Albert Nagele
Albert Nagele | |
|---|---|
| Born | 15 October 1935 |
| Died | 16 February 2018 (aged 82) |
| Education | College of Fine and Applied Arts |
| Occupations | Artist, designer, industrial designer |
| Notable work | DynaTAC, StarTAC |
Albert Nagele (1935–2018) was an American artist and designer.
Biography
Nagele born in Sheldon, Illinois and grew up on a farm. He graduated from the University of Illinois graduating in 1962 with a degree in Industrial design and fine art. As a student at the university, he won won an annual $500 Motorola undergraduate design award, "as the top member of his class ... on the basis of a plywood stool and other designs."[1] He would later work for the company.
At Motorola he designed the PHS Radiotelephone, DynaTac, and other models, for which he was granted multiple US patents.[2][3][4] These models were significant for popularising the clamshell form factor, for which Motorola trademarked the term flip phone.[5][6]
Prior to joining Motorola, he worked for Bell & Howell.
Legacy
Designs credited to Nagele are in the collection of the National Museum of American History, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).[7][8][9]
His design for the V 3682 Cellular Telephone was included in MoMA's 2025 exhibition Pirouette: Turning Points in Design, an exhibition which featured "widely recognized design icons ... highlighting pivotal moments in design history."[10][11] In her curatorial note, Paola Antonelli, the museum's curator compared the device to the Sony Walkman, noting that it "enabled users to carry their private space anywhere, expanding one’s metaphysical sphere beyond one’s physical confines."[5][12]
Gallery
References
- ↑ "Student wins Motorola award" (PDF). Industrial Design. 5: 18. May 1961.
- ↑ "Motorola PHS Radiotelephone". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2025-05-27.
- ↑ "Albert Leo Nagele Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications – Justia Patents Search". patents.justia.com. Retrieved 2025-05-27.
- ↑ Patent Number Des. 295,627
- 1 2 "Albert Nagele. V 3682 Cellular Telephone. 1996". The Museum of Modern Art. Archived from the original on 2025-05-25. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
- ↑ "Mr. Innovation". Crain's Chicago Business. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
- ↑ "Albert Nagele. V 3682 Cellular Telephone. 1996 | MoMA". Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2025-05-27.
- ↑ "Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, first cellular telephone – 2". nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org. Retrieved 2025-05-27.
- ↑ "Dynatac Cellular Telephone". National Museum of American History. Retrieved 2025-05-27.
- ↑ "NASA Worm as Art, Museum of Modern Art Opens Exhibition Featuring NASA Worm". NASA. 2025-01-23. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
- ↑ Pirouette: Turning Points in Design
- ↑ "Sony Corporation, Tokyo. "Walkman" Portable Audio Cassette Player (model TPS-L2 ). 1979". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2026-07-22.