Ten Inventions Inspired by Science Fiction     • By Mark Strauss
• Smithsonian.com, March 16, 2012 | 7 of 11 |  John Cover,
President of Taser Systems, Inc.  Leonard Nimoy, Ep. # 1. 'The
Cage' 1966 - 1969. (© Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection)
Martin Cooper, the director of research and development at
Motorola, credited the “Star Trek” communicator as his
inspiration for the design of the first mobile phone in the
early 1970s. “That was not fantasy to us,” Cooper said, “that
was an objective.”  | 7 of 11 |   Add New Comment  Name:
(required)  Email: (required)    Comments (40)  Second life came
after many many similar projects!  Rather surprised you didn't
include the communication satellite, invented "fictionally" by
author Arthur C. Clarke. Without that, several of the inventions
mentioned here would never have reached their full potential or
even been possible.  Robert Heinlein also first described the
Water Bed in Stranger in a Strange Land  DaVinci penned a sort
of helicopter... and I do believe