Keyboard commands for copying and pasting data were created by computer scientist Larry Tesler in 1973 while working on text editing software at the legendary Xerox PARC research facility.

A closer look

Keyboard commands for copying and pasting data were created by computer scientist Larry Tesler in 1973 while working on text editing software at the legendary Xerox PARC research facility. Before Tesler introduced this basic concept, moving text on a computer required typing out complex strings of command code just to shift words from one digital location to another. It is impossible to overstate how much of human civilization relies on a shortcut designed fifty years ago, considering entire university degrees, corporate presentations, and complex coding projects are now achieved almost entirely by blindly ripping off existing work. Tesler basically single-handedly enabled the modern era of intellectual laziness, granting us the magical ability to seamlessly steal entire Wikipedia articles for our history reports without breaking a sweat. The man essentially invented the digital equivalent of plagiarism magic and society never even bothered to throw a global parade in his absolute honor