The December 1st Google Doodle recognized tech and gaming pioneer Gerald “Jerry” Lawson in honor of his 82nd birthday.
Lawson was a Black Brooklyn-born engineer known as one of the fathers of modern gaming. He cemented his place in history when he led the San Francisco-based Fairchild Semiconductor team in developing the first home video gaming system with the first-ever removable video game cartridges in the 1970s.
The design later became popular when it was adopted by gaming giants like Atari and Nintendo, which would go on to build their empires based on the work done by Lawson and his team.
His development of the interchangeable video game cartridges literally “changed the game,” and he was instrumental in the growth and progression of video games.
Users could play a retro-style game on yesterday’s Google doodle (which is still up today) and even create their own game while learning about the engineer’s career. Three American guest artists and game designers who collaborated with Google on the doodle made the games. They are Momo Pixel, Davionne Gooden, and Lauren Brown.
Google also collaborated with Lawson’s children, Anderson and Karen Lawson, who shared their thoughts about their dad’s history-making journey.
“He was inspired by George Washington Carver. That inspiration provided the spark that ignited his desire to pursue a career in electronics. He loved what he did and did what he loved. Considering the obvious challenges for African-Americans at the time, his professional achievements were quite remarkable,” the siblings said in a statement shared by Google.
“Due to a crash in the video game market, our father’s story became a footnote in video game history. However, over the past few years, there have been numerous awards, scholarships, and media that have recognized him. Our family is eternally grateful to those who have worked tirelessly to bring his story to the public,” they added.
Lawson was honored by the International Game Developers Association as an industry pioneer for his achievements in March of 2011, just one month before he passed away in April of that year.