Yesterday Ralph Baer passed away at the age of 92. You might not have heard his name, but Ralph Baer was best known as the inventor of the home video game system. In the late 60’s and early 70’s Ralph had an idea for a device that could connect to a television and play electronic games. An early prototype he built was famously known as the brown box for it’s brown vinyl wood finish, and now lives at the Smithsonian museum. Ralph’s brown box design was licensed to Magnavox who sold it to consumers in 1972 as the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home video game console.
Today’s modern video game consoles from Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo can all be traced back to Ralph Baer’s original idea for a home video game console. For his contribution to technology Ralph Baer was awarded the National Medal of Technology in 2006. Although Ralph Baer is now gone, his legacy as the father of video games will never be forgotten–rest in peace Ralph Baer.
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