The problem with mobile phones is that people look at them more than they need to: the American engineer Martin Cooper, who is called the “father of the cell phone”. Martin invented the mobile 50 years agoMartin says the neat little device we all carry in our pockets has almost limitless potential and could one day even help conquer disease. But we’re a little obsessed right now.
Martin Cooper, 94, says that when I see someone crossing the street and looking at his cell phone, I go into shock. They have gone mad. But when some people get hit by cars, then it is known. “I’ll never figure out how to use a cell phone the way my grandchildren and great-grandchildren do,” he says.
Cooper uses an iPhone to which he says that he prefers to use the phone to talk to most people. Indeed, the iPhone is certainly a long way from the bulky block of wires and circuits that they used to make the first mobile phone call on April 3, 1973.
This is how mobile was invented
Cooper was by then working for Motorola. He led a team of designers and engineers who engaged in a sprint to come up with the first fully mobile technology. The company invested millions of dollars in the project, hoping to beat the Bell System, which had dominated American telecommunications for more than a century since its founding in 1877.
Bell engineers came up with the idea of a cellular phone system just after World War II. By the end of the 1960s, the trend of keeping phones in cars had started. But for Cooper, that was not real mobility. In late 1972, Cooper decided that he wanted a device that could be used anywhere.
He brought together experts in semiconductors, transistors, filters, and antennas from With Motorola, He worked round the clock for three months. By the end of March that year, they had introduced the DynaTAC (Dynamic Adaptive Total Area Coverage) phone. The phone weighed one kilo (about two and a half pounds) and had a battery life of 25 minutes. Cooper says it wasn’t a problem. This phone was so heavy. The main problem was that you couldn’t hold it for 25 minutes.
First call from Mobile Phone
Regarding the first call made from a mobile phone, Cooper says that the first call he made was to his main competitor, Joel Angle. He told Angle, “Joel, I’m Martin calling. I’m on a cell phone, a real handheld portable cell phone.”
