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Ralph Henry Baer
| Ralph Henry Baer | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | Rudolph Baer |
| Born | 8 March 1922 Rodalben, Palatinate, Germany |
| Died | 6 December 2014 Manchester, New Hampshire, U.S. |
| Nativity | Germany |
| Religion | Jewish |
| Known for | Inventor, Video Game Designer, Engineer |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Army |
| ASN | 32887607 |
| Rank | Private First Class |
| Rank at Ritchie | Private |
| Camp Ritchie | Class 10 (23 July – 20 September 1943) |
| Section | 5D |
| Enlisted | New York City, New York |
| Specialty | Order of battle; weapons instruction |
| Unit / division | Military Intelligence, Tidworth And Normandy |
{{Needs source}}, or explain disagreements on talk. Baseline import notes: About the data.
Ralph Henry Baer (1922–2014), born Rudolph Baer in Pirmasens, was a German-born American order-of-battle specialist and weapons instructor. After serving in Europe, he became a pioneering electronics engineer known as the father of home video games.
Biography
Ralph Henry Baer (born Rudolf Heinrich Baer; March 8, 1922 – December 6, 2014) was a German-born American inventor, game developer, and engineer. Baer was born in 1922 to Lotte (Kirschbaum) and Leo Baer, a Jewish family living in Germany, in Pirmasens, and was originally named Rudolf Heinrich Baer. In 1940, he graduated from the National Radio Institute as a radio technician. He attended 9-20-43 Graduate of 10th Class (IPW-Ge) as Pvt. He 10-5-43 Became a naturalized citizen (5826010) in Hagerstown MD. In 1950, he worked as a present Baer’s outstanding career as inventor and his designation as the “Father of (Interactive) Video Games”, can be appreciated by reading about his accomplishments at any and all of the websites below. In 1950, he worked as a present Baer’s outstanding career as inventor and his designation as the. Ralph graduated as the first Bachelor of Science in Television Engineering. He returned from Europe with 18 tons of foreign small arms, which are now part of Army exhibits in Aberdeen, MD, Springfield MA, and particularly at Fort Riley KS. He worked as troubleshooting radio repair man; ran three radio service stores. He worked as troubleshooting radio repair man; ran three radio service stores; designed, built, and repaired all kinds of radios. He was assigned to MIS HQ in London (Tidworth), Baer joined Mauksch as a member of a Military Intelligence group to train troops on enemy subjects in military intelligence schools in England and France. Baer's Jewish family fled Germany just before World War II and Baer served the American war effort, gaining an interest in electronics shortly thereafter. Bill, Baer graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Television Engineering, which was unique at the time, from the American Television Institute of Technology in Chicago in 1949. At age 14, he was expelled from school due to anti-Jewish legislation implemented in Nazi Germany and had to go to an all-Jewish school. His duties made practical use of the electronics experience he had acquired in New York and the German military expertise taught at Camp Ritchie. In 1951, Baer went to work as a senior engineer for Loral Electronics in Bronx, New York, where he designed power line carrier signaling equipment, contracting for IBM. From 1952 to 1956, he worked at Transitron, Inc., in New York City as a chief engineer and later as vice president. He started his own company before joining defense contractor Sanders Associates in Nashua, New Hampshire (now part of BAE Systems Inc.) in 1956, where he stayed until retiring in 1987. Through several jobs in the electronics industry, he was working as an engineer at Sanders Associates (now BAE Systems) in Nashua, New Hampshire, when he conceived the idea of playing games on a television screen around 1966. In February 2006, he was awarded the National Medal of Technology for "his groundbreaking and pioneering creation, development and commercialization of interactive video games, which spawned related uses, applications, and mega-industries in both the entertainment and education realms". On May 10, 2019, a statue was placed in Baer's honor in Arms Park in Manchester, New Hampshire. With support of his employers, he worked through several prototypes until he arrived