Fact or Fiction?
A social media post going around claims to show a 1963 newspaper article accurately predicting people would be able to carry a phone in their pocket in the future.
It even features a picture of a woman holding something that resembles a modern flip-phone. It’s real. The article was published on April 18th, 1963 in the Mansfield, Ohio News Journal.
But predictions about cell phones got back much further than that. In 1926, Nicola Tesla predicted people would one day be able to communicate instantly with one another with devices that fit inside a vest pocket.
Did 1963 Newspaper Anticipate Phones That Fit in a Pocket?
The concept of a cellphone existed long before you held one in your hand
In May 2021 an image circulated on social media showing a 1963 newspaper article bearing the headline, "You'll Be Able to Carry Phone In Pocket In Future." This article was published on April 18, 1963, in the News-Journal, a newspaper out of Mansfield, Ohio. In addition to the photograph above, this article is available via Newspapers.com.
The modern mobile phone wouldn't hit the commercial market until the 1980s, but the idea of a pocket phone had been percolating for decades. In 1953, for example, the president of the Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co. predicted that someday in the future the phone will be "carried about by the individual, perhaps as we carry a watch today." In 1926, inventor Nikola Tesla predicted that in the future people across the world would be able to communicate instantly with one another with devices that fit inside a vest pocket.
The idea of video phones (also mentioned in the above-displayed 1963 article) can be traced back much further than you might expect. In 1936, a German engineer developed a video phone service that allowed people to call (and see) each other from Berlin to Leipzig (a distance of approximately 100 miles).
Is This Cellphone Prediction from 1953 Real?
The report was written by the Associated Press and was published in a variety of papers in 1953
A newspaper clipping from 1953 features a relatively accurate prediction about future telephones. An image supposedly showing a newspaper clipping from 1953 containing an oddly prescient prediction about future cellphones was circulated on social media in November 2019.
This is a genuine newspaper clipping. The above-displayed report was written by the Associated Press and was published in a variety of papers in 1953. While we have not been able to locate this exact clipping in the Tacoma News Tribune, we have found this story published in news outlets such as The Spokane Chronicle, The (Wilmington, Delaware) News Journal, The Akron Beacon Journal, and the Boston Globe. This 1953 prediction has proved to be largely accurate. Modern phones are certainly "carried about by the individual." Phones can also be integrated with smartwatches, perform video calls, and provide near-instantaneous translations.
While this is a genuine newspaper clipping from 1953 containing a largely accurate prediction about modern phones, we'd like to provide a little additional context to this rumor. For starters, the person making these claims was the president of a phone company and was likely privy to latest developments in the field. For instance, while it wouldn't be until the 1960s for the first cordless phone to be invented, and the 1980s for true mobile phones to hit the market, the foundations for these products were being laid prior to 1953.
“There’ll Be No Escape From Telephones” – This 1953 Prediction for Cellphone Actually Comes True!
The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) – Apr 10, 1953
In an April 1953 newspaper article in the Tacoma News Tribune, Mark Sullivan, who was the president of the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company, made an uncannily accurate prediction about the future of the telephone.
The 1953 prediction has proved to be largely accurate. Modern phones are certainly “carried about by the individual.” Phones can also be integrated with smartwatches, perform video calls, and provide near-instantaneous translations.
While this is a genuine newspaper clipping from 1953 containing a largely accurate prediction about modern phones, we’d like to provide a little additional context to this rumor. For starters, the person making these claims was the president of a phone company and was likely privy to latest developments in the field. For instance, while it wouldn’t be until the 1960s for the first cordless phone to be invented, and the 1980s for true mobile phones to hit the market, the foundations for these products were being laid prior to 1953.
Did Nikola Tesla Describe Cell Phones in 1926?
"When wireless is perfectly applied, the whole earth will be converted into a huge brain," the iconoclastic thinker supposedly said in a 1926 interview
In 1926, scientist and inventor Nikola Tesla described a future "when wireless is perfectly applied the whole earth" in a way that allows humans "to communicate with one another instantly irrespective of distance" with the clarity of a face-to-face meeting using a device that "will fit in our vest pockets."
A popular quote attributed to scientist Nikola Tesla describes a vest-pocket sized device built on a global wireless system. This putative statement of Tesla's has been memed on numerous occasions because it sounds a like a prescient description of modern smartphones, despite the fact that Tesla allegedly said it in 1926. This quote is correctly attributed to Tesla and to the year 1926. The statement was taken from an interview with Tesla conducted by journalist John B. Kennedy and published in a Jan. 30, 1926, article in Collier's magazine. The article highlighted several predictions of Tesla's, teasing readers with this lede.
