Who invented the first real Dick Tracy wrist radio?Wendy Rejan, Historian's Office, DCSOPS, Fort Monmouth, NJ knows...
"...yesterday’s science fiction became Fort Monmouth’s latest engineering endeavor in 1953 when scientists here developed one of the first electronic spy gadgets ---the Dick Tracy transistor watch radio.
Weighing in at just over two ounces, the radio could pick up radio stations from here to New York City. A hearing amplifier was connected to the radio by a wire concealed in the wearer’s sleeve. The mercury battery of the first model lasted about ten hours and a knob on the face of the watch allowed the wearer to select a frequency.
Signal Corps scientists here were ordered to come up with the wrist watch transistor radio on a Friday in August 1953. They had accomplished their mission by the following Monday.First lieutenant Paul W. Cooper, an electrical engineer, was working in the Search and Intercept Department of the Signal Corps Engineering labs at the time. The department was responsible for research and development work with transistors.
The watch was invented by Cooper and Joseph F. O’Brien. Harry H. French was responsible for the printed wiring board and fabrication. According to Cooper, the scientists manufactured many of the components themselves." (more)
