On April 3, 1973, Martin Cooper made the first call from a cell phone to one of the men he had been competing against on a sidewalk on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan while holding a brick-sized gadget.
Cooper, a Motorola engineer at the time, said, “I’m calling you on a cell phone, but a real cell phone, a personal, handheld, portable cell phone,” as Joel Engel, the head of AT&T-owned Bell Laboratories, answered the phone.
Cooper, a Motorola engineer at the time, said, “I’m calling you on a cell phone, but a real cell phone, a personal, handheld, portable cell phone,” as Joel Engel, the head of AT&T-owned Bell Laboratories, answered the phone.
Since that first call fifty years ago, a number of smaller, faster phones have developed to take Cooper’s bulky one’s place. Now that they are widely used, these phones are altering industries, culture, and how we communicate with one another and with ourselves.
Although some people may have been shocked by the extent and importance of mobile phones, Cooper asserted that it was inevitable that they would one day be seen as necessity for the majority of humanity.
“I was not surprised that everyone has a cell phone,” Cooper, 94, told CNN.
We used to refer back then to the urban legend that one day, you will be given a phone number when you were born. If you didn’t pick up the phone, you’d die.
Cooper largely agrees with the route the phone has taken us, though, as he reflects on the past 50 years. He enjoys connecting his hearing aids to his phone and tracking his swimming activities on his Apple Watch. He uses an iPhone personally (and previously a Samsung user). Cooper added that he believes the advancement of technology would be advantageous to society as a whole.
“Realist that I am. I understand the disadvantages of using a cell phone. Some people get dependent on it. People are using their cellphones while crossing the street, said Cooper. “Overall, I believe that the development of the cell phone has improved humanity and will do so going forward.”