Ralph Baer

Ralph Baer. The Father of Video Games #Baersquare. , Obverse , March 8th, 1922 - December 6th, 2014 , Early Life , Ralph Henry Baer was born March 8, 1922 in Pirmasens, Germany into a Jewish family. As a teenager, Ralph and his family fled to America to avoid the coming Holocaust. After pursuing interests in technology and engineering in New York, his studies were interrupted by service in the US Army during world war two., Education and Relocation , After the war, he attended the American Television Institute of Technology in Chicago and received one of the earliest television engineering degrees ever awarded. In 1952, Ralph married the love of his life, Dena Whinston and they moved to Manchester, NH to raise their family., The Brown Box , While employed by New Hampshire's Sanders Associates, now BAE Systems, Ralph explored his notion of using televisions for interactive use. He committed those ideas to paper on Sept.1, 1966. These ideas would transform not just televisions, but the world, as his initial video game device -The Brown Box- would lead to the creation of the first interactive game system the Magnavox Odyssey.This device would give rise to the modern video game industry., Ralph's Legacy , Ralph held more than 150 U.S. and foreign patents and had a profound influence on electronic games, simulators and more, including the co-creation of the game Simon. Ralph passed away in December, 2014, here in Manchester, at home in the city, state and country which meant so much to him. This plaza is a tribute to Ralph Baer and to the inventiveness of so many people who have called this city home. Special thanks to BAE Systems, Reverse , Timeline of Baer's Life , 1922 - Ralph Baer (Rudolph Heinrich Baer) was born to a Jewish couple living in Pirmasens, Germany. , 1935 - Ralph was expelled from school under the Nuremberg Laws, which deprived Jews of political and social freedom, and began working in a small office where he learned shorthand, bookkeeping and typing. , 1938 - The Baer family fled to New York City, escaping the "Night of Broken Glass" by only weeks. Ralf, 16 at the time, found work at his cousin's leather factory. , 1940 - Ralph graduated from the National Institute of Service Tech Radio in Washington, DC. , 1943 - During WW2, Ralph was assigned to serve with Military Intelligence in France where he became a known expert on military small arms. , 1949 - Ralph received the first ever TV Engineering degree from the American Television Institute of Technology. , 1952 - Ralph married Dena Whinston and found work at Transitron Inc., where he became the Chief Engineer and, later, the VP of Engineering. , 1955 - Ralph moved to Manchester to raise their small family; two sons and a daughter. He then began working at Sanders Associates. , 1967 - Ralph received funding to start a small R&D team, and created his first test device, TVG#1; users could play ping pong with a dot on the screen. , 1968 - The Brown Box was invented by Baer and licensed it to Magnavox, who rebranded it as the first interactive game system, the Magnavox Odyssey, and released it to 1972. , 1978 - Ralph Built SIMON, a hand-held, single chip microprocessor game licensed by Marvin Glass to Milton Bradley. , 1979 - Ralph earns the Inventor of the Year from the NY Patent Law Association. , 1981 - Baer completed his series of microprocessor controlled hand-held games including "MANIAC, Computer Perfection and AMAZATRON , 1987 - Ralph retires from defense contracting to devote his time to R.H. Baer Consultants, partnering with Marvin Glass and associates to design electronic games and toys. , 1994 - Sounds-by-Me, an interactive book that made use of a single -chip voice and playback device invented by Baer, was a popular release. , 2000 - Ralph created a line of talking toys for Hasbro. , 2004 - President George W. Bush awarded the National Medal of Technology to Ralph Baer. , December 7, 2014 - Ralph passed away at the age of 92 in his Manchester home. By the time of his death, Baer held over 150 patents for electronic devices.