Martin+Cooper

** Martin Cooper - History of Cell Phone (connector) ** "Gladwell describes connectors as those people who know many worlds and can link people to networks they did not know existed. According to Gladwell there are two kinds of connectors--those who are part of your social circle and those with whom you have "weak ties." Both kinds of connectors can expand one's social horizon." Martin Cooper was a great example of a connector because  of all the things he was involved in and all the different kids of people he knew. He connected many people through the great achievement of making the first mobile phone!
 * //Why Martin Cooper was a __Connector__: //**
 * April 3, 2003 marked the 30th anniversary of the first public telephone call placed on a portable cellular phone. Martin Cooper placed that call on April 3, 1973
 * That first call, placed to Cooper's rival at AT&T's Bell Labs from the streets of New York City.
 *  "People want to talk to other people - not a house, or an office, or a car. Given a choice, people will demand the freedom to communicate wherever they are, unfettered by the infamous copper wire, i t is that freedom we sought to vividly demonstrate in 1973," said Martin Cooper.
 * "As I walked down the street while talking on the phone, sophisticated New Yorkers gasped at the sight of someone actually moving around while making a phone call. Remember that in 1973, there weren't cordless telephones, let alone cellular phones. I made numerous calls, including one where I crossed the street while talking to a New York radio reporter - probably one of the more dangerous things I have ever done in my life."
 * He knew many people who were very intrigued by this idea and of course wanted everything to do with it, causing him to become very popular very fast.
 * He was born in Chicago, Illinois on December 26, 1928, and earned his Bachelors and Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1950. Martin Cooper, before his employment with Motorola in 1954, he served in the Navy for 4 years, working on destroyers, and on submarines. He had also worked for a little bit with another telecommunications company, before his historic association with Motorola. From that we can clearly see how he is a connector and has relationships with so many people.
 * Cooper knew just about everyone in Motorola and coming out with the first mobile phone call only made him that much more known through out the country.

@http://inventors.about.com/cs/inventorsalphabet/a/martin_cooper.htm