Gerald "Jerry Anderson Lawson, Computer game innovator
(1940-2011)
Photo: Courtesy of blackpast.org
As a boy Lawson pursued a number of scientific interests, ham radio and chemistry among them. As a teenager Lawson earned money repairing television sets. During the 1960s Lawson attended both Queens College and the City College of New York, but never received a degree. His interest in computing led him in the 1970s to Silicon Valley’s Homebrew Computer Club, where he and Ron Jones were the only black members. While with the club Dawson crossed paths with Apple Computer Inc.’s founders, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. During this period Lawson invented an early coin-operated arcade game,