at a "Brown Box" that would later become the blueprint for the first home video game console, licensed by Magnavox as the Magnavox Odyssey. His father worked in a shoe factory in Pirmasens at the time. After seeing an advertisement at a bus station for education in the budding electronics field, he quit his job to study in the field. There he designed and built surgical cutting machines, epilators, and low frequency pulse generating muscle-toning equipment. Baer was a Life Senior Member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. They had three children during their marriage, and at the time of Baer's death, he had four grandchildren. The area of the park around the memorial was renamed as Baer Square. One of Baer’s sons and several of his grandchildren attended the unveiling. The memorial was funded through a Kickstarter fundraising campaign. Interested in electronics, he learned radio repair and worked in that trade before entering the Army. He trained as an order-of-battle specialist, learning to identify German formations, weapons, commanders, and deployment patterns so that scattered information could be assembled into a useful picture of enemy strength. In England, Baer was assigned to a military intelligence group at Tidworth. Working with fellow Ritchie Boy Mauksch, he helped establish a weapons museum and instructional collection. Baer later served in Normandy, where his knowledge of enemy equipment and organization supported the Allied campaign. He continued inventing and documenting the early history of electronic games until late in life. Baer married Dena Whinston in 1952; she died in 2006. As he approached retirement, Baer partnered with Bob Pelovitz of Acsiom, LLC, and they invented and marketed toy and game ideas from 1983 until Baer's death. In the United States, Baer was self-taught and worked in a factory for a weekly wage of twelve dollars.
Research notes
- MIS London
- Tidworth
- OSS
- “Father of Video Games”; Odyssey; Pong
- Portrait and summary from Notable Ritchie Boys slides (source).
Gallery
Technical record
| Field | Imported value |
|---|---|
| Approx Age at Death | 92 |
| Nara ASN | 32887607 |
| Nara Name | BAER RALPH H |
| Nara State | 23 |
| Nara County | 61 |
| Nara POE | 2364 |
| Nara DOE | 120443 |
| Nara Grade Alpha | PVT |
| Nara Grade Code | 8 |
| Nara Branch Alpha | NO |
| Nara Branch Code | 2 |
| Branch | No branch assignment |
| Nara Term or Enlistment | 5 |
| Term of enlistment | Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law |
| Defer. Date | 0 |
| Nara Source | 0 |
| Nara Nativity | N1 |
| Nara Year of Birth | 22 |
| Nara Race | J |
| Nara Race Description | White not yet a citizen |
| Nara Education | 4 |
| Nara Civilian Occupation | 583 |
| Nara Marital Status | 1 |
| Nara Height (inches) | 0 |
| Nara Weight (lbs) | 124 |
| Class_ASN | 32887607 |
| Class_Name | BAER, Ralph H. |
| match_method | asn_exact_name_exact |
| row_source | both |
| Census_HISTID | BA90D884-AFC9-48F6-B2E2-D53318E31A25 |
| Census_State | NEW YORK |
| Census_Relate | Child |
| Census_Sex | Male |
| Census_Age | 18 |
| Census_BirthYear | 1922 |
| Census_Marital | Never married/single |
| Census_Race | White |
| Census_BPL | 453 |
| Census_MBPL | 0 |
| Census_FBPL | 0 |
| Census_Citizen | Not a citizen |
| Census_Educ | Grade 11 |
| Census_OCC | 226 |
Timeline
- 10-5-43 Became naturalized citizen (5826010) in Hagerstown MD.
- 2006 Baer was awarded the National Medal of Technology. The same year, he donated all his hardware prototypes and documents to the Smithsonian.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Ralph H. Baer
- Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
- Dan Gross research spreadsheets, including original Excel timeline/roster work, combined with other research and records
- NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
- 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
- Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2016-09-30 (1 post)
- Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2026-02-27 (1 post)
- The Stories essay
- Dan Gross, Timeline of Ralph H. Baer for Camp Ritchie (private research document; 2 source documents reviewed)
- Dan Gross, Timeline of Baer, Ralph H. for Camp Ritchie (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 2 source files: RALPH H. BAER (2020).doc, RALPH H. BAER.doc)