“My phone rang…” I am sure that none of us can imagine life without communications today. We forget the phone at home and rush back to get it, we can’t find it in our bag or briefcase, and we always get upset. Who brought into our lives a unique technique that helps to connect people at a distance?
Lesson plan:
Is it possible to communicate without a phone?
Of course you can! People used to live, and they didn’t have any newfangled telephone models, but they transmitted information from each other far beyond their place of residence. The need for communication forced people to invent different ways to "call for a conversation" and tell the news to comrades who are several kilometers away. How it was?
By that time, the first attempts were already being made to create a telegraph capable of transmitting signals over long distances using electricity. The scientists Galvani and Volt were engaged in the basics of electrical engineering, the Russian Schilling and Jacobi made their contribution, who invented transmission codes and an apparatus that converts signals into text.
A little later, in 1837, thanks to the American inventor Morse, an electric telegraph and a special system of codes from dots and dashes, widely known to everyone under the name “Morse code”, appeared.
But even this was not enough for the scientists of those centuries. They dreamed that it would be possible not only to receive a dry text over wires, but also to speak over them!
This is interesting! Archaeologists discovered two pumpkins in the Peru region, connected by a rope to each other and concluded that this design is a thousand-year-old ancestor of the telephone. Indeed, it is very similar to two matchboxes connected by a thread, on which we tried to “call” in childhood.
Who invented first?
The history of the appearance of the telephone is associated with Alexander Bell from America. But he was not the only one who was actively involved in the design idea of transmitting the human voice at a distance. Let's briefly go through the pages of history and trace the path the invention has overcome in the first stages of its birth.
Italian Antonio Meucci
In 1860, Antonio Meucci, a native of Italy, showed the Americans a device that could transmit sound over a wire, but he applied for a patent only in 1871, and the company that took them answered all his questions about the fate of the documents that they were lost.
German Philipp Reis
The German physicist Philipp Reis in 1861 presented to the public an electrical apparatus capable of transmitting sound. From him, by the way, his name “telephone” sounded, which we are used to hearing today, which is translated from Greek as “sound from afar”.
His transmitter was made in the form of a hollow box with holes: sound - in front and covered with a membrane - on top. But the quality of sound transmission in Reis's phone was so low that it was impossible to make out anything, so his invention was not accepted by others.
Americans Gray and Bell
Only 15 years later, two American designers Gray and Bell, completely independently of each other, were able to discover how a metal membrane with a magnet, like the eardrum of our ear, can convert sound and transmit it through an electrical signal.
Why did Bell get all the laurels of fame? Everything is simple! On February 14, 1876, he filed his application to patent the invention he discovered - the "talking telegraph" - a couple of hours earlier than Gray did.
I can imagine how upset Gray was.
Bell presented the telephone at a technical exhibition in Philadelphia.
The new technology did not have a call, the subscriber was called by the attached whistle, and the only handset both received and transmitted speech at the same time. The first telephones were forced to generate electricity themselves, so the telephone line worked only at a distance of up to 500 meters.
This is interesting! In 2002, the American Congress made a decision that turned the telephone world upside down: it recognized the Italian Meucci as the true inventor of the telephone.
Phone evolution
Since the first telephone set was presented to the public, inventors and designers have put a lot of effort into making a modern means of communication out of a primitive device.
So, engineers were able to replace the whistle to call the subscriber with an electric bell. In 1876, a switchboard was invented that could connect not only two, but already several telephones to each other.
A year later, the inventor Edison contributes to the development of the telephone - his induction coil increases the distance of sound transmission, and the carbon microphone, which improves the quality of communication, was used until the end of the 20th century. At the same time, in 1877, the first telephone exchange appeared in America, through which those who wanted to call someone were connected to the desired telephone operator number through plugs.
Thanks to the contribution of the Russian inventor Golubitsky, stations powered by a central source were able to serve tens of thousands of subscribers. Remarkably, the first telephone conversation in Russia took place three years after the appearance of the telephone, and in 1898 the first long-distance line between Moscow and St. Petersburg was built.
This is interesting! The first phones were not convenient. It was hard to hear in them, so they came up with special tubes of different sizes and shapes, into which they just had to stick their nose so that the subscriber could understand what the conversation was about. At first they were made separate: one - to speak into it, the second - to listen from it. Then they began to be connected with a handle, like a modern telephone receiver. Telephone sets were made of ivory, mahogany, and cast metal. The cups of the bells were chrome-plated to a shine. But one thing remained unchanged: the case, the tube and the lever on which they hung it after the conversation.
