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William Alfred Higinbotham: Scientist, Activist, and Computer Game Pioneer
April-June 2011 (vol. 33 no. 2)
pp. 96-101
ASCII Text
x 
 
Kristen J. Nyitray, "William Alfred Higinbotham: Scientist, Activist, and Computer Game Pioneer," IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 96-101, April-June, 2011.
 
 
BibTex
x
 
@article{ 10.1109/MAHC.2011.48,
author = {Kristen J. Nyitray},
title = {William Alfred Higinbotham: Scientist, Activist, and Computer Game Pioneer},
journal ={IEEE Annals of the History of Computing},
volume = {33},
number = {2},
issn = {1058-6180},
year = {2011},
pages = {96-101},
doi = {http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MAHC.2011.48},
publisher = {IEEE Computer Society},
address = {Los Alamitos, CA, USA},
}
 
 
RefWorks Procite/RefMan/Endnote
x 
 
TY - MGZN
JO - IEEE Annals of the History of Computing
TI - William Alfred Higinbotham: Scientist, Activist, and Computer Game Pioneer
IS - 2
SN - 1058-6180
SP96
EP101
EPD - 96-101
A1 - Kristen J. Nyitray,
PY - 2011
KW - history of computing
KW - William Alfred Higinbotham
KW - Tennis for Two
KW - Brookhaven National Laboratory
KW - Manhattan Project
KW - Federation of American Scientists
VL - 33
JA - IEEE Annals of the History of Computing
ER -
 
Kristen J. Nyitray, Stony Brook University

William Alfred Higinbotham designed Tennis for Two, the first computer game to display motion and allow interactive control with handheld controllers, to lure visitors over to the display of the instrumentation division for attendees at a Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL)visitors' day in 1958. For Higinbotham, this was just an isolated incident in a distinguished career as a physicist and electronics expert. Recruited from MIT in 1945 to work on the Manhattan Project, he developed the timing circuits for the first atomic bomb and witnessed the test detonation in Alamogordo, New Mexico. The following year, he helped found the Federation of Atomic (later, American) Scientists. A passionate advocate of nuclear nonproliferation, he worked tirelessly to educate government officials and the public about adapting atomic energy for peaceful purposes and implementing safeguards on weapons of mass destruction.

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13. "The First Videogame?" video, Brookhaven Nat'l Lab., 21 Oct. 2008; http://www.youtube.comwatch?v=u6mu5B-YZU8 .
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22. Higinbotham, "The Brookhaven − TV Tennis Game," p. 1.
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24. J. Anderson, "Who Really Invented the First Video Game?" Creative Computing Video and Arcade Games, Oct. 1982, p. 196.
25. Anderson, "Who Really Invented the First Video Game?" p. 190.
26. FAS Public Interest Report, vol. 47, no. 6, 1994.
27. FAS Public Interest Report, vol. 48, no. 1, 1995.
28. T.J. Maier, "To Computer Buffs, Real Originators are Patently Clear," Newsday, part III, business section, 2 Jan. 1989, p. 5.

Index Terms:
history of computing, William Alfred Higinbotham, Tennis for Two, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Manhattan Project, Federation of American Scientists
Citation:
Kristen J. Nyitray, "William Alfred Higinbotham: Scientist, Activist, and Computer Game Pioneer," IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 96-101, April-June 2011, doi:10.1109/MAHC.2011.48
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