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S01E08: The multitouch: How a mix of new ideas shaped the way we communicate with computers

Hidden Heroes

CHAPTER

The Story of the Multi-Touch Interface

In the early 1960s, a British engineer began tinkering with an interface for air traffic controllers to manage flight paths. He built a working prototype of what is now called a capacitive touchscreen. The technology failed to advance much beyond that limited application. A few years after Johnson's original paper was published, a physicist at the University of Kentucky named Samuel Hearst created his first multi-touch device.

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