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ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL Born 1847 - Died 1922

Alexander Graham Bell was born in Scotland. His mother, who was deaf, was a musician and a painter of portraits. His father, who taught deaf people how to speak, invented "Visible Speech". This was a code which showed how the tongue, lips, and throat were positioned to make speech sounds. Graham, or "Aleck", as his family called him, was interested in working with the deaf throughout his life.

He only attended school for five years; from the time he was ten until he was fourteen, but he never stopped learning. He read the books in his grandfather's library and studied tutorials * .

When he was a teenager, he and his brother Melly used the voice box of a dead sheep to make a speaking machine that cried, "Mama!" This created even more interest in human speech and how it worked.

When he was in his early 20's, his two brothers died of tuberculosis * . Bell himself had the disease and his father moved the family to Canada looking for a better climate in which to live. Bell recovered from the disease.

Two years later he went to Boston to open a school for teachers of the deaf and then became a professor at Boston University. It was at this time that he met Mabel Hubbard, one of his students who was 10 years younger than he. Mabel had become deaf at the age of four due to scarlet fever. Five years after their meeting they were married. At the wedding ceremony he gave her a gift of all but 10 shares of the stock in the newly formed company called Bell Telephone Company. They had two daughters and two sons. Their sons both died at a young age.

Thomas Watson became an associate of Bell. He made parts and built models of Bell's inventions. One day while they were working Bell accidently heard the sound of a plucked reed * coming over the telegraph wire. Watson had been tuning the metal reeds in the next room. Bell drew up a plan for the telephone and they continued to experiment. The next day he transmitted the famous words, "Mr. Watson, come here. I want you!" A few months later on Feb. 14, 1876, he applied for a patent on his telephone.

He knew he would have to work quickly to get the patent * because other people were also trying to make an invention to transmit the human voice. Elisha Gray claims he too invented the telephone, but Bell got to the patent office an hour or so before he did. It is said that Antonio Meucci also succeeded with the invention before Bell.

History of the telephone

Because Bell had the patent, he had the right to be the only one to produce telephones in the U.S. for the next 19 years.

He showed the invention to Queen Victoria of England and she wanted lines to connect her castles.

By 1917, nearly all of the United State had telephone service.

He continued to invent other things. He developed a method of making phonograph * records on a wax disc. He made an iron breathing lung, and a device for locating icebergs at sea. He experimented with sheep. He was interested in kites that could lift a man, and he invented a hydrofoil * which set a world speed record of over 70 miles per hour.

He along with others started the National Geographic Society and he served as its president for several years.

He became a U.S. citizen, but he died in Canada at the age of 75.

Telephone photo licensed under Creative Commons* by Rama at Wikipedia

This biography by Patsy Stevens, a retired teacher, was written in 2003.

A frequent question: "Who wrote this biography and when was it written?" Look on this Reference Citations Chart.