By leaps and bounds towards modernity
The inventive world did not stop there. Having received a telephone at home, people wanted to use a modern means of communication already on the street, in transport, to communicate on the way to work or home.
Such communication, not attached to the premises, was initially available only to special services - walkie-talkies, nicknamed "walkie-talkie", or "walk - chat", became a tempting idea for ordinary users. Knowing the secrets of the device, the craftsmen tried to connect the devices to the line using such radio communications. So in the 80s, radiotelephones appeared, operating at a distance of up to 300 meters.
But the main advantage of recent years has undoubtedly been cellular communication, which works from a signal moving from one station to another.
The modern "honeycomb" appeared in 1973 at the Motorola company. Their first-born worked without recharging for no more than 20 minutes and was similar in size to a brick, and weighed as much as 794 grams!
These are now our modern "mobiles" small and compact, able to take pictures, send mail and messages, play music and even think for their owner! They have become real helpers for children and their parents - you can always call and find out how things are going!
This is interesting! Singaporean En Yang is the fastest to write SMS - it takes him a little more than 40 seconds for a message of 160 characters to appear!
Interesting facts about mobile phones
This video contains 23 more interesting facts about our phones. They can complement your project, so look carefully.
Now you know everything about the appearance of the telephone. Make a report and tell your friends, they will be interested! And I say goodbye to you, but do not forget to look into new projects and stay in touch!
Success in your studies!
Evgenia Klimkovich.
Even in the myth of ancient Greek times, Theseus was the first mention of how information can be transmitted. Aegeus, the father of this hero, when he sent his son to the island of Crete, to fight the monster Minotaur, asked him to return, in case of success, to raise a white sail on the ship, and in case of defeat - black. Unfortunately, the inventor of the telephone had not yet been born, and the colors were mixed up, and Aegeus, deciding that his son was dead, drowned himself. The sea where he did this was called the Aegean.
Continuation of the story with communication
For some time, people did not pay much attention to solving the problem of transmitting symbols and signals over long distances. For a long time, birds and people remained the most reliable way to provide high-quality communication. When the weather was disgusting and there were no people willing to flee, they used fire, smoke, voice, or other conventional signs.
Although, to be honest, in the 16th century there was a proposal by Giovanni della Porta, an Italian scientist, to use speaking pipes for communication. A similar method operates on ships for communication between the engine room and the captain. So, the proposal to lay such pipes throughout Italy did not meet with understanding, and the first telephone was not invented at that time.
Revolution in France and a breakthrough in communications
In 1789, the mechanic Claude Chappe proposed to the Convention to resolve the issue of communication in the following way: they intended to cover the whole of France with a network of towers and install devices made of planks on them. At the same time, they should have been clearly visible from a distance. At night, lanterns were lit at the ends of the planks. Inside the tower was a telegraph operator, changing the location of the slats. The reference point for him was the tower in the zone of visibility. The telegraph operator sitting in it copied the message and sent it further. And so it went - from the starting point to the end. Approximately 200 combinations could be obtained by changing the arrangement of the bars.
A cipher was compiled, which consisted of a notebook with a volume of 92 pages, each of which had the same number of words. The telegraph employee transmitted the number of the word and page, they did not know the cipher at the intermediate points, but simply passed on the received combinations. Claude Chappe is not yet the inventor of the telephone, but his great admirer, Napoleon, introduced his method of communication throughout almost all of Europe. By the way, the transmission speed was quite high. For example, a message from St. Petersburg to Warsaw took about 45 minutes, if only the weather was normal.
and communication
When electricity was invented, at first scientists could not find him practical application. The first experience was the transmission of information over a distance. Austrian scientists, seeing the dependence of the Schapp telegraph on weather conditions, created its electric version. A member of the Academy of Munich Semmering in 1809 invented a device that was connected by thirty-five wires, each of which corresponded to numbers and letters of the alphabet. The message came to a bath filled with water, a short circuit took place here electrical network, at which gas bubbles were released, information was read from them. The design was very complex, it did not immediately take root, only in 1832 was a usable electric telegraph made. It was invented by Schilling, a scientist from Russia, and later improved by the British Cook and Wheatstone. So, gradually, we will get to how it happened, briefly dwelling on important points.
Morse invention
Morse demonstrated his telegraph alphabet and transmitting apparatus to the public in 1837. From that moment on, the electric telegraph began its victorious march around the world. In just 10 years, his lines have entangled most of North America and Europe. His triumph was the laying of a communication cable along the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, carried out in 1866 with the help of the Great Eastern ship, specially built for this purpose. When radio was invented, she moved to the air.
