Ralph Baer, father of home video games, dies at age 92

Ralph Baer, father of the first home video game console passed away on the evening of December 6, at his home in new Hampshire. Baer lived to a ripe 92 years of age.

While working as an electronic enginerr for defence contractor Sanders Associates, during the tail end of WWII, Baer came up with the concept for a television gaming system, that he later developed with his associates. He later patented the design and kick started the beginning of the video game era in 1969. 

In 1972, Baer's defence company licensed his patent design to television company Magnavox, which built the world's first gaming console Odyssey. While the console wasn't a big hit, it's tennis game directly inspired Atari's first game Pong.

In 2006, Baer was finally awarded the National Medal of Technology by then US President George W. Bush.

Xbox, Playstation, Wii, or even the older Sega or Atari systems; if you played any of them, this is the man you should be thanking. 

You can read our exclusive interview with Ralph Baer from our 2007 archive here, or check out some of his patents here.