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RESEARCH LINKS

Alexander Graham Bell at Bio 4 Kids Cyber Telephone Museum old telephones Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers Library of Congress Bell's drawing of his telephone Alexander Graham Bell: America Listens video at Biography.com Bell's Telephone from the Franklin Institute Online Alexander Graham Bell from PBS Alexander Graham Bell Timeline More about Bell and Kites from Design Technology Video "Mr. Bell" Part 1, 13 minutes (Picture can be enlarged to full screen) Video "Mr. Bell" Part 2, 16 minutes Online book "Inventors" Alexander Graham Bell, page 264 At biography.com search for Alexander Graham Bell. Scroll the panel for the "Video & Audio Results". Invention of the Telephone claims that Bell was not the inventor from Guardian Unlimited Antonio Meucci inventor of telephone before Bell? (from Italian Historical.org) Antonio Meucci at Wikipedia Elisha Gray also claims to be the inventor of the telephone Elisha Gray at Incredible People Washington Post story about who invented the telephone (enlarge picture to read) Alexander Graham Bell Q.. Famous Quotes by QuoteDepot.Net From Word Central's Student Dictionary by Merriam - Webster (Pronunciation note: the schwa sound is shown by ə) tuberculosis Pronunciation: t(y)u bər kyə 'lo səs Function: noun a disease of human beings and some other vertebrates caused by a bacterium and usually marked by wasting, fever, and formation of cheesy tubercles that in human beings occur mostly in the lungs tutorial Pronunciation: t(y)u 'tOr E əl Function: noun something written to give practical information about a subject reed Pronunciation: r E d Function: noun a thin flexible strip (as of cane, wood, metal, or plastic) fastened at one end to the mouthpiece of a musical instrument (as a clarinet) or over an air opening (as in an accordion) and set in vibration by an air current (as the breath) patent Pronunciation: 'pat ənt Function: noun an official document granting a right or privilege; especially : a writing granting to an inventor for a term of years the only right to make, use, or sell his or her invention phonograph Pronunciation: 'fo nə graf Function: noun an instrument that reproduces sound recorded on a grooved disk hydrofoil Pronunciation: 'hI drə foil Function: noun a boat that has fins attached to the bottom by braces for lifting the hull clear of the water to allow faster speeds Groundbreakers: Alexander Graham Bell By Struan Reid / Heinemann Raintree School Why did Alexander Graham Bell learn sign language as a boy? How did he improve the telegraph? Why were all the telephones in North America silent for one minute in 1922? The Groundbreakers series explores the lives of pioneering men and women--people whose achievements and discoveries have had a lasting impact on our world. Each book tells about the experiences that inspired these amazing individuals to think in new ways and discusses how the environment they lived in affected their work. Information on their supporters, colleagues, and rivals adds to the story. Finally, a look at the person's legacy shows how their achievements and discoveries continue to affect people today. Softcover, 48 pages. Grades 4-6. Listen Up! Alexander Graham Bell's Talking Machine By Monica Kulling / Random House Books for Young Readers A LIBRARY OF ONLINE BOOKS and BOOK PREVIEWS Alexander Graham Bell (Graphic Biography) by Saddleback Educational Publishing (selected pages) Order here Alexander Graham Bell, Photo Illustrated Biographies by Greg Linder (selected pages) Order here Alexander Graham Bell: A Life of Helpfulness by Shelia Rivera (selected pages) Order here Always Inventing: A Photobiography of Alexander Graham Bell by Tom L. Matthews (selected pages) Order here Alexander Graham Bell: Giving Voice to the World by Mary Kay Carson (selected pages) Order here Alexander Graham Bell Invents (National Geographic) by Anita Garmon (selected pages) Order here Night of the New Magicians (Fiction) by Mary Pope Osborne, Sal Murdocca (selected pages) Order here Alexander Graham Bell by Carole Marsh (selected pages) Order here Bell's Breakthrough by Stacia Deutsch, Rhody Cohon, David Wenzel (selected pages) Order here The History of the Telephone by Herbert Newton Casson (public domain, 1910, full view ) Preview these Amazon books using the links below. Alexander Graham Bell, First Biographies by Lola M. Schaefer, Gail Saunders-Smith, Judith Tulloch (selected pages) Alexander Graham Bell by Victoria Sherrow, Elaine Verstraete (selected pages) Alexander Graham Bell by Lucia Raatma (selected pages) Alexander Graham Bell, Giving Voice to the World by Mary Kay Carson (selected pages) Alexander Graham Bell and the Telephone by Jennifer Fandel (selected pages) Alexander Graham Bell, History Maker Bios by Stephanie Sammartino McPherson, Tad Butler (selected pages) The Picture History of Great Inventors by Gillian Clements (selected pages)

Page Comments

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2011-10-03 i learned all about alexandergrahambell it was helpful to my drama Disuri

2011-04-27 i had to do a science report it kind of helped me but there wasnt anything sort of different like all of the other websites had all th same info. ruth

2011-02-07 is any of this aloud 2 b used in a science physcics thing im doing? You may use any of the information in the Alexander Graham Bell biography in your project. http://gardenofpraise.com/ibdbell.htm The pictures from the museum may not be used. I used them with permission from the museum. http://gardenofpraise.com/agbell.htm You would need to contact the museum about using them yourself.

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Composers	Beethoven	Mozart
Authors	Laura Ingalls Wilder	Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)	Ernest Hemingway	Greg Mortenson	Phillis Wheatley
Artists	John James Audubon	Gutzon Borglum	Ansel Adams	Dale Chihuly	Van Gogh	Michelangelo
	Rembrandt	Grandma Moses	Cassatt	Renoir	Cezanne	Rockwell

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Pictures courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site of Canada.

Puzzles on these pages courtesy of
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