Who invented the hand-held cellular telephone?

Martin “Marty” Cooper is not only recognized as the “father of the cell phone”, but is also on record as making the first cell phone call ever. In 1973, he led the Motorola team that worked to make hand-held cellular communication a reality. A decade later, Motorola put the first cell phone on the market. The cell phone is a hand-held device, not to be confused with the mobile phone used in automobiles, which cannot be used independently of the vehicle.

He realized that his new technology would strain the spectrum of radio signals (3 kilohertz – 300 gigahertz) set aside for wireless communication. He developed an innovative approach to manage that spectrum efficiently, to promote social benefit.

Cooper and his wife and business partner, Arlene Harris—who is known as the “first lady of wireless”—founded a number of communications companies, and Cooper is a member of committees that support the US Federal Communications Commission and Department of Commerce.

Cooper, who was born on December 26, 1928 in Chicago, is an American engineer who holds 11 wireless communications patents. He is a graduate of the Illinois Institute of Technology and a US Navy veteran, having served as a submarine officer in the Korean War. His name is on US Patent 3,906,166, as the lead inventor of the “radio telephone system. It was filed on October 17, 1973.