And now, despite the mass distribution of satellite, cellular, other sophisticated communications, the Internet, there are people, and there are many of them, who prefer to send telegrams. And not only in villages, but also in big cities. Now we are very close to such a significant date as the year of the invention of the telephone.
When was the telephone invented
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the telephone became the main means of communication. He was born much later than the telegraph, his predecessor. Even at a time when this predecessor was the main one, Philipp Rice, a German scientist, in 1861 invented a device that, using a galvanic current, transfers a human voice to any distance. Fifteen years later, Alexander Graham Bell, a Philadelphia school teacher, demonstrated the first electric telephone at the World's Fair. Remember: 1876 is the date the telephone was invented. But Elish Grey, another inventor, was only a couple of hours late with a claim for the same invention. Therefore, primacy in this matter is purely conditional.
connections
Literally five years later, a new means of communication, which was much simpler than the telegraph, firmly entered human life. Have you seen the photo of the first phone? So, the famous improved this device, and it became a truly household means of communication. And the telegraph was and remains public. There was also a field phone option. Due to the speed of deployment and ease of handling, it has become indispensable for the army and the military.
The first telephone exchange opened in 1878. This means of communication, like the telegraph, acquired the status of inviolable. Neither revolution nor war could interfere with their normal functioning. From films about those times it is clear that one of the favorite activities of the military commanders of both the White Army and the Red Army during the Civil War was quarreling over the phone.
Briefly about the first phone
You have already understood who is the official inventor of the telephone. And what was this first phone like? By the way, the invention happened by chance, like many others in this life. During experiments and experiments, the stuck plate began to act as a primitive diaphragm, and it was already a matter of time to think out what to do next. As a result, Bell's phone became a real sensation at the exhibition.
Although the first apparatus worked only at a distance of up to two hundred meters, with monstrous sound distortions, the transmitting and receiving devices were very primitive. The inventor created the "Bell Telephone Society" and began to actively improve it. As a result, one year later he patented fittings and a new membrane for his device. A little later, I used a carbon microphone (to increase the transmission distance) and powered by separate batteries. A little over a hundred years, almost in this form, the telephone existed.
Development of telephone communication in the twentieth century
How was the further development of the invention, the author of which was Alexander Bell? The telephone, created by him, soon surpassed and began to develop by leaps and bounds. The first transatlantic telephone cable TAT-1 was laid between Canada and Scotland in 1956. And after that - more than a hundred thousand kilometers of such cables. Including - Washington - Moscow, the famous government special wire, for communication between the American president and the leader of the Soviet Union. Nobody else had access to it. Such a wired, cable telephone connection, of course, is much more expensive than radiotelephone, especially if you count the amount of drowned and buried copper, but it is not going to give up its positions. At least because of its greater reliability and the ability to intercept the conversation.
Phone today
Bell - the inventor of the telephone - could not, most likely, imagine the progress that communication has made to date. It would seem that the development of cellular communications should slow down wired communications, but the latter continues to move forward, especially in large cities: thanks, as already mentioned, to its reliability, as well as the introduction of the latest technologies, such as fiber optic communications.
Have you forgotten what wires the Internet is transmitted through? According to the very ones that our grandfathers and grandmothers used to communicate, and in the central part of Moscow - great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers. Thanks to the latest technologies, the phone has mastered the ether and has turned from a stationary object into a very convenient and advanced human companion.
Another version of the inventor of the telephone
Opening the topic of the invention of this means of communication, one cannot fail to mention one more version, according to which the inventor of the telephone is Elisha Gray, and not Alexander Bell at all. In 2007, a book was published by a well-known researcher, journalist Seth Shulman, in which he wrote that the latter had stolen a competitor's invention and passed it off as his own. The main piece of evidence is Bell's notebook, access to which was very limited until 1976. It turns out, in addition to everything else, that Gray applied for a patent first, but his competitor, thanks to bribery and aggressive lawyers, managed to register a patent earlier. But that's not all.
There is a version that Philipp Rice, a German scientist, can also be considered as the inventor of the first telephone. His device, created in the 1860s, was capable of transmitting speech over a distance, but it worked on a different principle. By the way, Gray began his work as a carpenter, while studying at Oberlin College. Then he experimented with telegraph technology and electricity, invented a hotel notification device, a telegraph switchboard, a letter-printing machine and other devices. He lost the trial for the right to be considered the inventor of the telephone, and Bell has since been considered the first.
