Pager

Invented in 1949 by Alfred Gross to connect doctors with their patients in New York City, the pager was met with mixed reviews. Its zenith came shortly before the advent of the mobile phone in the late 1990s. Before there were alphanumeric messages or text messages, a series of numeric codes was created to relay messages. For instance, "143" was code for "I love you," and "82" was code for "Hurry up." Pagers are still in use today, mainly by doctors and emergency service workers.

• 
• Click to Print

• Find this article at:
• https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2023689_2023708_2023712,00.html