When you try to think of the first cell phone call, i believe most of us would have the picture of a lab full of scientists cheering for their success as soon as their prototype rings their landline. Or perhaps, a mad scientist who’s having the discovery of the century, right there, in his garage. Whatever the case, i think that none of us could have imagined that the first ever cell phone call was a troll call.
But it was! And it was an epic one!
The first call ever made on a cell phone, was from an engineer named Martin Cooper calling a rival engineer who was also working on the cell phone project, to brag about his accomplishment! Here’s the story. (the article continues after the ad)
Martin Cooper was the head engineer at a Motorola team that was working on building the world’s first cellular telephone. On April 3, 1973, when their brick-like prototype was ready, Cooper took it and went for a walk down the street to test it. But he didn’t call the team back in the Motorola lab. His first inclination was to call a competitor.
He called Joel Engel, an engineer from AT&T who was also leading a team trying to build a cellular phone. Martin Cooper recalls his phone call to Joel Engel in an interview to Bloomberg:
– Hi Joel, this is Martin Cooper.
– Hi Martin.
– I’m calling you from a cell phone. But a real cell phone. Personal, handheld, portable cell phone.
“There was silence at the other end of the line,” recalls Cooper. “To this day, Joel doesn’t remember that call, and I’m not sure I blame him.”
Give this guy a troll medal!
If you like what you read, then you will definitely love this one: This Man Invented The Telephone 20 Years Before Alexander Graham Bell
Photo: The Independent, Creative Commons
Photoshop: I’m A Useless Info Junkie
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