Further prospects for the development of communications
The inventor of the telephone, whoever he was, could probably imagine what future prospects the means of communication have. They are a little out of the realm of fantasy, but, nevertheless, they have the right to exist. This is telepathy, or, in other words, the transmission of thoughts over a distance. Back in the seventies of the last century, the Soviet academician Glushkov formulated this perspective. He noted that the thinking process of a person will be sent to a computer, it will remember it, and over time, a complete symbiosis of a machine and a person will turn out. And he was sure that in 2020 full compatibility of the computer and the human brain would be achieved.
Considering how computer communications are pushing traditional means at a distance, the academician's prediction does not seem very fantastic. After all, many fantasies that seemed unrealistic came true. For example, a home that is fully computerized, helmets connected to a PC, transmitting visual sensations. Once it was fiction and Ray Bradbury. Or computer printing at the command of a human voice. When the transmission of thoughts over a distance is demanded, then this issue will also be resolved. It's just that no one really needs it yet.
A little about other inventions of mankind
Although the invention of the telephone is one of the most important, all the inventions of mankind do not end there. Now we briefly list a dozen of the most important of them.
Short biography of Alexander Bell
Since we talked about the invention of the great scientist, we need to briefly outline his biography. He was born in Edinburgh (Scotland), March 3, 1847. Many of his relatives had the profession of professional orators - uncle, grandfather and father. The latter even wrote a treatise on eloquence. Alexander at first also followed their path, graduated from the appropriate school and became a teacher of music and eloquence. He studied for a year at the University of Edinburgh, then moved to Bath (England). In 1870 the family moved to Canada and settled in Ontario. Here Bell continued to deal with the issue of signal transmission through telecommunications, which he became interested in back in Scotland. He created, for example, an electric piano that transmitted music over wires. Soon, in 1873, Alexander became a lecturer in the physiology of speech at the University of Boston. And three years later he received patent No. 174465 for the invention of the telephone. He also worked with light rays, which subsequently contributed to the creation of fiber optic technologies. In 1877 he married Mabel Hubbard, his student, in 1882 he became a US citizen. He died on August 2, 1992. In the country for a minute, in order to honor his memory, all phones were turned off.
Modern Cell phones significantly different from what was used 20 or even 10 years ago. Photo evidence is attached.
World's first mobile phone: Motorola DynaTAC 8000X (1983)
Today, Motorola is not a leader in the mobile industry, but it is the company that launched the world's first mobile phone. It turned out to be the DynaTAC 8000X model. The prototype of the device was shown in 1973, but commercial sales began only in 1983. The powerful DynaTAC weighed almost a kilogram, worked for an hour on a single battery charge and could store up to 30 phone numbers.
First car phone: Nokia Mobira Senator (1982)
In the early 1980s, the Nokia Mobira Senator became widely known. It was released in 1982 and was the first of its kind - it was designed for use in a car, while weighing about 10 kilograms.
Gorbachev spoke on it: Nokia Mobira Cityman 900 (1987)
In 1987, Nokia introduced the Mobira Cityman 900, the first device for NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephony) networks. The device became easily recognizable due to the fact that Mikhail Gorbachev used it to call from Helsinki to Moscow, and photographers did not ignore this. Nokia Mobira Cityman 900 weighed approximately 800 grams. The price was high - in terms of current money, its purchase would cost the Americans 6,635 dollars, and the Russians - 202,482 rubles.
First GSM phone: Nokia 101 (1992)
The Nokia phone, with the modest index 101, was the first commercially available device capable of operating on GSM networks. A monoblock with a monochrome screen had a retractable antenna and a book with 99 numbers. Unfortunately, it did not yet contain the well-known Nokia tune ringtone, as the composition appeared in the next model, released in 1994.
Touchscreen: IBM Simon Personal Communicator (1993)
One of the first attempts to create a communicator was a joint development of IBM and Bellsouth. The IBM Simon Personal Communicator phone was stripped of the keyboard, offering instead a touch screen with a stylus. For $899, buyers got a device that could make calls, fax, and store notes.
First flip phone: Motorola StarTAC (1996)
In 1996, Motorola confirmed its title of innovator by introducing the first flip phone, the StarTAC. The device was considered stylish and fashionable, it was compact not only for that time, but also in comparison with modern smartphones.
First smartphone: Nokia 9000 Communicator (1996)
The weight of the Nokia 9000 Communicator (397 grams) did not prevent the phone from becoming popular. The first smartphone was equipped with 8 MB of memory and monochrome screens. When opened to the user's gaze, a QWERTY keyboard was opened, making it easier to work with text.
