The Sarnoff Innovation Series will continue on Wednesday, November 4, at 4:00 p.m. with a special lecture by Dr. Arthur Molella, Director Emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation. Dr. Molella will speak on Ralph Baer’s Labs and the Birth of Video Games.
Ralph Baer is often called the father of home video games, and he helped launch a billion-dollar industry far bigger than Hollywood. His basement workshop shines a light on his creative processes and reveals the multifarious roots of video games in the entertainment and toy industries, electrical engineering, TV technology, economics, and the military-industrial complex. As Dr. Molella has commented: “Looking to the future, the full implications of Baer’s revolutionary innovations are only beginning to emerge in myriad interactive technologies, including smart TVs and smart phones, simulators, drones, human-machine interfaces in aviation and space, as well as other military and commercial applications.”
Arthur Molella received his Ph.D. in the History of Science from Cornell University. He has published and lectured internationally on the relationships among science, technology, and culture. His publications include Invented Edens: Techno-Cities of the 20th Century (with Robert Kargon, MIT, 2008); Places of Invention (ed. with Anna Karvellas, Smithsonian, 2015,); and World’s Fairs on the Eve of War: Science, Technology, and Modernity, 1937-1942 (with Robert Kargon, et al., Pittsburgh, forthcoming 2015). He currently serves on the boards of the National Academy of Inventors and the MIT Museum.
Dr. Molella’s lecture will be held in Roscoe West Hall, Room 201. The exhibition opening and reception will follow at 5:00 p.m. on the second floor of Roscoe West Hall. Parking will be available in lots 17 and 18. For more information and a campus map, please visit www.tcnj.edu/sarnoff or call 609-771-2633.