Alexander Graham Bell

. 1847 -1922 .

" The most successful men in the end are those whose succeed is the result of steady accretion. "
—Alexander Graham Bell


Alexander Graham Bell was born on March 3, 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 1870, Bell and his famly moved to Canada.

On March 7, 1876, the U.S. Patent Office granted Bell a patent for a communication device for "transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically." However, on September 25, 2001, the United States Congress officially recognized Antonie Meucci as the inventor

of the telephone, denying Bell's claim to its invention.

Bell's telephone grew out of improvements he made to the telegraph. He had invented the "harmonic telegraph" which could send more than one message at a time over a single telegraph wire. Bell reasoned that it would be possible to pick up and transmit the sound of the human voice using an adaptation of his "harmonic telegraph."

In 1875, along with his assistant Thomas A. Watson, Bell constructed instruments that transmitted recognizable voice-like sounds. In 1876, three days after he received his first patent, Bell and Watson, located in different rooms, were about to test the new transmitter described in the patent. Watson heard Bell's voice saying, "Mr. Watson, come here. I want you." Bell had upset a battery, spilling acid on his clothing. He soon forgot the accident in his excitement over the success of the telephone transmitter. The first telephone company, Bell Telephone Company, was founded on July 9, 1877.

Bell continued his experiments in communication. He invented the photophone-transmission of sound on a beam of light, which was a precursor of fiber-optics. He also invented techniques for teaching speech to the deaf.

Bell was granted 18 patents in his name, and 12 he shared with collaborators. He also founded the National Geographic Society in 1888. Alexander Graham Bell died in Baddek, Nova Scotia, on August 2, 1922.