Who is Gerald ‘Jerry’ Lawson? Meet the brain behind world’s first video game cartridge
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Image Credits: Google Doodle
If you had the time of opening the search engine Google to look up for something, you might have noticed a man holding a video game console. Upon clicking on the doodle, you’d find that Google is honoring Gerald ‘Jerry’ Lawson on his 82nd birthday. But who is this prominent personality and what is his relation with video games, these kind of questions might be popping up in reader’s heads.
Google acknowledges personalities from across the world through doodles which are designed across the original logo. From celebrating birthdays to milestones, Google hardly misses out on providing the recognition, a certain personality deserves and today, it was none other than Gerald ‘Jerry’ Lawson who was born 82 years ago today.
Who is Gerald ‘Jerry’ Lawson?
Born in 1940, Gerald Anderson Lawson was an American engineer as well as one of the pioneers of the video gaming industry. While he was enlisted in Queens College, he never got the chance to complete his studies and claim a degree but that didn’t stop his innovative mind.
For someone who was involved in handling electrical appliances at a very young age, Lawson joined Fairchild Semiconductor in 1970 to create Demolition Derby, that became one of the first microprocessor driven-games in the world. This game became the foundation base for Lawson to develop the world’s first video game cartridge.
When was the first video game cartridge invented by Gerald ‘Jerry’ Lawson?
Lawson was made the Chief Hardware Engineer of the video gaming division, for the company he was working for during the mid-1970s. This led to the development of the Fairchild Channel F console in 1976 which was designed in such a way, that it allowed users to swap video game cartridges. While the console did not gain much recognition, the concept of cartridges became a commercial success.
Cartridges helped gamers to have a library of video games, that naturally helped to increase the revenue flow for console companies. The cartridge idea, therefore, became an inspiration to many companies and led Lawson to be recognized as “father of the videogame cartridge”.
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Years after developing the cartridge
Gerald ‘Jerry’ Lawson’s love for video games didn’t stop at the Fairchild company as after leaving them in 1980, he found his own video game development company known as VideoSoft. Although it was shut down after 5 years, Lawson was able to make several developments in the company such as the software Atari 2600 that replaced Channel F to become the bestseller software in the industry back then.
How is Google celebrating his 82nd birthday?
Lawson would have been celebrating his 82nd birthday today had he not succumbed to ailments related to diabetes. He met his unfortunate demise at the age of 70 but his legacies still linger around the world. Apart from receiving accolades and awards during his lifetime, Gerald ‘Jerry’ Lawson became the face of Google Doodle on December 1st.
The interesting doodle allows users to play as well as create their own video game, helping them to relive the nostalgic days of the years when video gaming was at the initial stages of its development.
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