Name: William (Willy) A. Higinbotham
Birth/Death: October 25, 1910 - November 10, 1994
Birth: October 25, 1910
Death: November 10, 1994
Occupation/Title: Physicist

Bio Summary: William Higinbotham , an American physicist, created Tennis for Two, the precursor to pong, on an oscilloscope in 1958. He created purely to entertain visitors during visitor days at the national laboratory during his time as Head of the Instrumentation Division at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He had more than 20 patents on different electronic circuits but he did not patented his Tennis for Two because he did not feel that it was important nor worth it as it did not pertain to the Government nor nuclear arms. He preferred to be remember for his lobbying for the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons but knew he'd more likely be remembered for his invention of Tennis for Two.

Early Life/Family: William was married a total of three times. His first two wives, Julie Ann and Margaret, passed away. William widowed his third wife, Edna. Children include: Julie Schletter of Largo, Fla., Robin Clark of Brookhaven, L.I., and William of Bellport, L.I. Siblings: brother John, sister Dorothy Osgood. He also had two grandchildren.

Education/Training: William earned an undergrad degree from Williams College in 1932, and continued in his studies at Comell University.

Career Outline: William worked on the radar system at MIT from 1941 to 1943. He worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory during WWII, and headed the lab's electronics group in the later years of the war. He joined the Manhattan District Project to work on potentially important technology. In 1945 he became the head of the Electronics Division there. William devised the timing circuits that took the first atomic bomb through the last few milliseconds preceding detonation. He was the executive secretary of the Fed. of American Scientists in Washington D.C. He was a liaison between scientists and Congress, lobbying for the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons.

Impact on Gaming: Arguably the "creator of video games."

Influences: Pinball

Personality: William was said to be fun-loving and enjoyed pinball. He was also chain-smoker.

Miscellaneous: N/A

Gameography: Tennis For Two (never patented) Related Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Higinbotham

Bibliographic References:

http://www.designboom.com/eng/education/pong.html
http://www.atarimagazines.com/cva/v1n1/inventedgames.php

Contributors To This Listing: Randell Fain