Ralph Henry Baer (born Rudolf Heinrich Baer; March 8, 1922 – December 6, 2014) was a German-born American inventor, and engineer, and was known as "The Father of Video Games" due to his many contributions to games and the video game industry in the latter half of the 20th century. Born in Germany, he and his family fled to the United States before the outbreak of World War II , where he changed his name and later served the American war effort. Afterwards, he pursued work in electronics. 1951, while working at Loral, he was asked to build "the best television set in the world". He proposed the idea of playing games on television screens, but his boss rejected it. Later in 1966, while working at Sanders Associates , his 1951 idea came back to his mind, and he would go on to develop eight hardware prototypes. The last two (the Brown Box and its de/dt extension) would become the first home video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey .
Baer married Dena Whinston in 1952; she died in 2006. They had three children during their marriage, and at the time of Baer's death, he had four grandchildren.
Baer died at his home in Manchester, New Hampshire on December 6, 2014, according to family and friends close to him.
Baer is the inventor of the Concept of video games, specifically the idea of home console video games. He invented the first video game system and had it patented and licenced around 1971. Originally called the "Brown Box" it was renamed the "Magnovox Odyssey". He later developed the first light gun, and sold with an expansion to the Magnovox Odyssey in a pack called the "Shooting Gallery". In 1978, Baer helped create the memorization game Simon, and its predessor Super Simon in 1979 and on his own he created a similar game called Maniac, for the Ideal Toy Company.
Baer also donated hardware prototypes and documents to the Smithsonian Institution. He continued to tinker in electronics after the death of his wife through at least 2013. By the time of his death, Baer had over 150 patents in his name; in addition to those related to video games, he had patents for electronic greeting cards and for tracking systems for submarines.
In addition to being considered "The Father of Video Games," Baer was recognized as a pioneer in the video game field. His accolades include the G-Phoria Legend Award (2005), the IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronics Award (2008), the Game Developers Conference Developers Choice "Pioneer" award (2008), and the IEEE Edison Medal (2014). Baer was posthumously given the Pioneer Award by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences at the 2015 Game Developers Conference.
On February 13, 2006, Baer was awarded the National Medal of Technology by President George W. Bush in honor of his "groundbreaking and pioneering creation, development and commercialization of interactive video games." On April 1, 2010, Baer was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame at a ceremony at the United States Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History has a Exhibit of prototypes donated by Ralph H. Baer, it is called "The Father of the Video Game: The Ralph Baer Prototypes and Electronic Games". He donated these prototypes in 2006.
Baer recounted that in an early meeting with a patent examiner and his attorney to patent one of the prototypes, he had set up the prototype on a television in the examiner's office and "within 15 minutes, every examiner on the floor of that building was in that office wanting to play the game"
The Original Brown Box sold around over 340,000 units
Bushnell saw Baer's successful devices and was able to create the first arcade machine in 1972 based on Baer's Table Tennis idea, resulting in Pong. The success was very limited though, due to the heavy price and confusing advertising. Sanders and Magnavox successfully sued Atari for patent infringement over Baer's original ideas, but Bushnell would continue to push Atari forward to become a leader in both home and arcade video games. This led to a lengthy conflict between Baer and Bushnell over who was the true "father of video games"; Baer was willing to concede this to Bushnell, though noted that Bushnell "has been telling the same nonsensical stories for 40 years."
Ralph H. Baer
Picture above from http://www.ralphbaer.com/images/rhb3a.jpg
History
Ralph Henry Baer (born Rudolf Heinrich Baer; March 8, 1922 – December 6, 2014) was a German-born American inventor, and engineer, and was known as "The Father of Video Games" due to his many contributions to games and the video game industry in the latter half of the 20th century.Born in Germany, he and his family fled to the United States before the outbreak of World War II , where he changed his name and later served the American war effort. Afterwards, he pursued work in electronics. 1951, while working at Loral, he was asked to build "the best television set in the world". He proposed the idea of playing games on television screens, but his boss rejected it. Later in 1966, while working at Sanders Associates , his 1951 idea came back to his mind, and he would go on to develop eight hardware prototypes. The last two (the Brown Box and its de/dt extension) would become the first home video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey .
Baer married Dena Whinston in 1952; she died in 2006. They had three children during their marriage, and at the time of Baer's death, he had four grandchildren.
Baer died at his home in Manchester, New Hampshire on December 6, 2014, according to family and friends close to him.
Above information received from Wikipedia
Inventions
Baer is the inventor of the Concept of video games, specifically the idea of home console video games. He invented the first video game system and had it patented and licenced around 1971. Originally called the "Brown Box" it was renamed the "Magnovox Odyssey". He later developed the first light gun, and sold with an expansion to the Magnovox Odyssey in a pack called the "Shooting Gallery". In 1978, Baer helped create the memorization game Simon, and its predessor Super Simon in 1979 and on his own he created a similar game called Maniac, for the Ideal Toy Company.Baer also donated hardware prototypes and documents to the Smithsonian Institution. He continued to tinker in electronics after the death of his wife through at least 2013. By the time of his death, Baer had over 150 patents in his name; in addition to those related to video games, he had patents for electronic greeting cards and for tracking systems for submarines.
Above information received from WikipediaAwards
In addition to being considered "The Father of Video Games," Baer was recognized as a pioneer in the video game field. His accolades include the G-Phoria Legend Award (2005), the IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronics Award (2008), the Game Developers Conference Developers Choice "Pioneer" award (2008), and the IEEE Edison Medal (2014). Baer was posthumously given the Pioneer Award by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences at the 2015 Game Developers Conference.On February 13, 2006, Baer was awarded the National Medal of Technology by President George W. Bush in honor of his "groundbreaking and pioneering creation, development and commercialization of interactive video games." On April 1, 2010, Baer was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame at a ceremony at the United States Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C.
Above is directly from Wikipedia
Other Notes
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History has a Exhibit of prototypes donated by Ralph H. Baer, it is called "The Father of the Video Game: The Ralph Baer Prototypes and Electronic Games". He donated these prototypes in 2006.Baer recounted that in an early meeting with a patent examiner and his attorney to patent one of the prototypes, he had set up the prototype on a television in the examiner's office and "within 15 minutes, every examiner on the floor of that building was in that office wanting to play the game"
The Original Brown Box sold around over 340,000 units
Bushnell saw Baer's successful devices and was able to create the first arcade machine in 1972 based on Baer's Table Tennis idea, resulting in Pong. The success was very limited though, due to the heavy price and confusing advertising.
Sanders and Magnavox successfully sued Atari for patent infringement over Baer's original ideas, but Bushnell would continue to push Atari forward to become a leader in both home and arcade video games. This led to a lengthy conflict between Baer and Bushnell over who was the true "father of video games"; Baer was willing to concede this to Bushnell, though noted that Bushnell "has been telling the same nonsensical stories for 40 years."
Above is directly from Wikipedia and http://americanhistory.si.edu
Above image from Wikipedia of the Brown Box
Above image of the Magnovox from Wikipedia
The Magnovox light gun found on http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/egamia/images/d/d5/Magnavox-odyssey-1tl200-shooting-gallery_www1.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150902225608
Ralph H. Baer's Smithsonion Exhibit http://amhistory.si.edu/ogmt/images/upload/the-father-of-the-video-game-the-ralph-baer-prototypes-and-electronic-games/RWS2015-05603-compress.jpg