If you have ever enjoyed your digital cell phone, then you
definitely need to thank for that. But do you even know who he is? Let’s help you with that.
Jesse Eugene Russell was
born on April 26, 1948, in Nashville, Tennessee in the United States of America
into a large African-American family of 10 siblings, composed of eight brothers
and two sisters. He is the son of Charles Albert Russell and Mary Louise
Russell. As it was common with most African children then, his early childhood
was spent in economically and socially deprived neighborhoods within the
inner-city of Nashville.
At a point in Eugene Russell’s life, he had the opportunity to
attend a summer educational program at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.
He didn't let this educational opportunity slip through his fingers; and thus,
he began his academic and intellectual pursuits. Eugene Russell continued his
education at Tennessee State University where he converged all his efforts on
electrical engineering. It was there, at
Tennessee State University that a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical
Engineering was conferred on him in 1972.
As a top honor student in
the School of Engineering, Russell became the first African American to be
hired directly from a Historically Black College by AT&T Bell Laboratories.
Subsequently, he became the first African-American in the United States to be
selected as the Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding Young Electrical Engineer of the Year
in 1980. He furthered his academic pursuits and gained his Master of Electrical
Engineering degree from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, in 1973.
If you enjoy your digital cell phone today, you owe a big thank you
to this African-American gem named Jesse Eugene Russell. He is an inventor and
electrical engineer that invented digital cellular technology. He championed
the field of digital cellular communication in the 1980’s through the use of
high power linear amplification and low bit rate voice encoding technologies. In
1992, he received a patent for digital cellular base station design.
Jesse Eugene Russell holds several patents and is a key person to
the invention of the modern cell phone. So, anytime you use your cell phone,
remember it was an African American who made it possible. You see, Africans
ain't dumb as we are always painted. We have always offered a lot to this world
and still have a lot to offer. Let us celebrate our own.
Asante Elijah wrote from Ghana
Great man
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