Robert Weitbrecht

American engineer at SRI International and later the spin-off company Weitbrecht Communications who invented the teleprinter and the modem (a form of acoustic coupler). He was a contributing engineer to the Manhattan Project, where he developed the modern Geiger counter; for his efforts, he earned the United States Navy's Superior Accomplishment Award. He was born deaf and his education was mainstream for the most part with the exception of acquiring some signing and lip-reading skills from a Deaf school early on. He went on to earn a B.S. in Astronomy from the University of California, Berkeley in 1942 and finished his formal education with a M.S. in Astronomy from the University of Chicago in 1957. After being approached by James C. Marsters, Weitbrecht came up with a revised design for the acoustic coupler (a type of modem), which used echo suppression. In 1964, Marsters and Weitbrecht adapted used teletypewriter equipment, and Weitbrecht made the first successful teletypewriter phone call from one deaf person to another. It took several tries, until Weitbrecht's words appeared clearly: "Are you printing now? Let's quit for now and gloat over the success." Today, this type of device is known as a telecommunications device for the deaf. Weitbrecht died on 19 May 1983, aged 63, after being involved in an automobile accident. Link to Wikipedia biography