Last Updated: 20 Mar, 2023 | Views: 908
Age: 70
Profession: Inventor
Other Profession(s): Computer Engineer
Higher Education: Queens College
About (Profile/Biography):
Gerald Anderson Lawson was one of the great American engineers. He was born on December 1, 1940 and died on April 9, 2011. Jerry Lawson was the team lead that pioneered the commercial video game cartridge. Jerry Lawson is known for designing the Fairchild Channel F video game console. Hence, Black Enterprise magazine called him the "father of videogame cartridges" in 1982. After leaving Fairchild, he founded the game company Video-Soft.
Career:
1970: A sales consultant with Fairchild Semiconductor in San Francisco, Jerry Lawson joined Fairchild Semiconductor.
During the mid-1970s: Lawson became Fairchild's Director of Engineering and Marketing and Chief Hardware Engineer.
1977: Atari 2600 popularized the cartridge approach after Channel F did not succeed commercially.
Early in the 1980s: Lawson left Fairchild to establish Videosoft, which developed software for the Atari 2600.
2011: The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) honored Jerry Lawson as an industry pioneer for his work on game cartridges.
During the 21st Independent Games Festival on March 20, Lawson received the ID@Xbox Gaming Heroes award.
Legacy:
Google Doodle: Lawson, which lets users make and modify games, was featured in the Google Doodle on December 1, 2022.
Unknown Facts:
A display of Lawson's contributions to the gaming industry can be found at Rochester, New York's Strong National Museum of Play's World Video Game Hall of Fame.
Death:
Lawson began losing his sight and the use of one leg in 2003 due to complications related to diabetes. Approximately one month after receiving the IGDA's award, he died of complications related to diabetes.