In concept, Tesla's words were an apt description of the 21st century smartphone: a device that allows the real-time transmission of audio and video between individuals regardless of the distance between them, yet is small enough to comfortably fit in a pocket. Because Tesla did indeed make these statements back in 1926, the quote is accurately attributed to him.
Nikola Tesla Describe Mobile Phones in 1926 - Truth or Fiction?
On September 19 2019, an Imgur user shared the following quote meme, attributing commentary that seemed to predict cell phones to futurist and engineer Nikola Tesla (misspelled once as “Nikolai Tesla” in the post): In 1926, engineer and inventor Nikola Tesla predicted that humanity would one day "be able to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance" and that "the instruments through which we shall be able to do all of this will fit in our vest pockets."
On the meme, text read:
“When wireless is perfectly applied the whole earth will be converted into a huge brain, which in fact it is, all things being particles of a real and rhythmic whole. We shall be able to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance. Not only this, but through television and telephony we shall see and hear one another as perfectly as though we were face to face, despite intervening distances of thousands of miles, and the instruments through which we shall be able to do all of this, will fit in our vest pockets.” Nikola Tesla, 1926
September 2019 did not mark the first appearance of the quote on Imgur or Reddit; in May 2015, it was submitted in text format to r/quotes.
Alexander Graham Bell - Inventor of the telephone
Born Alexander Bell 3rd March 1847 Died: 2nd August 1922 (aged 75)
Alexander Graham Bell (/ˈɡreɪ.əm/, born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born inventor, scientist and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1885.
Bell's father, grandfather, and brother had all been associated with work on elocution and speech, and both his mother and wife were deaf; profoundly influencing Bell's life's work. His research on hearing and speech further led him to experiment with hearing devices which eventually culminated in Bell being awarded the first U.S. patent for the telephone, on March 7, 1876. Bell considered his invention an intrusion on his real work as a scientist and refused to have a telephone in his study.
Many other inventions marked Bell's later life, including groundbreaking work in optical telecommunications, hydrofoils, and aeronautics. Bell also had a strong influence on the National Geographic Society and its magazine while serving as the second president from January 7, 1898, until 1903. Beyond his work in engineering, Bell had a deep interest in the emerging science of heredity.
History of mobile phones
Interesting reading on mobile phone invention
We all spend many hours every day on our smartphones, but do you know who invented the phone and when was the phone invented? If not, read this article completely. In this article, we have included details about invention of the world’s first phone.
The mobile phone was invented by Martin Cooper, who joined Motorola in the year 1970. Martin was an American who had a great interest in the telecom industry. Martin Cooper was working on wireless technology. He wanted to use this technology to make a telephone-like device with no cable. Ever since the invention of the telephone, efforts were being made to make it even more modern and portable. Many companies and scholars were working in this field but it was Martin Cooper, the engineer of Motorola, who got success in the field. Martin invented the world’s first phone weighing 1.1 kg and after charging once, this phone could be used for 30 minutes. It used to take 10 hours to charge this phone. The price of this first phone of the world was 2700 US dollars i.e. that is around 2 lakh rupees.
When was the world’s first phone invented? As we all know, the telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. Guglielmo Marconi introduced wireless technology with principles in the 1890s. After this, many scholars started working in both fields. There were some of them who wanted to combine these two technologies and make a device that allows two or more people to talk to each other without any cable. Martin Cooper, who was interested in wireless technology, joined the Motorola company as an engineer in 1970, and in 1973 he invented the first mobile phone. It is also a noteworthy and interesting thing that the world’s first phone was from Motorola. The first mobile in the whole world was named Motorola DynaTAC which was 9 inches long and weighed around 2.5 pounds i.e. 1.1 kg. After the invention of Martin Cooper, the mobile call industry and the telecom industry started. After this invention by Martin Cooper, a lot of companies started working on this technology and to make a better version of the mobile phone. Work was also done to improve the cellular network in the country. Nearly 10 years later, in 1983, Motorola launched a phone in the market for general public called Motorola DynaTAC 8000X.
Public payphone in the 60s
Don’t hang up yet: Public payphone remains a cherished service for some residents
Nestled in a corner of a Bukit Purmei provision shop is a relic – an iconic orange payphone belonging to the 78-year-old shop owner, who wants to be known as Charlie.
The coin-operated payphone used to serve Charlie’s customers well. For 10 cents, they could make a two-minute call. This service also made some extra cash for Charlie.
But when mobile phones became more commonplace in the 2000s, Charlie decided to pull the plug on this service – but not because there was no demand for his payphone.
