Ralph H. Baer: Father Of Video Games
July 8th is Video Game Day, a day where gamers celebrate by sharing their favorite games, talking about their gaming memories, and engage in the age-old argument on which is better console or PC. While we (gamers) celebrate both the nostalgia and future of gaming, there’s one person we really should celebrate, Ralph H. Baer (1922-2014). Without Baer, we probably would never have had gaming systems. So who is he? Baer was born in Germany in 1922. Life was hard for Baer and his family due to the social and political firestorm that was taking over Germany at the time, and that they were Jewish. In 1938 at the age of 16, Baer’s family moved to New York, two months later the infamous Kristallnacht took place. After becoming a citizen, Baer worked in a factory (for $12 a week) and was self-taught. While at a bus stop, he saw an advertisement for degrees in electronics in which he quit his
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