All Trailblazers
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Science & Technology
Jerry Lawson
Born 1940 · Joined the Ancestors 2011
Fact
Invented the game cartridge that made the video game industry possible
Fact
Only Black member of Homebrew Computer Club alongside Jobs and Wozniak
Fact
Video game industry he helped create is worth over $180 billion
Jerry Lawson is the father of modern video gaming. As lead engineer at Fairchild Semiconductor, he designed the Fairchild Channel F — the first home console to use interchangeable cartridges. Before his innovation, games were built permanently into hardware.
Growing up in Queens, Lawson was a self-taught tinkerer who built his own radio station as a teenager. He was one of the few Black engineers in 1970s Silicon Valley.
The video game industry he helped create is now worth over 180 billion dollars, yet his contribution remained unknown for decades.
You are only limited by your imagination.— Jerry Lawson
Key Milestones
A Life in Firsts
1940
Born in Brooklyn, New York
1970
Joins Fairchild Semiconductor
1976
Designs first cartridge-based console
1980
Founds Videosoft, early Black-owned game company
2011
Receives Game Developers Choice Pioneer Award
2022
Google honors him with a Doodle
