There are a lot of recognizable names in the gaming industry, but there is one that is often left out. The engineer responsible for the development of the video game is the subject of today's doodle. While his name doesn't get as much attention as the likes of Carmack, Romero, or Bushnell, he was an important player in the growth and development of video games.
He began his career as an engineering consultant for the gaming division of Fairchild Semiconductor in San Francisco. He was promoted to chief hardware engineer and was in charge of the development of the first home console.
You couldn't use other software on home consoles because they had to be built into their hardware. There was a time when you couldn't swap different software into your console due to the development of the ROM cartridge.
It opened up a whole new revenue stream for developers as they no longer needed to develop dedicated hardware for their games and could continue to add to a console's existing library after it had shipped.
The work done by the team would lead to the creation of empires for gaming giants. While gaming has largely moved away from cartridges and other physical media, you can still see Lawson's contributions echoed today in the physical cartridges for the Nintendo Switches, which are a fraction of the size but still operate on the same principles.
He was largely self-taught and his contributions to the evolution of video games as a sustainable medium of entertainment are immense. He attended both Queens College and the City College of New York.
The International Game Developers Association honored him as an industry pioneer for his achievements after he died from diabetes.
I recommend the audiobook Raising the Game: The Untold Story of Jerry Lawson by Anthony Frasier, which features interviews with many of his friends and colleagues, if you want to learn more about the man. Atari 50 is a collection of gaming's most influential titles that can be played on a tour of gaming history.
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