Ralph Baer
Game developer
Class of 2010 Inductee
Ralph Baer was an inventor, game developer, and engineer.
He was working as an engineer at Sanders Associates 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 the design of the Simon electronic game.
Baer is considered “the Father of Video Games” due to his many contributions to games and helping to spark the video game industry.
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Awards and Accomplishments:
Baer received the National Medal of Technology from President George W. Bush in 2006.
His accolades include the G-Phoria Legend Award (2005).
The IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronics Award (2008).
The Game Developers Conference Developers Choice “Pioneer” award (2008).
The IEEE Edison Medal (2014).
Baer was posthumously given the Pioneer Award by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences at the 2015 Game Developers Conference.
On February 13, 2006, Baer was awarded the National Medal of Technology by President George W. Bush in honor of his “groundbreaking and pioneering creation, development and commercialization of interactive video games”.
On April 1, 2010, Baer was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame at a ceremony at the United States Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C.
In 2006, Baer donated many of his inventions to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
Baer continued to work in electronics until his death in 2014, with over 150 patents to his name. His workshop was removed from the basement of his house on Mayflower Drive in Manchester and to the museum, where it is now on permanent display in the museum’s Innovation Wing.
Baer was a Life Senior Member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. His son, Mark, helped lead the nomination process to elevate him to become an IEEE Life Fellow, the highest level of membership within the organization.