Ralph Baer's achievements opened the door to today's multi-million euro global games industry.
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The achievements of Ralph Baer are being celebrated following the death of the ‘“Father of Home Video Games” aged 92.
Baer, who fled to the US from his native Germany in 1938 ahead of the Second World War, spent much of his career working on advanced radar systems before turning to interactive video games in the 1960s.
Many over a certain age will recall playing Space Invaders or Table Tennis on their television sets, at the humble beginnings of today’s multi-million euro global games industry.
Baer’s first video game console, dubbed The Brown Box, made its debut in 1972, and was later licensed by Magnavox as the Odyssey game system.
He also invented Simon, the iconic memory game. a circular toy with four coloured tiles that flashed in a pattern.
Baer continued working from his home workshop through the 2000s and wrote a book called “Videogames: In the Beginning”.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak said in a review of the book that he could “never thank Ralph enough for what he gave to me and everyone else”.
Ralph Baer died on Saturday at his home in Manchester, New Hampshire, USA.