Bluetooth inventor: ‘I dreamed of becoming an architect’

Taking apart old radios, experimenting with model trains, and asking endless “why” questions. Young Jaap Haartsen wanted to understand one thing above all else: how does the world work? That curiosity would later become the foundation of an invention that changed the world: Bluetooth.

Bluetooth is so commonplace these days that we hardly even think about it anymore. Headphones that connect wirelessly to a phone, a smartwatch that transmits data, or a car that plays music: the technology is everywhere. The first official version was released in 1999, after years of research and development.

At the heart of that global breakthrough was the Dutch inventor Jaap Haartsen. But before he designed technical systems that would be used around the world, he was an “ordinary” boy from Monster, a small village just outside The Hague. That’s where he spent his childhood. He rode his bike to The Hague every day for high school.

Jaap Haartsen, 6 or 7 years old.

'I used to say, ‘I don’t believe that’

What traits did the young boy from Monster possess that would later prove so pivotal to his work as an inventor? Daydreamers and quiet thinkers: these are traits often attributed to inventors. But something else stood out about the young Haartsen. He was eager to understand why things were the way they were.

“I was definitely a stubborn little boy,” says Haartsen. “I’d often say, ‘I don’t believe that.’ It sometimes drove people a little crazy,” he says with a laugh. That trait didn’t come entirely out of the blue. “My father was quite the same way.”

Behind that stubbornness lay, above all, curiosity. “I always wanted to know how things work and why they work a certain way. As a child, I loved diving into books about physical phenomena and technology. We had little books on physics at home. I was always poring over them.”

From model trains to inventions

That curiosity wasn’t limited to reading. Haartsen wanted to experiment on his own. His attic room became a place where he could test out what was possible.

He could entertain himself for hours with model trains. When he was 11 or 12, he ran into a technical problem: why couldn’t two little locomotives run independently of each other on the same track? Using the knowledge of electronics he’d acquired at a young age, he devised a solution using diodes and alternating current. “That’s how I managed to control both trains separately. In a sense, that was my first invention.”

Radios and televisions were next on the list. “I just wanted to know: how does that thing work?” Back then, electronic devices were still made up of separate parts. “You could see a speaker and all kinds of other components. These days, everything is integrated into a chip, and all you see is a small box. But back then, you could still clearly see how things worked. I found that really interesting.”

His fascination with technology was also fueled by his father. Haartsen’s father worked at Siemens, a major German technology company involved in electronics and electric motors, among other things. As a result, technology was a natural part of his environment.

‘I wanted to be an architect’

Technology fascinated him, but as a child, Haartsen didn’t yet see himself as an inventor. His first big dream lay elsewhere. “I dreamed of becoming an architect.” In addition to experimenting with his model trains and taking radios apart, he could sometimes be found hunched over a sheet of paper for hours on end. “No, I wasn’t drawing technical systems back then. Mainly buildings, landscapes—that sort of thing. Just whatever came to mind.”

Looking back, Haartsen sees more similarities between that childhood dream and his later career. In both cases, it’s about designing something that doesn’t yet exist. “Actually, I’m a kind of architect now, too. Only I no longer design buildings, but technical systems.”

From drawings to Bluetooth

Designing technical systems: that turned out to be the right direction. In high school, Haartsen noticed that he was particularly good at the exact sciences. Studying electrical engineering at Delft University of Technology was a logical next step. After completing his studies and earning his Ph.D. in 1990, he began an international career at Ericsson.

He first worked in the United States on mobile communication systems. Later, he moved to Sweden, where he joined Ericsson in Lund. There, he was presented with a problem that perfectly aligned with his way of thinking: how can devices communicate wirelessly with each other over short distances?

The answer to that question eventually evolved into Bluetooth. Haartsen devised the technical foundation, contributed to the development of the standard, and was granted several patents on the technology. He’s still not done with it. He’s working on various projects that build on it. With his company Dopple, for example, he’s developing custom-made earplugs specifically designed for hearing protection in industrial environments.

A boy who once drew buildings

So, a boy who once drew buildings on paper eventually designed the invisible infrastructure that allows billions of devices worldwide to communicate with one another. A seemingly ordinary boy from Monster, with a carefree childhood. But he was a boy with a healthy dose of curiosity that characterized him from an early age.

He now sees that same curiosity reflected in his own children as well. He has three of them. “They all went on to college. One even attended TU Delft. The oldest has since earned a Ph.D., and the youngest is working toward one.” With a satisfied smile, he adds: “I’m incredibly proud of them—all three of them.”