Iowa Innovator Arthur Collins: Iowa Time Machine September 9, 1909

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On September 9, 1909, innovative Iowan Arthur Collins was born. Founder of Collins Radio Company, the forerunner to Rockwell-Collins, Arthur Collins was a pioneering radio engineer and entrepreneur.

Born in Oklahoma, Arthur A. Collins moved to Cedar Rapids at age seven. His father founded the Collins Farm Company in 1925, an enterprise that combined small farms into a larger cooperative. Even as a child, Arthur showed an incredible interest in radio. At age 14, he obtained his first amateur radio license and designed and built his own radio.

In 1933, Collins started a radio company to design and produce shortwave radios and AM broadcasting equipment. Quickly gaining customers in the scientific community, including the far-famed Arctic explorer Commander Byrd, the products coming out of the Collins shop helped to amplify communications across the world. During World War II, Collins won the contract to supply the United States military with radio and navigation equipment. Building on its wartime success, Collins continued to win government contracts as the Space Race defined the Cold War. The primary supplier for the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space missions, Collins helped link astronauts to Earth.

In 1973, Rockwell International bought the Collins Radio Company to form Rockwell Collins, Inc., a company specifically dedicated to serving as Rockwell International's avionics division. United Technologies Corporation acquired the company in 2018, and it now operates as Collins Aerospace. #Iowa #OTD #History #Radio #Innovation