Morton Heilig
In the late '50s, a quiet man named Morton Heilig began designing the first multisensory virtual experiences. He developed something called the Sensorama. Resembling one of today's arcade machines, the Sensorama combined projected film, audio, vibration, wind, and even prepackaged odors, all designed to make the users feel as if they were actually in the film rather than simply watching it. Since real-time computer graphics were many years away, the entire experience was prerecorded, and played back for the user.
Although he was a gifted and visionary inventor, Heilig was less successful as a businessman. He was unable to get funding for his Sensorama machines, and they were never manufactured. Fortunately, he didn't give up there;
Heilig had an idea that would later prove to be the basis for an entire industry: the first Head-Mounted Display (HMD), which he patented in 1962.