Bertie The Brain: The Very First Video Game

tygergamer (72)in #gaming • 8 years ago

Introduction

I am doing a different kind of post that focuses on video game history. So what better place to start at then the beginning.

Bertie The Brain

Bertie the Brain was a computer that played tic-tac-toe against people, and it was invented by Dr. Josef Kates. It was first shown off at the Canadian National Exhibition in 1950. But the main purpose of Bertie was to showcase the new Additron vacuum tubes. Afterwards Bertie was disassembled, and was lost to the passage of time.

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Who is Dr. Josef Kates?

Dr. Kates was born in 1921 Austria, and was born into a large Jewish family. In 1938 when he was in High School he fled from the invading Nazis. He eventually wound up in London, and joined the British Army. But at the beginning of World War II instead of being deployed he was sent to an internment camp in Three Rivers Canada. A few days later he was transferred to a all purpose camp where he continued his High School education. After being released from the camp he attended The University of Toronto. There he developed Bertie, and obtained his PHD.

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One of his other notable achievements is the development of Toronto's computerized traffic control system, the first in the world at the time. He was also was inducted into the Order of Canada on September 16 2011 at the age of ninety.

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Conclusion

Dr. Kates did just pioneer game development, he also helped paved the way for more advanced computers. I hope that all of you that read this post have learned something new, and if you would like for me to do a post on a certain game leave a comment below.