Replacement panels: Nokia 5110 (1998)
In the late 1990s, companies realized that mobile phones were viewed by consumers not only as a means of communication, but also as accessories. In 1998, Nokia released the 5110, which supported interchangeable panels. The phone has become popular also thanks to the excellent assembly, good battery life. It featured the famous Snake game.
First camera phone: Sharp J-SH04 (2000)
Sharp J-SH04 was released in Japan in 2000. This is the world's first camera phone. The resolution of the camera today seems ridiculous - 0.1 megapixels, but then the J-SH04 seemed to be something incredible. After all, the phone could be used as a bad camera, but still.
Mail is Essential: RIM BlackBerry 5810 (2002)
RIM introduced its first BlackBerry in 2002. Prior to this, the Canadian manufacturer was engaged in the production of organizers. The main drawback of the BlackBerry 5810 was the lack of a microphone and speakers - a headset was required to talk on it.
PDA meets phone: Palm Treo 600 (2003)
Palm has long been considered the main manufacturer of PDAs (personal pocket computers) and in 2003 released the hugely successful Treo 600 model. Communicator with a QWERTY keyboard, color screen, 5-way navigation key was based on Palm OS 5.
Gaming phone: Nokia N-Gage (2003)
Nokia has made several attempts to capture the minds of mobile gamers and not all of them have been successful. The first truly gaming phone is called the Nokia N-Gage. It is similar in design to a portable console and was positioned as an alternative to the Nintendo Game Boy. On the front side there are gaming control keys, which few people found comfortable. The games themselves were recorded on MMC memory cards. The microphone and speaker in the N-Gage are located at the end, so all users looked like cheburashkas during conversations. There were a lot of minuses and the project failed.
O2 XDA II (2004)
O2, like Palm, was heavily involved in the PDA. In 2004, the XDA II model appeared, offering users a sliding QWERTY keyboard, office applications. The price then bit - 1,390 US dollars.
Blade thin: Motorola RAZR V3 (2004)
Motorola RAZR V3 is considered to be the best-selling clamshell. The model attracted attention with a slim and stylish design. The creators drew inspiration from the "old man" StarTAC and as a result released a device dressed in a case with aluminum inserts, with a VGA camera (0.3 MP), Bluetooth, GSM. After the light saw the improved RAZR V3x, RAZR V3i and RAZR V3xx with a better camera, 3G, microSD.
First phone with iTunes: Motorola ROKR E1 (2005)
In 2005, few could have imagined that Apple, which specializes in computers and music players, would venture into the mobile industry (and introduce the popular iPhone). The company entered into an agreement with Motorola, and as a result, the ROKR E1 was created - a device with support for the iTunes music library. The expectations of buyers were not justified - few people liked the candy bar with a Motorola design, slow USB 1.1 interface, an outdated 0.3-megapixel camera and a song storage limit (100 pieces).
Motorola MOTOFONE F3 (2007)
The Motorola MOTOFONE F3 retailed for just $60. One of the most affordable devices on the market offered a display made using the technology of "electronic paper" (EPD, Electronic Paper Display). The advantages include low weight, small thickness.
Easy Finger Control: Apple iPhone (2007)
The first version of the Apple iPhone was originally released in the US in 2007. A touch phone with a 2-megapixel camera, a 3.5-inch touch screen, and a convenient finger-oriented interface supported only second-generation networks. The iPhone did not work with MMS and could not record video. In 2008, the iPhone 3G was released, and in 2009, the iPhone 3GS. The concept has not changed in three years - programs and a user-friendly interface are at the center.
The telephone was created in a period that was considered the era of the telegraph. This device was in demand everywhere and was considered the most advanced means of communication. The ability to transmit sound over distances has become a real sensation. In this article, we recall who invented the first telephone, in what year it happened, and how it was created.
Breakthrough in the field of communication development
The invention of electricity was an important milestone in the development of telephony. It was this discovery that made it possible to transmit information over distances. In 1837, after Morse presented his telegraph alphabet and broadcasting apparatus to the general public, the electronic telegraph began to be used everywhere. However, at the end of the 19th century, it was replaced by a more advanced device.
What year was the telephone invented?
The telephone owes its appearance, first of all, to the German scientist Philip Rice. It was this man who was able to construct a device that allows you to transfer a person's voice over long distances using galvanic current. This event took place in 1861, but there were still 15 years left before the creation of the first telephone.
