William (Willy) A. Higinbotham (October 25, 1910 - November 10, 1994), an American physicist, is credited with creating one of the first computer games, Tennis for Two. Like Pong, it is a portrait of a game of tennis or ping-pong, but featured very different game mechanics that have no resemblance to the later game. As the Head of the Instrumentation Division at Brookhaven National Laboratory, he created it on an oscilloscope in 1958, to entertain visitors during visitor days at the national laboratory. is the 298th day of the year (299th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1910 (MCMX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday [1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 314th day of the year (315th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) The year 1994 was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by the United Nations. ... Not to be confused with physician, a person who practices medicine. ... Tennis for Two was a game developed in 1958 on an oscilloscope which simulated a game of tennis or ping pong. ... For other uses, see Pong (disambiguation). ... A game mechanic is a rule or set of rules intended to produce a set of outcomes in a game. ... ≠ Aerial view of Brookhaven National Laboratory. ... Illustration showing the interior of a cathode-ray tube for use in an oscilloscope. ... Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

He helped found the nuclear nonproliferation group, Federation of American Scientists, and served as its first chairman and executive secretary. The Federation of American Scientists (FAS)[1] is a non-profit organization formed in 1945 by scientists from the Manhattan Project who felt that scientists, engineers and other innovators had an ethical obligation to bring their knowledge and experience to bear on critical national decisions. ...

He earned his undergraduate degree from Williams College in 1932 and continued his studies at Cornell University and MIT. During World War II, he worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory and headed the lab's electronics group in the later years of the war. In some educational systems, undergraduate education is post-secondary education up to the level of a Bachelors degree. ... Williams College is a private, liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts. ... Year 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1932 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... “Cornell” redirects here. ... “MIT” redirects here. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Los Alamos National Laboratory, aerial view from 1995. ...

He is said to have expressed regret that he would more likely be famous for his invention of a game than for his work on nuclear non-proliferation. When after his death, requests for information on his game increased, his son William Higinbotham II wrote, "It is imperative that you include information on his nuclear nonproliferation work. That was what he wanted to be remembered for." ^{[citation needed]} World map with nuclear weapons development status represented by color. ...

References

• Chaplin, Heather and Ruby, Aaron. Smartbomb. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2005. ISBN 1-56512-346-8

See also

• First Video Game
• Federation of American Scientists

There are numerous debates over who created the first video game, with the answer depending largely on how video games are defined. ... The Federation of American Scientists (FAS)[1] is a non-profit organization formed in 1945 by scientists from the Manhattan Project who felt that scientists, engineers and other innovators had an ethical obligation to bring their knowledge and experience to bear on critical national decisions. ...

External links

• Video games History at BNL
• The First Video Game
• The Dot Eaters entry on Higinbotham and his Pong precursor
• Who Really Invented The Video Game? an editorial by John Anderson from CREATIVE COMPUTING VIDEO & ARCADE GAMES VOL. 1, NO. 1 / SPRING 1983.