12/30/2023 0 Comments Game tennis for two![]() ![]() Higinbotham yoked the the two together, allowing him to command the ball of light on the oscilloscope display to bounce around the screen and simulate gravity. Casting about the labs to find equipment that might amuse the masses, he hit upon an oscilloscope - an instrument that tracks voltage using a cathode ray tube - and an analog computer that was used to calculate ballistic missile trajectories. ![]() ![]() As head of Brookhaven’s Instrumentation Division, an expert on circuitry, and a pinball aficionado with a quirky streak that found expression in his virtuoso accordion riffs, Higinbotham was the man for the job. Having helped end the Second World War, he was now tasked with rescuing Visitors Day. He had arrived at Brookhaven in 1948 as a nuclear physicist who had designed the timing device used to detonate the first atomic bomb. It was a dud, at least until Higinbotham showed up. Brookhaven’s staff exhibited their latest advances in high-energy physics, displaying Geiger counters, electronic circuits and blinking lights. As a gesture of openness to their Long Island neighbors, Brookhaven scientists initiated an annual “Visitors Day,” inviting the public to explore the facility. “Meltdown” hadn’t yet become a household word, but nuclear energy was something scary and new, and people weren’t keen on a reactor operating anywhere near their backyards. Even so, Higinbotham never earned a cent for his efforts.įrom its inception, Brookhaven had an image problem. Tennis for Two escaped the notice of the Swedish Academy, but the world’s first video game - invented by physicist William Higinbotham in 1958 - has had a greater impact on the wider world than many of the Lab’s Nobel-crowned efforts. Since its establishment in 1947, Upton, NY’s Brookhaven National Laboratory has spawned seven Nobel Prize-winning discoveries - and one multi-billion dollar entertainment industry. ![]()
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