Alexander Graham Bell is considered the creator of the telephone, and the year of the invention of the telephone is 1876. It was then that the Scottish scientist presented his first device at the World Exhibition, and also applied for a patent for the invention. Bell's phone worked at a distance of no more than 200 meters and had strong sound distortion, but a year later the scientist improved the device so much that it was used unchanged for the next hundred years.
The history of the invention of the telephone
The discovery of Alexander Bell was made by chance in the process of experiments to improve the telegraph. The goal of the scientist was to obtain a device that allows you to simultaneously transmit more than 5 telegrams. To do this, he created several pairs of records tuned to different frequencies. During the next experiment, a small accident occurred, as a result of which one of the plates got stuck. The scientist's partner, seeing what happened, began to swear. At this time, Bell himself was working on a receiving device. At some point, he heard faint sounds of disturbance from the transmitter. Thus begins the history of the invention of the telephone.
After Bell demonstrated his device, many scientists began to work in the field of telephony. Thousands of patents were issued for inventions to improve the first apparatus. Among the most significant discoveries are:
- the invention of the call - the device created by A. Bell did not have a call, and the subscriber was notified using a whistle. In 1878
T. Watson made the first call for a telephone; - the creation of a microphone - in 1878, a carbon microphone was designed by the Russian engineer M. Makhalsky;
- creation of an automatic station - the first station for 10,000 numbers was developed in 1894 by S.M. Apostolov.
The patent received by Bell became one of the most profitable not only in the United States, but also in the world. The scientist became extremely rich and world famous. However, in fact, Alexander Bell was not the first person to create the telephone, and in 2002 the US Congress recognized this.
Antonio Meucci: pioneer of the telephone
An inventor and scientist from Italy in 1860 created an apparatus capable of transmitting sound over wires. When answering the question of what year the telephone was invented, you can safely name this date, since the true discoverer is Antonio Meucci. He called his "brainchild" a telephotophone. At the time of his discovery, the scientist lived in the United States of America, he was already aged and was in a very deplorable financial situation. Soon, a large American company, Western Union, became interested in the development of an unknown scientist.
Representatives of the company offered the scientist a substantial amount for all the drawings and developments, and also promised to assist in obtaining a patent. The difficult financial situation forced the talented inventor to sell all the material of his research. The scientist had been waiting for help from the company for a long time, however, having lost his patience, he himself applied for a patent. His request was not granted, and the real blow for him was the message about the great invention of Alexander Bell.
Meucci tried to defend his rights in court, but he did not have enough funds to fight a large company. The Italian inventor managed to sue the right to a patent only in 1887, by the time it expired. Meucci was never able to use the rights to his invention and died in obscurity and poverty. Recognition for the Italian inventor came only in 2002. By resolution of the US Congress, it was he who invented the telephone.
Mobile communication, which operates today around the world, is traditionally considered a relatively new invention. However, the first concepts of mobile communications infrastructure organization appeared at the beginning of the 20th century. It is difficult to answer the question in which country the first mobile phones appeared and when. But if you try to do this - what facts about the development of telephone communications using radio equipment should be studied first of all? Based on what criteria should certain devices be classified as mobile phones?
The History of Mobile Phones: Basic Facts
To answer the question - who invented the first mobile phone in the world, we can, first of all, familiarize ourselves with the history of the creation of the corresponding communication devices.
Concepts and prototypes of communication devices, from a functional point of view, close to mobile phones, began to be discussed in various communities (scientific, engineering) as early as the beginning of the 20th century. But in the late 70s, the cell phone itself as a subscriber means of communication was proposed to be developed by the Bell Laboratories, which belonged to one of the largest American corporations, AT&T. Among the first states to successfully implement commercial systems mobile communications— Finland. Mobile communication systems were also actively developed in the USSR.
But which state was ahead of the rest in terms of the introduction of mobile phones?
It will be useful to dwell in more detail on Soviet inventions - getting acquainted with the facts about them will help us understand when the first mobile phone appeared in the world and in which country.
During the Great Patriotic War, the idea of creating a special device, a monophone, was proposed by the Soviet scientist Georgy Ilyich Babat. This device was supposed to be a portable telephone operating in automatic mode. It was assumed that it would operate in the range of 1-2 GHz. The principal feature of the apparatus proposed by G.I. Babat, was to provide voice transmission through an extensive network of special waveguides.
In 1946, G. Shapiro and I. Zakharchenko proposed to organize a radiotelephone communication system, in which devices for receiving and transmitting voice were to be placed in cars. In accordance with this concept, the basis of the mobile communication infrastructure should have been existing city stations, supplemented with special radio equipment. It was supposed to use special call signs as a subscriber identifier.
