Martin Cooper, who led the Motorola team that developed the first mobile phone in 1973, was named as one of the recipients of the Charles Stark Draper Prize, the highest honor of the National Academy of Engineering.
Cooper famously placed the first portable, cellular call on April 3, 1973 from outside a press conference in New York City to a landline at Bell Labs in New Jersey. The call used the Motorola DynaTAC, which weighed 2.2 lbs., had 35 minutes of talk-time and a battery life of 20 minutes.
“Long before we messaged people in real-time, had instant maps for anywhere, or streamed movies on our smartphones, Martin Cooper and his team laid the foundations of mobile phone technology,” said Iqbal Arshad, SVP, Global Product Development, Motorola Mobility.”When we look at everything that’s been accomplished thanks to the hard work of Martin and his team, we can’t think of anyone more deserving of this honor.”
http://nae.edu/Activities/Projects/Awards/DraperPrize/67245.aspx
Other recipients of the Charles Stark Draper prize this year include Joel S. Engel, Richard H. Frenkiel, Thomas Haug, and Yoshihisa Okumura, all of who were recognized for their contributions to communications.
