Who was Ralph H. Baer?
Other than a wonderful and exceptional human being, Ralph Henry Baer was an inventor, considered the “Father of Video Games” for the invention of the first video games console, the Magnavox Odyssey.
He's been trying to put games into TV sets since the 1950s, but it wasn't until the last day of August of 1966, while waiting for a colleague from Sanders Associates on a bus stop, when he devised a low-cost, electronic video games machines that could be connected to a TV set to play games. This idea was then converted to a prototype, the infamous “Brown Box”, that showed that the idea was feasable, and could be turned into a product. That idea was later licenced to Magnavox, that produced the Odyssey, the first video games console.
Ralph kept inventing games and all kinds of electronic devices. Check this video interview to know a little more about him:
Ralph Baer passed away on December 6th, 2014, at the age of 92. But his legacy will live forever.
If you want to know more about Ralph H. Baer, check these links:
- Lemelson Center at Smithsonian's National Museum of American History: Remembering Ralph Baer
- The New York Times: Ralph H. Baer, Inventor of First System for Home Video Games, Is Dead at 92
- Smithsonian's National Museum of American History: The Father of the Video Game: The Ralph Baer Prototypes and Electronic Games
- Encyclopædia Britannica entry on Ralph Baer
- Wikipedia article on Ralph H. Baer