There is no better symbol of the modern era of telecommunication than the cellular phone. They are small, lightweight, and capable of instantly transmitting your voice across the globe. Despite the importance of his invention, the inventor of the cell phone isn’t a household name. This article will address this injustice and take a brief look at the history that led to the modern invention.

The man recognized for developing the modern cellular phone is Dr. Martin Cooper. At the time, he was the head of research and development at Motorola. Fittingly, he is also credited with making the first call on a cell phone which took place in New York in the year 1973. Prior to this, “mobile phones” required a backpack type of support to power the phone, and wasn’t really mobile in the true sense. They were mostly designed for wealthy individuals, businesses and the military, which had an obvious need for instant communication. Even though Dr. Martin’s invention was still large and expensive it was the first real phone that was truly portable. Still, because of the size and expense the industry took its time in expanding. Most importantly, the invention had to wait until the networks could sufficiently grow. In the mid 80s this was beginning to happen, and the cost of cell phones diminished a bit, but it wasn’t until the early to mid 90s that cell phones became affordable for the average consumer. Millions of people in countries around the world were using Dr. Martin’s invention for casual, every day use.

But the underlying technology for cell phones was invented back in 1947. It wasn’t only the phone itself that needed to undergo evolution but the network required to connect each phone to its mobile base. This was accomplished in what’s known as “hexagonal cells,” a technology that was only used until a few years later in the 50s, but is still being used today. It was invented by the combined effort of Bell Labs and AT & T. In conjunction with this piece of technology was the final ingredient, a technology known as “handover” which allowed for cellular phones to move seamlessly in and out of hexagonal cells. Hexagonal cells and handover technology put Dr. Cooper in a position where inventing the cell phone meant simply making it smaller and portable (without being powered by a cumbersome backpack charger). Of course this was a great accomplishment, and his praise and recognition should in no way be diminished, but it serves justice to history to recognize precisely what aspect of the phone he invented, IE, the phone itself and not the network behind it. Still, all phones that came out after Dr. Cooper’s were considered to be evolutions of his invention, not a different product in and of itself. His was the first of the ever shrinking cellular phone, and he deserves to be celebrated for bringing society into today’s modern era of telecommunications.

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