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https://www.wsj.com/articles/from-the-shoe-phone-to-the-smartphone-marty-cooper-internet-computer-apps-cancer-technology-calls-innovation-motorola-e1ce8b8e

From the ‘Shoe Phone’ to the Smartphone

Martin Cooper, the man who made the first call on a handheld device, reflects on how the technology has changed the world—and the advances still to come.

By Faith Bottum

April 14, 2023 1:52 pm ET

Martin CooperIllustration: Ken Fallin

New York

Sometimes everybody knows when history is being made—think of the first moon landing. But world-changing moments often arrive quietly. On April 3, 1973, four months after the last manned moon mission, a 44-year-old Motorola engineer took a small step onto Sixth Avenue outside the New York Hilton. There Martin Cooper did something commonplace now but at the time revolutionary: He made a call on a cellular telephone.

Opinion

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