Ron Gordon

Ron Gordon is an American entrepreneur and former president of Atari.

Education

Ronald F. Gordon received his degree in Philosophy at the University of Colorado. During a talk he once gave at Stanford University one of the students asked where Gordon received his Engineering degree. He replied "Well I don’t have an engineering degree." The student asked, "How could you have invented and developed all of those products?" Gordon explained, "I think engineering is important and we must have engineers but that new products come from new ideas and new ideas come from one’s philosophy and not from engineering laws which often define what you cannot do instead of what you can do."[1]

Atari

In the mid-1970s, Ron Gordon took charge as president of Atari.

Atari founder Nolan Bushnell and engineer Allan Alcorn have reported how Gordon was hired initially as a consultant to help Atari develop in overseas markets, [2][3] occupying the role of International Marketing Director.[4] Later he was hired to stop cash attrition and repair the company's credit.[2]

HHC Pocket Translator

Gordon pioneered the pocket language translator, the "HHC", a 6502 based hand-held computer.

TeleLearning

In September 1982, Gordon came back from his third retirement and founded San Francisco-based TeleLearning Systems, Inc., launching The Electronic University Network.[5][6] He developed the technical and business concept and convinced colleges and universities to join the system. One of the lesser known, John F. Kennedy University, became the first accredited institution to offer an entire degree program, an MBA, online.[7]

MindDrive

Alongside his commercial ventures, Gordon has also operated his non-profit institute, The Other 90%. "I’ve always been fascinated by the brain and learning how to use the other 90 percent of our brain so we finally decided we’re going to get this." One of the products to come out of this research was the MindDrive - an interface technology to control devices, computers, games, wheelchairs, etc. with just one's thoughts.[1][8][9][10]

References
  1. Cooper, Chet, "MindDrive", Ability Magazine, retrieved February 2, 2009
  2. "Atari's Hard-Partying Origin Story: An Oral History".
  3. "Marin investor bets on an impulse - SFGate".
  4. "Cash Box : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive".
  5. "CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL VIA COMPUTER IS PLANNED", New York Times, pp. Technology, September 13, 1983, retrieved February 2, 2009
  6. "What Happened to the Electronic University Network? | eLearningInside News".
  7. Euchner, Charles (April 13, 1983), "Carnegie-Mellon, I.B.M. Designing Futuristic 'Wired' University", Education Week, retrieved February 2, 2009
  8. Aguilar, Rose (April 10, 1996), "The mind reels, along with the movies", CNET News, retrieved February 2, 2009
  9. Fefer, Mark D. (1995-07-10). "FORTUNE VISITS 25 COOL COMPANIES". CNN. Retrieved 2009-01-27.
  10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iPefnLfKlY
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