In April 1957, Soviet engineer Leonid Ivanovich Kupriyanovich created a prototype communication device - the LK-1 radiotelephone. This device had a range of about 30 km and had a significant weight - about 3 kg. He could provide communication through interaction with a special automatic telephone exchange, which could connect to city telephone lines. Subsequently, the phone has been improved. Is not it. Kupriyanovich significantly reduced the weight and dimensions of the device. In the updated version, the size of the apparatus was approximately equal to the size of 2 cigarette boxes stacked on top of each other. The weight of the radiotelephone was about 500 grams, including the battery. It was expected that the Soviet mobile phone would be widely used in the national economy, in everyday life and would become the subject of personal use of citizens.
Radiotelephone L.I. Kupriyanovich allowed not only making calls, but also receiving them - subject to the assignment of a personal number, as well as the use of infrastructure that allows you to transmit signals from the PBX to automatic telephone radio stations, and from them to subscriber devices.
Research in the field of mobile communications was also carried out in other socialist countries. For example, in 1959 the Bulgarian scientist Hristo Bachvarov developed mobile device, similar in basic principle to L.I. Kupriyanovich, and patented it.
Can we say that the world's first mobile phone was invented in this way in the USSR or in other socialist countries?
Criteria for classifying devices as mobile phones
First of all, it is worth deciding what to consider, in fact, a mobile phone. In accordance with the common definition, this should be considered a device that:
Compact (a person can carry it with him);
Works using radio channels;
Allows one subscriber to call another using a unique number;
Integrated in a certain way with wired telephone networks;
Publicly available (the ability to connect does not require permission from any competent authorities and is limited by the financial and infrastructural resources of subscribers).
From this point of view, a full-fledged mobile phone has not yet been invented. But, of course, the above criteria for determining a mobile phone cannot be considered universal. And if we remove from them, in particular, accessibility and compactness, then the rest may well correspond to the Soviet Altai system. Let's consider its features in more detail.
Soviet experience in the development of mobile communications: the Altai system
When studying the question of which is the very first mobile phone in the world, it is useful to familiarize yourself with the basic facts about the corresponding communication system. The devices connected to it had, in principle, all the signs of a mobile phone, except for general availability. This system, Thus:
Allowed some subscribers to call others by numbers;
It was in a certain way integrated with city networks.
But it was not publicly available: subscriber lists were approved at the departmental level. The Altai system was launched in the 60s in Moscow, and in the 70s it was deployed in more than 100 cities of the USSR. It was actively used during the 1980 Olympics.
There were plans in the USSR to create a mobile communication system to which everyone could connect. But due to the economic and political difficulties of the mid-late 80s, work on the development of this concept was curtailed.
In post-Soviet Russia, Western cellular standards were introduced. By that time, they had been providing communications between devices for quite a long time, which could be called full-fledged mobile phones. Let us study how the corresponding standards developed in the West. This, again, will help us answer the question of where and when the world's first mobile phone appeared.
History of mobile communications in the United States
As we noted at the beginning of the article, prototypes of mobile phones in the West began to appear as early as the beginning of the 20th century. In the 1930s and 1940s, real developments began to take root. In 1933, NYPD vehicles could communicate using half-duplex radio transmitters. In 1946, a mobile network was deployed in which private subscribers could communicate with each other using radio equipment through the mediation of an operator. In 1948, an infrastructure was launched that allowed one subscriber to call another in automatic mode.
Is it possible to say that it was in the USA that the world's first mobile phone was thus invented? If we consider the above criteria for classifying a radiotelephone as a device of the appropriate type - yes, you can say so, but in relation to later American developments. The fact is that the principles of its functioning of American cellular networks of the 40s were very far from those that characterize modern
Systems like those deployed in Missouri and Indiana in the 1940s had significant frequency and channel limitations. This did not allow a sufficiently large number of subscribers to be connected to mobile networks at the same time. The solution to this problem was proposed by Bell specialist D. Ring, who proposed dividing the radio signal propagation area into cells or cells, which would be formed by special base stations operating at different frequencies. This principle, in general, is also implemented by modern cellular operators. The implementation of the concept of D. Ring in practice was carried out in 1969.
History of mobile communication in Europe and Japan
In Western Europe, the first telephone systems using radio equipment were tested in 1951. In the 1960s, work in this direction was actively carried out in Japan. It is noteworthy that it was the Japanese developers who found that the optimal frequency for deploying mobile communications infrastructure is 400 and 900 MHz. Today, these frequencies are among the main ones used by cellular operators.
