Nintendo: The Company and its Founders - Sharyland ISD

HIROSHI YAMAUCHI RULES
person would take a handle in one hand, and then
hold their partner’s other hand to complete the
circuit. The amount of current passing between the
two people was revealed on a meter, and this was
meant to show the amount of love between them.
The test was not accurate, but it was a lot of fun at
parties. It was a huge success in Japan where public
handholding was considered risqué.
MEET MASAYUKI UEMURA
A young engineer named Masayuki
Uemura walked into Nintendo’s
office one day in the early 1970s
to sell solar cell products produced
by the company Sharp. Solar cells
are devices that convert light into
electricity. Uemura and Yokoi
discussed how the cells might be
used in toys. This was a pivotal
moment in Uemura’s life. Before
long, he was working for Nintendo.
Yokoi and Uemura began
working together to develop solar
cell applications for toys. They
found that solar cells did away with
SOLAR CELLS
Solar cells convert light into
electricity through a process
known as photovoltaic effect,
which was discovered in 1839
by a French physicist named
Edmund Becquerel. The light
source is most often the sun
but indoor lighting of different
kinds may also work. Light
has units of energy called photons,
which are absorbed by
the solar cell. When light hits
the cell, photon energy displaces
the cell’s electrons. This
activity eventually generates
an electric current.
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