Who Invented the Cell Phone

Everyone know Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, but until today very few people know who invented the Cell Phone. I happened on this very interesting interview with the cell phone inventor, Martin Cooper, on C-Span.

Cellular technology was invented by AT&T around 1946 and it took until the 60's before they were ready to commercially make it available. At the time they were the only players in the game and were trying to get a monopoly on this technology. Mr. Cooper, who worked at Motorola did not want AT&T to control this technology and worked diligently to bring it to market.

The first cell phone introduced was 2.5 pounds, the battery lasted 20 minutes and cost around $4,000. Because so many applications are transmitted across the wireless network, new technology needs to be developed to keep up with the capacity. In order to really get an understanding of what this all means (I am by no means an engineer so some of this escapes me), listen to the interview. It is only 30 minutes. Enjoy!