Ralph H. Baer, who turned television sets into electronic fantasy lands by inventing and patenting the first home video game system, died on Saturday at his home in Manchester, N.H. He was 92.
His death was confirmed by his family.
Video games have become more than just a ubiquitous pastime and a gigantic market (by some estimates, total worldwide sales of console hardware and software and online, mobile and computer games exceeded $90 billion in 2013). They are also an engine that has driven scientists and engineers to multiply computer speed, memory and visualization to today’s staggering capabilities.
Baer was born in Germany and his family fled to the United States two months before Kristallnacht. When Baer was 11 he was kicked out of school for is religious heritage and made to go to an all-Jewish school.
Read more at nytimes.com.
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