Afro American Jerry Lawson, Inventor of Modern Game Console

Jerry Lawson, Inventor of Modern Game Console, Dies at 70 | WIRED

 

  Jerry Lawson, left, in 2006, at the Vintage Computer Festival in Mountain View, California.
Photo: Peter Fuller/Courtesy VintageComputing.com

"As an engineer at Fairchild Semiconductor, Lawson designed the electronics of the Fairchild Video Entertainment System, later renamed the Channel F, in 1976.

Predating the release of Atari’s Video Computer System by a year, the Channel F was the first videogame machine that used interchangeable game cartridges, which Fairchild sold separately. Previous game machines like Atari’s Pong and the Magnavox Odyssey had all their games built into the hardware. Lawson’s pioneering design set the standard for the game consoles of today. - WIRED