Jerry Lawson | |
|---|---|
 Lawson, 1982[1] | |
| Born | Gerald Anderson Lawson (1940-12-01)December 1, 1940 Brooklyn, New York, U.S |
| Died | April 9, 2011(2011-04-09) (aged 70) Santa Clara, California, U.S. |
| Education | Queens College |
| Occupation | Electronic engineer |
| Spouse | [2] |
| Children | 2 |
Gerald Anderson Lawson (December 1, 1940 – April 9, 2011) was an Americanelectronic engineer. Besides being one of the first African-American computer engineers inSilicon Valley, Lawson was also known for his work in designing theFairchild Channel F video game console, leading the team that refined ROM cartridges for durable use as commercialvideo game cartridges. His innovations in this area led to his being considered the father of the game cartridge. He eventually leftFairchild and founded the game company Video-Soft.
Lawson was born inBrooklyn, New York City, on December 1, 1940.[3] His father, Blanton, was alongshoreman with an interest in science, while his mother, Mannings, worked for the city, and also served on theParent-Teachers Association for the local school.[4] His grandfather had studied to become aphysicist but was unable to pursue a career inphysics and worked instead as apostmaster.[5][6] His parents ensured he received a good education and encouraged his interests in scientific hobbies, includingham radio andchemistry. In addition, Lawson said that his first-grade teacher encouraged him on his path to be someone influential, similar toGeorge Washington Carver.[3] He lived inQueens as a teenager. He earned money by repairing television sets. At the age of 13, he gained anamateur radio license and built his own station at home with parts he bought from local electronic stores. He attended bothQueens College andCity College of New York, but did not complete a degree at either.[3]
In 1970, he joinedFairchild Semiconductor inSan Francisco as an applications engineering consultant within their sales division. While there, he created a coin-operated video game calledDestruction Derby in his garage, which was never released.[3][4][7] Completed in early 1975 using Fairchild's newF8 microprocessors,Destruction Derby was among the earliest microprocessor-driven games.[8]
In the mid-1970s, Lawson was made Chief Hardware Engineer[9] and Director of Engineering and Marketing for Fairchild's video game division.[3] There, he led the development of the Fairchild Channel F console, released in 1976 and specifically designed to use swappable game cartridges based on technology licensed from Alpex.[10] At the time, most game systems had the game programming built into the hardware so it could not be removed or changed. Lawson and his team refined and improved technology developed at Alpex that allowed games to be stored as software on removableROM cartridges. These could be inserted and removed repeatedly from a console unit without any danger of electric shocks.[10] This would allow users to buy a library of games, and provided a new revenue stream for the console manufacturers through sales of these games.[11] The Channel F console featured a variety of controls, including a new 8-way joystick designed by Lawson and a "pause" button, which was a first for a home video game console.[12] The Channel F was not successful commercially but the cartridge approach was popularized with theAtari 2600 released in 1977.[13][14]
While he was with Fairchild, Lawson was a member of theHomebrew Computer Club, a group of early computer hobbyists that included several who became well-known includingApple foundersSteve Jobs andSteve Wozniak.[13] Lawson noted he had interviewed Wozniak for a position at Fairchild, but did not hire him.[3]
In 1980, Lawson left Fairchild and founded Videosoft, a video game development company that made software for the Atari 2600 in the early 1980s, as the 2600 had displaced the Channel F as the top system in the market.[10][15] Videosoft did not release any games, although their incomplete titles were saved and distributed to collectors in 2010.[16] Videosoft closed about five years later, and Lawson started to take on consulting work. At one point, he worked withStevie Wonder to produce a "Wonder Clock" that would wake a child with the sound of a parent's voice, though it never made it to production.[11] Lawson later collaborated with the Stanford mentor program and was preparing to write a book on his career.[13]
Around 2003, Lawson started having complications fromdiabetes, losing the use of one leg and sight from one eye.[4] On April 9, 2011, about one month after being honored by theInternational Game Developers Association (IGDA), he died of complications from diabetes.[3][11] At the time of his death, he resided inSanta Clara, California.[3][17][18]
Though Alpex had created removable ROM cartridges, the contributions by Lawson's team to ensure their safe use and longevity for consumer game consoles led to him being named as the "father of the video game cartridge".[1][10][19][20] In March 2011, Lawson was honored as an industry pioneer for his work on the game cartridge concept by theInternational Game Developers Association (IGDA).[11] Lawson was honored with theID@Xbox Gaming Heroes award at the 21stIndependent Games Festival on March 20, 2019, for leading the development of the first cartridge-based game console.[21]
There is a permanent display of Lawson's contribution to the gaming industry at theWorld Video Game Hall of Fame atThe Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York.[22]
TheLos Angeles Unified School District named Elementary School #11 Gerald A. Lawson Academy of the Arts, Mathematics and Science.[23]
A short documentary on Lawson and his development of the Fairchild Channel F was produced byThe Czar of Black Hollywood directorBayer Mack and released byBlock Starz Music Television as part of itsProfiles of African-American Success video series.[24] He was also featured in the first episode of theNetflix limited-series documentaryHigh Score, released August 19, 2020, with his story told by his children Karen and Anderson.[25]
The first episode of Season 6 ofCommand Line Heroes, "Jerry Lawson: The Engineer Who Changed the Game", covers his work on the Channel F.[26] Lawson is also prominently featured in the second episode of the second season ofHistory'sThe Toys That Built America, "The Birth of Video Games" along with other pioneers of the early video game industryNolan Bushnell andRalph Baer.[27]
University of Southern California's Games Program andTake-Two Interactive established the Gerald A. Lawson Fund in May 2021 to support black and indigenous students enrolled in the university's programming seeking careers in the video game industry.[28]Microsoft also began contributing to the fund in August 2021.[29]
The interactiveGoogle Doodle game on December 1, 2022, was dedicated to Lawson to celebrate what would have been his 82nd birthday, allowing the user to make games, edit existing built-in games, and share games.[30][31] On June 9, 2023, Norman Caruso's YouTube seriesThe Gaming Historian profiled Lawson and the birth of the Fairchild Channel F video game system in its episode, "The Story of the First Video Game Cartridge."[32]
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