 1992 Bootstrap Seminar online. 4b

Other Key Events 5

2006 Software Project:
HyperScope Release Party
Evening presentation of the HyperScope software, held in the conference room at SRI occupying the space where his research lab was housed in the 1960s and '70s, with after party held at the Oasis in Menlo Park, where his research team would often convene in the old days. See HyperScope event page for links to event announcement, photos, and video of the event, See also our HyperScope R&D Project archives. [Photo courtesy Peter Kaminski] 5a