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AT A GLANCE:
Today's communications industry would not be what it is without the contributions made by Richard H. Frenkiel and Joel S. Engel. The big breakthrough came when AT&T Labs researchers Frenkiel and Engel divided wireless communications into a series of cells, then automatically switched callers as they moved so that each cell could be reused. This led to the development of cellular phones and made today’s mobile communications possible. THE STORY
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Invention: mobile telephone

Function: noun / mo·bile tele·phone
Definition: A mobile radiotelephone, often in an automobile, that uses a network of short-range transmitters located in overlapping cells throughout a region, with a central station making connections to regular telephone lines. Also called cellular telephone

Inventor: Joel Engel and Richard Frenkiel

Criteria: First practical cellular telephone system.
Birth: Richard Frenkiel, March 4, 1943 in Brooklyn, New York
Joel Engel, February 4, 1936 in New York City
Nationality: American