Joseph Weisbecker

Joseph A. Weisbecker was an early microprocessor and microcomputer designer who worked as a staff engineer at RCA, where he also designed toys and games. Beginning with digital logic projects in 1951, he built hobbyist and educational machines such as a relay tic-tac-toe computer and the Think-a-Dot teaching toy. In 1970 and 1971 he developed an 8-bit computer architecture that preceded Intel production of the 4004, and RCA released his work as the COSMAC 1801R and 1801U chips in 1975 and as the single-chip 1802 in 1976. He also designed the 1861 Pixie graphics chip, the RCA Microtutor, the COSMAC Elf and COSMAC VIP computers, and the production form of the RCA Studio II home video game system. He created the CHIP-8 interpreted language, which his daughter Joyce Weisbecker used to program games. He received the David Sarnoff award for outstanding technical achievement.