Martin Cooper- the inventor of the first Mobile Phone

One important invention in history, which can never be forgotten, is the mobile phone. This item is something we use everyday and we often take for granted. However, we must not forget how the mobile phone has changed the way we communicate in our world today. Our mobile phones allow us to communicate with others who are in other places, even halfway around the globe! Furthermore, we do not need to be stationed at one place while using it. Without the mobile phone, communication would be a hassle and life would be more complicated than it already is. Thus, we need to remember and appreciate people like Martin Cooper, who have made our lives much easier through his invention.

Martin Marty Cooper (born December 26, 1928 in Chicago, Illinois, USA) was the lead engineer of the Motorola team that developed the handheld mobile phone (as distinct from the car phone).

Cooper is considered the inventor of the first handheld cellular phone and the first person to make a call on a handheld cell phone prototype on April 3, 1973, in front of reporters and passers-by on a New York City street. That first call, placed to Dr. Joel S. Engel, head of research at Bell Labs, began a fundamental technology and communications market shift toward making phone calls to a person instead of to a place. It was the product of his vision for personal wireless handheld telephone communications, distinct from mobile car phones. Cooper later revealed that watching Captain Kirk using his communicator on the television show Star Trek inspired him to develop the handheld mobile phone.

The original Motorola DynaTAC handset weighed 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) and had 35 minutes of talk time. By 1983 and after four iterations, Cooper’s team had reduced the handset’s weight by half. The list price was around $4,000 (2009: $8,600).

From the first model of the mobile phone, many new models have come out, such as phones which are lighter and those which have longer talk time. Furthermore, the different designs of mobile phones today also suit people’s personal taste. Even until now, many new models are coming out with a variety of features, so as to make people’s lives easier.

However, at the same time, the invention of the mobile phone has reduced the chances of people meeting in person as it is more convenient to talk through the phone. This may put a stain on relationships if it gets too excessive.

Nonetheless, the mobile phone is something we should not take for granted as a lot of work was put into making it.

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