Sketchpad

This is a digital copy of a 1963 16:41 min 16mm film film demonstration of Ivan Sutherland’s classic Sketchpad system. Sketchpad, and its associated thesis (see reference below), is one of the most influential theses in computer science, and it laid the foundation for a very large part of what we take for granted today (and then some) from the perspective of how we interact with computers. This work was done at a very special place, MIT’s Lincoln Lab, on a very special computer, Wes Clark’s TX-2, amongst a group of highly competent and creative people. It was a perfect storm and Sutherland rode it beautifully. For more information on Sketchpad, see: