Jerry Lawson

E902207

Jerry Lawson was an American engineer and video game pioneer best known for leading the development of the Fairchild Channel F, the first home video game console with interchangeable cartridges.

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Statements (46)

Predicate Object
instanceOf engineer
person
video game pioneer
awardReceived ID@Xbox Gaming Heroes award (posthumous recognition) NERFINISHED
basedIn Silicon Valley, California, United States NERFINISHED
causeOfDeath complications from diabetes
countryOfCitizenship United States of America
dateOfBirth 1940-12-01
dateOfDeath 2011-04-09
dateSubjectOf 2022-12-01 Google Doodle NERFINISHED
educatedAt City College of New York NERFINISHED
Queens College, City University of New York NERFINISHED
employer Fairchild Semiconductor NERFINISHED
ethnicGroup Black Americans
surface form: African American
familyName Lawson NERFINISHED
fieldOfWork electronic engineering
video game industry
fullName Gerald Anderson Lawson NERFINISHED
genre video game hardware innovation
givenName Gerald NERFINISHED
hasHeritage African-American inventor
hasInfluenceOn Atari 2600 cartridge-based console design
hasRole engineering manager
video game hardware designer
influencedBy RCA COSMAC architecture (for early console design context) NERFINISHED
knownFor leading development of the Fairchild Channel F console
pioneering use of interchangeable ROM cartridges in home video game consoles
languageSpoken English
legacy paved the way for cartridge-based and later modular game distribution systems
memberOf Homebrew Computer Club NERFINISHED
notableAchievement contributed to early coin-operated arcade game designs
helped create first programmable ROM cartridge–based home video game console
notableWork Fairchild Channel F NERFINISHED
occupation electronic engineer
engineer
video game designer
parentOf two children
placeOfBirth Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States NERFINISHED
placeOfDeath Mountain View, California, United States NERFINISHED
positionHeld lead engineer for Fairchild Channel F
recognizedAs one of the first Black engineers in the video game industry
residence Santa Clara County, California, United States NERFINISHED
sexOrGender male
spouse Catherine Lawson NERFINISHED
subjectOf Google Doodle honoring his contributions to video games
workedOn Fairchild Video Entertainment System (later called Channel F) NERFINISHED

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Homebrew Computer Club member Jerry Lawson