Harvard-nursed app will help locate 911 calls from iPhones
Michael Martin came up with the idea for an app to modernize emergency calls after two frightening incidents in 2012 taught him that calling 911 from a cell phone doesn’t always give first responders a traceable location. First, Martin was almost mugged in New York City. As he tried to call for help, he realized that it was easier to get an Uber than to call 911. Then his father fell off a ladder as he was trying to clear snow off the roof, breaking his wrist and shattering a hip, and was unable to summon help. Martin’s plan to dial 911 and send location data to first responders simultaneously with the push of a cell phone button took five years to realize. In June, Apple announced in a press release that the RapidSOS app, developed by Martin, as CEO, and his co-founder, MIT nuclear engineer and CTO Nick Horelik, will power...