René Sommer

René Sommer (1951 – 5 October 2009) was a Swiss inventor and computer programmer, credited as a co-inventor of the computer mouse.

Rene Sommer (right) with Douglas Engelbart (left).

Along with Professor Jean-Daniel Nicoud and André Guignard, Sommer helped invent the computer mouse at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne.[1] Sommer was credited for making the mouse "more intelligent" by adding a micro-processor to the mouse's design in 1985.[1]

Sommer died on 5 October 2009 in Saint-Légier, Vaud, Switzerland, at the age of 58.[1]

Logitech, which manufactured the original mouse, called Sommer a ‘brilliant and impassioned engineer’ in reaction to his death.[1]

References

1. "Computer mouse inventor dies in Vaud". World Radio Switzerland. 2009-10-14. Archived from the original on 2011-07-07. Retrieved 2009-10-28.