Do you know that a black man invented the digital Cell Phone?

Many Africans have been brainwashed into believing that the mobile phone was invented by Europeans. But the truth is that it was not. It should be noted that Africans and more importantly all Black people globally are not inferior or technologically backward.

The invention of the digital cell phone by a Black man named Jesse Eugene Russell is one of the hidden truths about the achievements of black people.

Jesse Eugene Russell’s story is one that makes elicits pride, though, he is not the only Black person who has recorded a tremendous impact in the telecommunications industry, as a black woman named Dr. Marian Rogers Croak also invented the VOIP system for making calls over the internet . But that is a story for another day. 

Unlike many other kids, Russell was born on April 26, 1948, to a family of 13, in Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America. He had two sisters and eight brothers, which were all from Charles Albert Russell and Mary Louise Russell.

 At that time, the Russell family lived in a very poor and socially deprived part of Nashville. During his early life, Jesse Eugene Russell engaged more in athletics. After sports, he would later go to school, when he got an opportunity to attend a summer education program at Fisk University, in Nashville, Tennessee.

After undergoing a summer education program, he did exceptionally well and then moved on to study electrical engineering at Tennessee State University. In 1972, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree (BSEE) in Electrical Engineering as a top honored student in his department.

Russell’s academic qualifications were exceptional and made him become the first African-American that was given a job by AT&T from a Historically Black Colleges and University (HBCUs). In 1980, he also became the first Black person in the USA to be appointed as the Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding Young Electrical Engineer of the Year.

Thereafter, Russell went further in his academic pursuit to obtain a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering (MSEE), in 1973, from Stanford University, in Palo Alto, California.

In 1988 while working as an engineer at AT&T-Bell Laboratories, Jesse Eugene Russell developed the concept for the wireless digital phone and communication. He invented the world’s first digital cellular base station and holds the patent to the digital services which many companies of the world use today.

Before Russell invented the wireless mobile device, the mobile devices available were restricted to car or other vehicles usage. This was because the mobile devices require some of the power to be able to transmit signals to a cell tower. Then the power needed to drive a mobile phone was too much to fit into a wireless movable device.

It was Russell’s invention that made it possible for mobile phones to be handy and affordable today. His generosity made it possible for mobile devices to transmit signals between the handsets we use today, and the cell phone towers.

Russell’s supervisor at the AT&T-Bell Laboratories went to him with an impossible task which no other employee wanted to handle. AT&T and other major telecommunications industries couldn’t figure out a way to make the cell phones into wireless mobile phones. Russell, however, accepted the task of figuring it out, and the rest of his story.

After Russell developed the wireless mobile device, he went ahead to invent other groundbreaking innovations in the field of wireless communication systems. He continues to make a name in the architectures and technology which are related to radio access networks, end-user devices, and in-building wireless communication systems.

Jesse Eugene established a company called incNETWORKS Inc, which he is the Chairman and CEO. His company is a broadband wireless communications company based in New Jersey. His company now focuses on 4G broadband wireless communications technologies, networks, and services.

Some of Russell’s patent includes, “Wireless Communication Base Station” (1998), the “Mobile Data Telephone,” (1993) and Base Station for Mobile Radio Telecommunications Systems,” (1992),