The “Father” of the first mobile phone was the son of Ukrainian emigrants

Martin Cooper, a son of Ukrainian emigrants invented a first mobile phone.

Without this little device, it is impossible to imagine our lives and it is even hard to understand how we have done without it. The world should be grateful not only to him but also to his parents.

After moving to the States from a small town near Kiev, they tried to get their son interested in engineering from the very childhood. Martin did not protest and subsequently received a master’s degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology without any problems. In 1954, he managed to get a deal with Motorola.

Nowadays, this name is known all over the world, but at that time it was just an obscure telecommunications company. The fact is that there was one monopolist on the market – AT & T, which fully provided the country with telephone communications. It was AT&T, who achieved what seemed impossible – to equip cars with telephones. Although all equipment weighed 15 pounds, the ability to drive around the city in a car and communicate with the world stunned people.

And only in Motorola understood that such phones still restrict the person by tucking it to a certain place. One day the management gathered engineers in their office and in an orderly tone declared that they were waiting for innovative solutions from them. Martin Cooper took up his job – and it was not 2 months since the first prototype appeared on the table: length 25 cm, weight – more than a kilogram, the battery was enough for 20 minutes. Everyone understood: it was a success.

What’s left was to present his invention to the world in a spectacular way, that is, in modern words, to hold a vivid PR-action. Cooper, of course, was the one for the task. April 3, 1973, taking his mobile, Cooper went to the center of Manhattan, inviting journalists and photographers. This was the first mobile phone conversation. It entered history. White House wanted to see the miracle device immediately, they said, President Reagan was fascinated by it. However, ordinary people had to wait another 10 years, until the novelty appeared in ordinary stores.

During this time Motorola managed to reduce the weight of the phone to 800 grams. However, only rich could afford them. Price, to put it mildly, was a bit toothy – 3500$. For this money you could buy a car. Soon, Martin Cooper founded his own company and became a millionaire.

But in the homeland of his parents, a mobile connection appeared only after a decade – on July 1, 1993, when President Leonid Kravchuk spoke with the Ambassador of Ukraine in Germany.

EMPR

Image credits: google.

Source: prolviv.

Tags: Tech Ukraine Ukrainian emigrants