The mobile phone has become an essential requirement in modern-day life. We rely on our phones for doing our bank work, sending and receiving emails as well as messages and videos, clicking photos, and staying in touch with friends and family. These things could not have been imagined when we had to depend upon landlines to only talk to each other.
Martin Cooper was the father of the cell phone
So who was the man who invented this gadget that has changed our lives forever? Surely he deserves a lot of gratitude from people throughout the world. That man was a scientist named Martin Cooper.
He was an engineer and inventor and is now hailed as the father of the cell phone which evolved into our present-day hi-tech mobile phones. Cooper played a pivotal role in shaping the telecommunications scenario. In 1973, while working for Motorola, he made the historic first cell phone call on a prototype device that he designed.
Standing on a New York City street on April 3, 1973, Cooper dialed the number of his rival at Bell Labs, Dr. Joel Engel, to announce to him that he had successfully created a handheld mobile phone. Back then Cooper’s cell phone was the size of a brick and weighed about one kilo. It couldn’t be carried inside the pocket but it could be carried about in one’s hand.
Cooper’s invention revolutionized communication by eliminating the physical constraints of wired phone connections. The Motorola DynaTAC, the first commercially available handheld mobile phone, hit the market in 1983, although it had a hefty price tag that only a few could afford.
Cooper’s path-breaking work laid the foundation for the evolution of mobile phones into the indispensable and sleek devices we rely on today. He connected the people of the world uniquely. Parents and children, friends and family, bankers and clients, all people found communication had become much easier. His invention transformed everyone’s lifestyle.
Born on December 26, 1928, Cooper is now 94 years old and is just a few days away from his 95th birthday. But he continues to retain the bubbly enthusiasm of a 20-year-old who is starting a career. He doesn’t want to be called Sir or Mr. Cooper. “Call me Marty,” he tells all those who meet him.
Mobiles may monitor blood sugar, pressure levels
He is convinced that mobile phones have not yet reached their full potential. “In the future, mobile phones will be able to do even more work. It will be a device that can monitor your blood sugar levels, blood pressure, heartbeat and even drive your car for you when you are tired. The potential is limitless,” Marty says.
From childhood he was fascinated by inventions and new gadgets. When he grew up he began working for Motorola Co. which was then the leader in the two way radio communications business. Then AT & T came up with cellular telephony in motorized vehicles. Motorola was worried because their business would be affected.
That was when Marty began experimenting to come up with a hand held phone that could be taken anywhere. Then having produced one in 1973, the first call he made was to his rival Joel Engel at AT & T and told him: “Hi Joel. This is to let you know that I am making this call from a handheld cell phone that I have invented.” There was total silence at the other end. “I think he was gnashing his teeth in frustration and jealousy,” recalls Marty with a chuckle.
“The first cell phone had thousands of intricate components. But it was one of the crucial inventions in the history of mankind. Perhaps as important as the invention of the wheel. But we are still in the infancy of this invention. We are becoming aware of the power that can be built into a mobile phone. It will take a couple of generations to fully realise its potential,” says Marty.
According to the scientist, with the help of artificial intelligence, mobile phones will work wonders beyond our imagination. Although he is now in his nineties, he would like to be around to see what shape his invention takes in the future. Martin Cooper’s legacy will remain a symbol of technological ingenuity that will reshape the world for many years to come.
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