IIT - Inventing the Future

Few days a week I get to enjoy a solemn ride home on Chicago’s red line train. I join a train full of working professionals traveling from Chicago’s White Sox loving south side to the bleeding blue nation of Cubs fans in the north side. I take this 35 minute commute to relax with my face in a good book albeit the talking and the ever annoying passenger whose iPod and white headphones blast music we all can hear (If this has happened to you... don’t you find it ironic it is always the exact music you DO NOT listen to?). Anyway, I have been reading Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons (I know I’m behind and I refuse to watch the movie prior to the books completion) lately but a couple times a month I get a free copy of The Economist through the Undergraduate Admission department. I think we accidently ordered double copies, but hey, it’s getting put to good use! If you ever have a chance to pick The Economist I suggest shuffling through it. It’s a great magazine due to the fact that we (America) do not write it.

Usually I skim through and read a few articles about Business and current events over in Asia, but this week’s issue had a double page feature about IIT alum, Marty Cooper. If you are not familiar with his name... don’t worry as you are not alone. Unless you work or at one point worked with IIT, or in the telecoms industry you would not know his name. Ergo, he is the most influential person no one has ever heard of. I’ll put it this way – without him we would never be able to stay so interconnected. The title of the article was appropriately entitled, “Father of the Cell Phone.”

Cooper received his bachelors and masters in electrical engineering at IIT and immediately turned what he learned in the classroom into practical real life application. He helped create the first hand-held mobile phone – The Dynatac, as it was notable referred to, which weighed in at 2.2 lbs. Motorola and Marty Cooper not only created a game-changing device but also made it easier to hang up on people who otherwise are a little long winded (it had a 35 minute talk time.. . genius!). We all have those friends....

Marty Cooper was always ahead of his time – a visionary.

I looked at all the people already on the train and the ones fighting for a place to stand amidst the crowd. Majority of them were texting, listening to music, and talking on his or cell phone and none of them knew the article I just read affects them all. Yet, none of them will ever pay homage to Mister Marty Cooper. But according to the article, he may like it that way; at 80 years old he still retains his graciousness and modesty. Now every time I look at my phone I can thank him for making it a size that not only fits in the palm of my hands but also my pocket. What will he think of next....?

Malhotra out (AKA Rishab)

You can find this article on the online Economist.