He had triggered a sensation across the globe by inventing the first handheld cellular mobile phone in 1973. The journey, which began with the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X mobile phone in the 1970s, has changed the world. Martin ‘Marty’ Cooper (b. December 26, 1928), the inventor of Motorola DynaTAC 8000X who has 11 patents in the field of wireless communication, spends less than 5% of his time using a phone. He recently said that one should reduce the use of mobile phones, if s/he really wanted to enjoy life.

Cooper, popularly known as the Father of the cell phone, has advised people to reduce their screen time, saying that he wants cell phones to be people’s personal phones, so that they could communicate with only one special person, irrespective of her/his location. He revealed how much screen time he allowed himself each day during an interview with BBC Breakfast on June 30, 2022. The electrical engineer was shocked to hear that the host of the show used her phone for more than five hours every day. “Do you really spend five hours of your day on your mobile?! I would say chill, get a life!” Cooper told the host.

Meanwhile, the American inventor said that it was a memorable moment for him when he had given a demonstration of Motorola’s handset on a street in New York by making a public phone call in the presence of a reporter on April 3, 1973. Prior to that historic day, phone numbers were connected to specific locations, like a house, car, or desk. At that period of time, the Marconi Society reportedly said (about the demonstration): “The goal was to create public excitement about a revolutionary new concept in telecommunications… truly portable mobile phones that people could carry around and use to make calls any time, any place.“

It may be noted that the weight of the 10-inch-long Motorola DynaTAC 8000X was just 2.5 pounds. Although the device only had a battery life of 25 minutes, it required 10 hours to recharge.

Cooper received the Marconi Prize, named after radio inventor Guglielmo Marconi, in 2013 for his contribution to the field of Information Science and Communication.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das