Ralph Baer - The father of the home consoles
Summary
Ralph Baer was born in Germany in 1922. In 1938, he and his Jewish family fled Nazi persecution to the USA. He graduated from the private National Radio Institute and served in US military intelligence during the Second World War. In 1949, he completed a bachelor’s degree in the then-new field of television engineering. Sanders Associates hired him in 1956.
In addition to the Brown Box as the first home console, thanks to his passion for tinkering, he creates a joy for people with many inventions: for example with SIMON, also called SENSO, and other electronic toys, as well as the first talking mat Chat-Mat. Over the course of his life, he registers countless patents.
Baer’s role as a pioneer of the video game industry received recognition relatively late. His honours included the National Medal of Technology and the IEEE Edison Medal. He published his memoirs, Videogames: In the Beginning, in 2005 and died in New Hampshire in 2014 at the age of 92.
Ralph Baer’s personal website is still available today and is full of images and documents that describe his numerous patents and other developments in consumer electronics in more detail.
Baer on the development phase of the Brown Box
I reported to the executive vice president [of Sanders Associates]. He knew exactly what was going on. And he kept asking, “Baer, are you still tinkering with this stuff [playing video]?” During the first couple of years and later, I was exposed to remarks like, “Stop wasting our money..” When the millions finally came, they all suddenly only remembered how supportive they were towards the project.1
Further inventions and developments
Baer has also developed several microprocessor-controlled handhelds (Maniac, Computer Perfection or Amazatron) and various TV-interacting toys, such as the Smarty Bear Video.
Baer’s best-known electronic toy is probably Simon, released in 1978 and called Senso in Germany. This simple handheld asks players to remember sequences of tones and repeat them by pressing the corresponding coloured buttons. It was widely copied and has been a fixture of popular culture since the 80s.
Sources and further links
Footnotes
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Ralph Baer, quoted and edited by Kent, Steven L.: The Ultimate History of Video Games, New York 2001, p. 21. ↩
Connections in the collection
In the exhibition concept
- Ralph Baer and the Brown Box · Area Konsolen 1, Section 2