Finland has become one of the leading countries in terms of introducing developments in the field of organizing the functioning of a full-fledged cellular network. In 1971, the Finns began to deploy a commercial cellular network, the coverage of which by 1978 reached the size of the entire country. Does this mean that the very first mobile phone in the world, functioning according to modern principles, appeared in Finland? There are certain arguments in favor of this thesis: in particular, the fact that Finnish telecommunications corporations are deploying the corresponding infrastructure across the country has been established. But in accordance with the traditional point of view, such a device nevertheless appeared in the United States. The main role in this, again, if we consider the popular version, was played by Motorola.
Cellular Concepts from Motorola
In the early 1970s, very tough competition developed between service and equipment providers in the United States in a promising market segment - in the field of cellular communications. The main rivals here are AT&T and Motorola. At the same time, the first company focused on the deployment of automotive communication systems - by the way, like the Finnish telecommunications corporations, the second - on the introduction of compact devices that any subscriber could carry with them.
The second concept won, and on its basis, Motorola Corporation began to deploy, in fact, a full-fledged in the modern sense cellular network using compact devices. The world's first mobile phone within the Motorola infrastructure, again, in accordance with the traditional approach, was used as a subscriber device in 1973. After 10 years, a full-fledged commercial network was launched in the United States, to which ordinary Americans could connect.
Consider what was the world's first mobile phone, invented, in accordance with the popular point of view, the engineers of the American company Motorola.
The first cell phone: specifications
We are talking about the Motorola DynaTAC device. He weighed about 1.15 kg. Its size was 22.5 x 12.5 x 3.75 cm. It had number keys for dialing a number, as well as two special buttons for sending a call, as well as ending a call. The device had a battery, thanks to which it could function in call waiting mode for about 8 hours, and in talk mode for about 1 hour. It took more than 10 hours to charge the battery of the first cell phone.
What does the world's first mobile phone look like? A photo of the device is below.
Subsequently, Motorola released a number of upgraded versions of the device. If we talk about Motorola's commercial network, the first mobile phone in the world was made for the corresponding infrastructure in 1983.
We are talking about the device Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. This device weighed about 800 grams, its dimensions were comparable to the first version of the device. It is noteworthy that 30 subscriber numbers could be stored in his memory.
Who invented the first mobile phone?
So, let's try to answer our main question - who invented the world's first mobile phone. The history of the development of telephone communications using radio equipment suggests that the very first device that fully met the criteria for being classified as a mobile phone, which is still relevant today, was invented by Motorola in the USA and shown to the world in 1973.
However, it would be wrong to say that this corporation has introduced a fundamentally new development. Mobile phones - in the sense that they were radio equipment and provided communication between subscribers using a unique number - were used by that time in the USSR, Europe, and Japan. If we talk about when the world's first mobile phone was commercialized, the company that developed it launched the corresponding business in 1983, later than, in particular, such projects were introduced in Finland.
Thus, Motorola Corporation can rightly be considered the first to offer a mobile phone in the modern sense - in particular, functioning on the principle of distributing base stations over cells, and also having a compact format. Thus, if we talk about exactly where the world's first mobile phone was invented, in which country - as a portable, compact device that is part of the cellular infrastructure, then it would be legitimate to determine that the United States became this state.
At the same time, it is worth noting that the Soviet Altai system functioned quite successfully even without the introduction of American-style technologies. Thus, engineers from the USSR proved in principle the possibility of deploying a mobile communications infrastructure on a national scale, in fact, without using the principles of distribution of base stations over cells.
It is possible that without the economic and political problems of the 1980s, the USSR would have introduced its own mobile networks operating on the basis of alternative concepts to the American ones, and they would have worked no worse. However, the fact is that today Russia uses cellular communication standards developed in the Western world, which offered and commercialized the first mobile phones.
It is worth noting that the Altai system actually worked until 2011. Thus, Soviet engineering developments have remained relevant for a long time, and this may indicate that, with the necessary refinement, they could compete with foreign concepts for building a cellular communication infrastructure.
Summary
So, who invented the world's first mobile phone? It is difficult to answer this question briefly. If a mobile phone is understood as a compact subscriber radio equipment integrated with city networks, operating on a cellular basis and available to everyone, then, probably, this infrastructure was first introduced by the American company Motorola.
Speaking of the first commercial cellular networks - those, probably on a national scale, were introduced in Finland, but with the use of devices focused on placement in cars. Non-commercial closed mobile networks were also successfully deployed, in fact, on a national scale, in the USSR.