Google Doodle is today celebrating the 82nd birthday of Gerald ‘Jerry’ Lawson, an American engineer who is widely considered one of the pioneering figures of video gaming. Lawson led the team that invented the video game cartridge, which soared the popularity of arcade games like Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros, and Space Invaders.

In today’s Doodle, one has to keep playing an arcade game in order to know more information about Lawson.

Who was Gerald ‘Jerry’ Lawson?

Gerald ‘Jerry’ Lawson was born on December 1, 1940, in Brooklyn, New York City. He is the son of Blanton and Mannings Lawson. While his father was a longshoreman with an interest in electronics, his mother was an employee of New York City.

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Lawson developed an interest in science as a youngster, and his hobbies included chemistry and ham (amateur) radio. He attended Queens College as well as the City College of New York, but dropped out on both occasions.

Lawson began his professional career as an applications engineering consultant with Fairchild Semiconductor. He created a game at his home called Demolition Derby using Fairchild’s F8 microprocessors. Along with his team, the New York native video game cartridges that for the first time allowed video games to be stored outside the gaming consoles.

The gaming pioneer was a member of a group called Homebrew Computer Club along with Apple co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

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After his stint with Fairchild, Lawson decided to found a new company, Videosoft, which made software for the popular gaming console, Atari 2600. However, the company closed after a short stint, after which Lawson began working as a consultant.

He was honoured at the 21st Independent Games Festival with the ID@Xbox Gaming Heroes award. 

Lawson died from complications arising from diabetes on April 9, 2011.