Some very sad news this evening: Gamasutra reports that Ralph Baer, widely regarded as the father of the video game industry, has passed away at the age of 92.
A renowned inventor, and holder of over 150 patents, Baer's most famous work was designing the machine that would become the Magnavox Odyssey, the world's very first home video games console. Every console and handheld that's come since, well, you can trace it all back to the Odyssey. You can see footage of Baer testing the Brown Box in 1969 (1969!) below.
Born in Germany in 1922, Baer's family fled the Nazis only two months before the infamous Kristallnacht attacks on Jewish stores and homes. From Holland they moved to America, where Baer's work in electronics would culminate in 2006 with him being awarded the National Medal of Technology by President George W Bush for his work in pioneering the video game industry.
Ralph Baer, 'father of video games,' passes away [Gamasutra]