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Ralph H. Baer

File:Ralph-Baer.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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Ralph H. Baer

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Also known as Ralph Hendrikson Baer, Ralph Henry Baer

German-born American inventor and engineer (1922–2014)

Person · Open Library

Works
3

Top works

  • Game console hacking
  • Videogames
  • Videogames

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Acting · Rodalben, Palatinate, Germany

Known for

  • Easy to Learn, Hard to Master: The Fate of Atari — Self2017
  • Outerlands2017
  • The King of Arcades — Himself2014
  • Ralph Baer, the Father of Video Games — Self2011
  • Video Games Live: Level 2 — Self2010
  • Game On! The Unauthorized History of Video Games — Himself - Magnavox Odyssey Inventor2006
  • Video Game Invasion: The History of a Global Obsession — Self2004

via TMDB

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Person
Country
GB
Active from
1659-09-10
Active to
1695-11-21

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Key facts

Born
Rudolf Heinrich Baer , ( 1922-03-08 ) March 8, 1922, Rodalben , Palatinate , Germany
Died
December 6, 2014 (2014-12-06) (aged 92), Manchester, New Hampshire , U.S.
Occupations
Inventor, video game designer, engineer
Spouse
Dena Whinston ​ ​ ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1952 ; died 2006 ) ​
Website
www .ralphbaer .com

via Wikipedia infobox

~12 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Ralph Henry Baer (born Rudolf Heinrich Baer; March 8, 1922 – December 6, 2014) was a German-born American inventor, game developer, and engineer.

Baer's Jewish family fled Germany just before World War II and Baer served the American war effort, gaining an interest in electronics shortly thereafter. Through several jobs in the electronics industry, he was working as an engineer at Sanders Associates (now BAE Systems) in Nashua, New Hampshire, when he conceived the idea of playing games on a television screen around 1966. With support of his employers, he worked through several prototypes until he arrived at a "Brown Box" that would later become the blueprint for the first home video game console, licensed by Magnavox as the Magnavox Odyssey. Baer continued to design several other consoles and computer game units, including contributing to design of the Simon electronic game. Baer continued to work in electronics until his death in 2014, with over 150 patents to his name.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Ralph H. Baer” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (9)