On the afternoon of September 17th, a detonation of the pagers used by Hezbollah members occurred simultaneously, resulting in thousands of casualties. This incident has garnered global attention, with terms related to pagers becoming popular search keywords. People might wonder, who invented the pager that has been around for decades?
According to the website of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the pager was invented by the pioneer of wireless communications, Al Gross, in 1949. In addition to this communication device, he holds multiple patents and inventions, including the still widely used walkie-talkie.
Al Gross was born in 1918 in Toronto, Canada, but grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. At the age of 9, during a steamship voyage on Lake Erie, a radio operator on the ship let him listen to radio broadcasts, sparking his interest in broadcasting, a passion he maintained throughout his life.
At the age of 12, Gross turned his basement into a radio headquarters, using equipment he pieced together from items salvaged at a junkyard. By age 16, he had obtained an amateur radio license, which remains valid to this day.
Gross attended the Case School of Applied Science (now Case Western Reserve University) in 1936, where his abilities and interests further developed. Just two years later, in 1938, he invented the walkie-talkie and filed for a patent.
By 1949, Gross had another significant breakthrough in his inventions. He transformed two-way radio into wireless telephone signals, leading to the invention of pagers capable of transmitting text messages, for which he obtained a patent.
Gross hoped that doctors would use his invention, so he participated in a medical conference held in Philadelphia that year. However, almost all healthcare professionals were concerned that the device might make their patients uneasy or even disturb their golf games.
Nonetheless, a Jewish hospital in New York adopted Gross’s pager system the following year.
Despite Gross’s numerous inventions, patents, and accolades throughout his life, his patents had expired before the widespread use of radio, pagers, and cellphones. He jokingly remarked that if he still held those patents, even Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, would have to step aside.
In April 2000, Gross was awarded the Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award by MIT in recognition of his contributions to the field of wireless communications. Unfortunately, he passed away that same year in December at the age of 82.
According to the Israeli news website “All Israel News”, Gross’s parents were Romanian Jews, giving him Jewish heritage.
Following the recent Hezbollah pager explosion incident, Israel has declined to comment, but analysts have suggested that the attack was planned and carried out by the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad.
Arab media reports indicate that Mossad successfully intercepted a shipment of pagers intended for Hezbollah. They added small plastic explosives next to each pager’s battery and modified the devices to be triggered by specific signals.
Some netizens on the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) have posted stating, “The pager was invented by Jewish engineer Gross in 1949.” Their posts seemingly imply that Gross foresaw the current explosion incident when inventing the pager.
One netizen inquired, “So, did he plan this 75 years ago?” Some joked that he was a time traveler who knew what the future held. Others questioned why ordinary civilians would carry pagers affiliated with Hezbollah, a group reportedly using a device invented by a Jewish individual.