Douglas Engelbart invented the very first computer mouse in 1964, and it was essentially just a clunky hollow wooden block with two metal wheels strapped to the bottom.

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Douglas Engelbart invented the very first computer mouse in 1964, and it was essentially just a clunky hollow wooden block with two metal wheels strapped to the bottom. He called it a mouse because the cord trailing out of the back happened to look like a rodent's tail, proving that computer scientists have never been particularly good at creative naming. Despite inventing one of the most ubiquitous and revolutionary interface devices in human history, Engelbart never received any royalties for it because his employer owned the patent and it expired before personal computers became mainstream. Now we spend hundreds of dollars on ergonomically molded glowing plastic versions of his wooden block just to click on pop-up ads