Who invented the cell phone? After World War II, the invention of the cell phone was credited to an engineer from the world famous cell phone company Motorola, and his name is Dr. Martin Cooper. The son of Ukrainian descent, and now a household name, Dr. Cooper received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology. In 1954 he began working for Motorola and studied at night for his master’s degree. In 1957 he finally graduated with a master’s degree.
In 1950, John F. Mitchell also graduated with a degree in electrical engineering, and in 1960 he became the chief engineer of the Motorola Mobile Communications Projects. Together they became the pioneers of cell phone invention. Cooper worked hard on the development of the first portable handheld police radio, it was developed in 1967 for the Chicago Police Department. Back then everything was analog, not until recently with the new digital radios that are now becoming more and more popular.
In 1973, the creation of the first portable cell phone 800 (MHZ) was longed for, now in its prototype. At the time, Motorola’s base station was trying to get clearance from the FCC. With cell phones, you need frequencies to send information over the air. FCC (Federal Communications Commission) are in charge of all radio signals and frequencies that are sent over the air. They play a fundamental role in today’s society. Have you ever wondered why you have to turn off your phone on a plane before take off? The reason is that the signals from your phone can interrupt the signals from the aircraft’s electronic devices that are transmitted to the tower on the runway. Always remember to turn off your phone before boarding a plane.
The first cell phone call was demonstrated in New York on April 3, 1973 near the New York Hilton hotel. Reporters flocked to the scene, the media wanted to know who invented the cell phone. What better place to make history. Especially, in the middle of the most populous city in the United States. The name of the phone is called the Dyna-Tac 800 X handheld cell phone, it weighed a whopping 2.5 pounds (1.1 kg). At that time, only the military and large companies had access to them.
Dr. Joel S. Engel, head of research at Bell Labs, was his rival at the time. Both companies were working side by side, when the public asked; “who invented the cell phone” both meant me. Guess who got that first cell phone call? You guessed it Bell Labs! It reminds me a bit of Steve Jobs with Apple Computer and Bill Gates with Microsoft Windows. Both companies are strong competitors in today’s markets; You can find them both on the New York Stock Exchange.
Core technology and communications markets had shifted from clumsy mobile phone invention efforts to next-generation personal mobile devices. Cooper’s invention went from making car phones to personal handheld devices. Having a computer built into a phone today to check your emails, among other cool features, is not uncommon.
For the price of $4,000 the phone was not cheap, not by a long shot. When Motorola started selling phones to consumers, he decided to leave the company and start his own business. If a successful cell phone operations business wasn’t enough, with his personal success and fortune, Dr. Cooper decides to sell his niche, for a phenomenal $23 million dollars to Cincinnati Bell. They are listed on the New York Stock Exchange and prosper with their ticker symbol as (CBB).
In 1987, Dr. Martin Cooper and his wife Arlene Harris began working on a number of technological ventures, from the invention of the cell phone to major companies like SOS Wireless, Array-Comm, and Jitter-bug.
To summarize, I guess a bit of Captain Kirk from the hit Star Trek series inspired his efforts in developing invented cell phone technology, right up to the last cell phone invention of the century.