How do you Introduce The FIRST Cordless Phone To The World? with Martin "Marty" Cooper

Episode 075: Season 4: Awakened Nation® with Brad Szollose

What if you had three months to prove that a cordless phone was possible in 1973? What would you do?

One of the driving forces behind the creation of the cell phone was an FCC hearing…a hearing that was three months away. How important is a hard deadline like that when it comes to innovation? During the era of Trimline phones attached to the kitchen wall, avocado colored refrigerators and Saturday morning cartoons, Martin "Marty" Cooper did the only thing he could do: call a press conference and show the world he could make a phone call without any wires!

This is an epic interview with the father of the cordless phone.

Brad gets Marty to open up about his time at Motorola, that fateful call in front of the FCC, what drives innovation and his wife, Arlene Harris, who is also an inventor. At 93 years young, Marty is still sharp, witty and is still inventing.

Marty shares his belief that the Wireless Revolution is still in its beginning stages, that this technology promises to help end poverty and disease and bring education and employment to everyone.

About Martin Cooper:
Martin Cooper is an engineer, inventor, entrepreneur, and futurist. He is known as the “father of the cell phone.” He led the creation of the world’s first cell phone at Motorola—and made the first public call on it.

Over nearly three decades at Motorola, Cooper contributed to the development of pagers, two-way radio dispatch systems, quartz crystal manufacture, and more.

He is also the author of CUTTING THE CORD: The Cell Phone Has Transformed HUMANITY, published by Rosetta Books, $24.99, hardcover, $10.69 ebook, $17.99 audiobook

A serial entrepreneur, he and his wife, Arlene Harris, have cofounded numerous wireless technology companies. This includes Cellular Business Systems, SOS Wireless Communications, GreatCall, and ArrayComm.

Cooper is currently chairman of Dyna LLC and a member of the FCC’s Technological Advisory Council. He was the first to observe the Law of Spectrum Capacity, which became known as Cooper’s Law. In 2013, Cooper became a member of the National Academy of Engineering from whom he received the Charles Stark Draper Prize for Engineering. He was awarded the Marconi Prize “for being a wireless visionary who reshaped the concept of mobile communication.” He has been inducted into the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame and Wireless History Foundation’s Wireless Hall of Fame. The Radio Club of America awarded him a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010. He is a lifetime member of the IEEE, was president of its Vehicular Technology Society and received its Centennial Medal.

In 2007, Time magazine named him one of the “100 Best Inventors in History.”

He is a Prince of Asturias Laureate.

Cooper grew up in Chicago, the son of Ukrainian immigrants. He attended Crane Technical High School and the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he is a Life Trustee. He served in the US Navy as a submarine officer during the Korean Conflict.

Host: Brad Szollose:
First things, first. How do you say Szollose? It’s pronounced zol-us. Fueled by the passion to ignite game-changing conversations, award-winning author Brad Szollose created Awakened Nation®—a podcast dedicated to deeper conversations with today's cutting edge entrepreneurs, idea makers and disruptors, bestselling authors, activists, healers, spiritual leaders, professional athletes, celebrities and rock stars...conversations that take a deep dive into the extraordinary. This podcast makes you think.