 ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELLBorn 1847 - Died 1922
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ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELLBorn 1847 - Died 1922
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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 10 until he was 14, but he never stopped learning. He read the books in his grandfather's library and studied tutorials * .
When he was a teen-ager, 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 later 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 who died young.
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.
A copy of the orginal
Bell phone
photo credit*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
A frequent question: "Who wrote this biography and when was it written?" Look on this Reference Citations Chart.
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
Congressional Resolution regarding Antonio Meucci
version 1, 2001
version 2
2002
Elisha Gray
also claims to be the inventor of the telephone
Washington Post story
about who invented the telephone (enlarge picture to read)
Answer Connect: If you're a business looking for
telephone answering service
try Answer Connect!
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
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
Page Comments
Most Recent Comments ( See more comments on this page ) 2010-01-17
He had 4 children... 2 girls and 2 sons and which both sons passed away as infants.
(celine_saddle_AT_live_DOT_com)2009-11-04
10 1/2 to 14 1/2 is 5 years >.> dummies
2009-11-01
no, you include his tenth year you idiot
Leave a Comment View all Comments
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