Doug Engelbart, “Father Of The Mouse” And American Inventor, Passes Away At 88

from techcrunch.com: Doug Engelbart, an American inventor best known for creating the early computer mouse, passed away last night due to kidney failure. He was 88 years old.

Engelbart pioneered many early Silicon Valley technologies, mostly surrounding human-computer interaction, including the creation of hypertext and work on graphical interfaces.
 
In his own words in a 2004 Wired profile, Engelbart describes the early development of the mouse:

I first started making notes for the mouse in ’61. At the time, the popular device for pointing on the screen was a light pen, which had come out of the radar program during the war. It was the standard way to navigate, but I didn’t think it was quite right…We set up our experiments and the mouse won in every category, even though it had never been used before. It was faster, and with it people made fewer mistakes. Five or six of us were involved in these tests, but no one can remember who started calling it a mouse. I’m surprised the name stuck.

Engelbart is survived by four children, nine grandchildren, and his second wife, whom he wed in 2008. Engelbart’s first wife died in 1997 after 47 years of marriage.

Neil Armstrong, First Man on Moon, Dies at 82

Neil Armstrong, first astronaut to walk on the Moon, dies today from complications of heart bypass surgery. "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," is statement Armstrong made famous as he took first step onto Moon's surface. A short biography of Neil Armstrong is available here.

Martin Fleischmann, '#ColdFusion' Pioneer with Pons, Dead at 85

from newenergytimes.com: Martin Fleischmann, co-discoverer with B. Stanley Pons of a phenomenon they initially attributed to nuclear fusion, is dead at 85... Fleischmann was regarded as one of the world’s top electrochemists. He was known for his driving passion for discovery and for breaking new ground, which other scientists then followed to great commercial success... When he and Pons claimed to discover a new, cheaper way to create controlled nuclear fusion energy in a test-tube on March 23, 1989, everything changed for him. The personal and scientific fallout from the announcement was a burden he bore for the rest of his life.

Flashback Video:
"Heavy Watergate - The War Against Cold Fusion"

Legendary Writer Ray Bradbury Dies At Age 91

Science Fiction Legend Ray Bradbury dies at age 91 in Los Angeles after lengthy illness during a rare Transit of Venus on June 5th. A YouTube video (at left) is a relatively early biography in 1963 of Bradbury and it provides nostalgic insight into a still vigorous writer. The half-hour bio includes frames of key punch cards for younger audience who've never seen them. Bradbury is admired for being his own man, who shared feelings about technology in a late 2011 BBC News article: "'We have too many cellphones. We've got too many internets. We have got to get rid of those machines. We have too many machines now.'" You may also enjoy as a bonus, "Dial Double Zero", a short story about intelligence within a telephone system, included in above video - please RIP Ray Bradbury.

Related Update: Digital Copy of "Martian Chronicles" on Mars

Roger Boisjoly, Whistleblower Warned of Challenger Disaster, Dies 73

from nytimes.com: Six months before the space shuttle Challenger exploded over Florida on Jan. 28, 1986, Roger Boisjoly wrote a portentous memo. He warned that if the weather was too cold, seals connecting sections of the shuttle’s huge rocket boosters could fail. “The result could be a catastrophe of the highest order, loss of human life,” he wrote.

The memo was meant to jolt Morton Thiokol, the company that made the boosters and employed Mr. Boisjoly. In July 1985, a task force had been formed, partly on Mr. Boisjoly’s recommendation, to examine the effect of cold on the boosters. The effort, however, had become mired in paperwork, procurement delays and a rush to launch the shuttle, according to later investigations.

Meanwhile, his apprehensions only grew. The night before the Challenger’s liftoff, the temperature dipped below freezing. Unusual for Florida, the cold was unprecedented for a shuttle launching, and it prompted Mr. Boisjoly and other engineers to plead that the flight be postponed. Their bosses, under pressure from NASA, rejected the advice.

The shuttle exploded 73 seconds after launching, killing its seven crew members, including Christa McAuliffe, a high school teacher from Concord, N.H.

Mr. Boisjoly’s memo was soon made public. He became widely known as a whistle-blower in a federal investigation of the disaster. And though he was hailed for his action by many, he was also made to suffer for it.

Mr. Boisjoly (pronounced like Beaujolais wine) died in Nephi, Utah, near Provo, on Jan. 6. He was 73. His death was reported only locally at the time. He lived in southwest Utah, in St. George. His wife, Roberta, said he recently learned he had cancer in his colon, kidneys and liver.

Related Update: Cancer Claims Janice Voss, Five-Time Shuttle Astronaut*

12/15 defcon: god's particles, takedown sprees & more

ndaa gives pentagon a green light for cyberwar*

congress authorizes pentagon to wage internet war*
'blueprint for a secure cyber future':
dhs releases cyber strategy framework*
california unveils cyber crime unit*
florida arrests 48 in child computer sex crimes investigation*
cops target climate-sceptic bloggers in three countries*
sopa tweet triggers political explosion, delays vote*
carrier iq meets with feds 'to educate them'*
carrier iq explains secret monitoring software to ftc, fcc*
lockmart delivers gps3 pathfinder satellite to denver on schedule*
judge gives universal music 24 hours to explain takedown spree*
amazon big brother patent knows where you'll go*
'flash gordon' supercomputer powers up in january*
galileo in tune as first navigation signal transmitted to earth*
nearest supernova since 1986 blasts boffin off his chair*
aug24 supernova was a 'white dwarf' star*
dna hackers: synthetic biology weaponized virus, zero-day exploit to infect your brain?*
higgs boson hunters have 'god particle' in their sights*
lhc may have revealed first hints of higgs*
video: boris chertok, russian rocket engineer, dies at 99*

11/17 defcon: shall we play a game?

US general: we're cleared to cyber-bomb enemy hackers*

senate to debate cyber legislation in 2012*
what is the 'sopa' bill & why is it causing such a ruckus?*
websense predicts an explosive 2012 for cyber crime*
diaspora co-founder ilya zhitomirskiy passes away at 22*
idf, mossad & shin bet back online after day of computer malfunctions*
US satellites compromised by malicious cyber activity*
6 guys in a capsule: 520 days on a simulated mars mission*

10/13 defcon: outage, buyout, lineup

video: fbi makes arrest after johansson emails hacked*

mitsubishi heavy, japanese defense contractor, targeted by over 50 computer viruses*
fake netflix app poses data-stealing risk*
blackberrys buzz back to life after long outage*
dennis ritchie, father of 'c' programming language, dies at 70*
microsoft skype buyout is officially official*
faithful line up as apple's new iphone 4s hits stores friday*

visionary apple co-founder steve jobs dies at 56

from msnbc: Steve Jobs saw the future and led the world to it. He moved technology from garages to pockets, took entertainment from discs to bytes and turned gadgets into extensions of the people who use them. Jobs, who founded and ran Apple, told us what we needed before we wanted it. "To some people, this is like Elvis Presley or John Lennon. It's a change in our times. It's the end of an era," said Scott Robbins, 34, a barber and an Apple fan. "It's like the end of the innovators." Apple announced his death without giving a specific cause. He died peacefully on Wednesday, according to a statement from family members who were present. He was 56.

update: apple met with palo alto police days before death*