10 Ways Star Trek Changed People's Lives
5. Invention Of The Mobile Phone
The original Star Trek's designs were truly iconic. There's a reason that Charlie Brooker invoked the look and feel of the original series in his Black Mirror episode USS Callister. This 1960s futurism still inflects the franchise today, as we'll soon see in the upcoming prequel series Brave New Worlds. But as anyone who owned a mobile phone in the early 2000s can testify, it also clearly influenced the flip-phone design.
However, Star Trek's impact on mobile telecommunications can be traced further back than a Motorola Razr! Whilst working for Motorola in the 1970s, Martin Cooper led the efforts to revolutionise cellular communications. Trailing behind their more successful rivals AT&T, Motorola were keen to take the edge.
The inspiration for Cooper's new innovation came from - what else? - Star Trek. Having seen Kirk and the crew use their handheld communicators, he and his team created the world's first portable phone prototype in 1973. Although portable is a bit of an exaggeration, it weighed about the same as a bag of sugar! It took another ten years for the prototype to reach the commercial market, for $9300 in today's money!