Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell | |
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Born | Alexander Bell March 3, 1847 Edinburgh, Scotland |
Died | August 2, 1922 Beinn Bhreagh, Nova Scotia, Canada | (aged 75)
Citizenship | United Kingdom (1847–1922) British-subject in Canada (1870–1882) United States (1882–1922) |
Education | |
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Known for | Invention of the telephone b Co-founder of Bell Telephone Company, Bell Canada & AT&T |
Spouse | |
Children | 4 |
Parents |
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Awards |
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Alexander Graham Bell (/ˈɡreɪ.əm/, born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922)[4] was a Scottish-born[N 1] Canadian-American inventor, scientist and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1885.[7]
Bell's father, grandfather, and brother had all been associated with work on elocution and speech, and both his mother and wife were deaf; profoundly influencing Bell's life's work.[8] His research on hearing and speech further led him to experiment with hearing devices which eventually culminated in Bell being awarded the first U.S. patent for the telephone, on March 7, 1876.[N 2] Bell considered his invention an intrusion on his real work as a scientist and refused to have a telephone in his study.[9][N 3]
Many other inventions marked Bell's later life, including groundbreaking work in optical telecommunications, hydrofoils, and aeronautics. Bell also had a strong influence on the National Geographic Society[11] and its magazine while serving as the second president from January 7, 1898, until 1903.
Beyond his work in engineering, Bell had a deep interest in the emerging science of heredity.[12] His work in this area has been called "the soundest, and most useful study of human heredity proposed in nineteenth-century America... Bell's most notable contribution to basic science, as distinct from invention."[13]
Early life
Bell was born in
First invention
As a child, Bell displayed a curiosity about his world; he gathered botanical specimens and ran experiments at an early age. His best friend was Ben Herdman, a neighbour whose family operated a flour mill. At the age of 12, Bell built a homemade device that combined rotating paddles with sets of nail brushes, creating a simple
From his early years, Bell showed a sensitive nature and a talent for art, poetry, and music that was encouraged by his mother. With no formal training, he mastered the piano and became the family's pianist.[22] Despite being normally quiet and introspective, he revelled in mimicry and "voice tricks" akin to ventriloquism that continually entertained family guests during their occasional visits.[22] Bell was also deeply affected by his mother's gradual deafness (she began to lose her hearing when he was 12), and learned a manual finger language so he could sit at her side and tap out silently the conversations swirling around the family parlour.[23] He also developed a technique of speaking in clear, modulated tones directly into his mother's forehead wherein she would hear him with reasonable clarity.[24] Bell's preoccupation with his mother's deafness led him to study acoustics.
His family was long associated with the teaching of elocution: his grandfather, Alexander Bell, in London, his uncle in Dublin, and his father, in Edinburgh, were all elocutionists. His father published a variety of works on the subject, several of which are still well known, especially his The Standard Elocutionist (1860),[22] which appeared in Edinburgh in 1868. The Standard Elocutionist appeared in 168 British editions and sold over a quarter of a million copies in the United States alone. In this treatise, his father explains his methods of how to instruct deaf-mutes (as they were then known) to articulate words and read other people's lip movements to decipher meaning. Bell's father taught him and his brothers not only to write Visible Speech but to identify any symbol and its accompanying sound.[25] Bell became so proficient that he became a part of his father's public demonstrations and astounded audiences with his abilities. He could decipher Visible Speech representing virtually every language, including Latin, Scottish Gaelic, and even Sanskrit, accurately reciting written tracts without any prior knowledge of their pronunciation.[25]
Education
As a young child, Bell, like his brothers, received his early schooling at home from his father. At an early age, he was enrolled at the
First experiments with sound
His father encouraged Bell's interest in speech and, in 1863, took his sons to see a unique
Intrigued by the results of the automaton, Bell continued to experiment with a live subject, the family's Skye Terrier, Trouve.[33] After he taught it to growl continuously, Bell would reach into its mouth and manipulate the dog's lips and vocal cords to produce a crude-sounding "Ow ah oo ga ma ma". With little convincing, visitors believed his dog could articulate "How are you, grandmama?"[34] Indicative of his playful nature, his experiments convinced onlookers that they saw a "talking dog".[35] These initial forays into experimentation with sound led Bell to undertake his first serious work on the transmission of sound, using tuning forks to explore resonance.
At age 19, Bell wrote a report on his work and sent it to philologist Alexander Ellis, a colleague of his father.[35] Ellis immediately wrote back indicating that the experiments were similar to existing work in Germany, and also lent Bell a copy of Hermann von Helmholtz's work, The Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music.[36]
Dismayed to find that groundbreaking work had already been undertaken by Helmholtz who had conveyed vowel sounds by means of a similar tuning fork "contraption", Bell pored over the German scientist's book. Working from his own erroneous mistranslation of a French edition,[37] Bell fortuitously then made a deduction that would be the underpinning of all his future work on transmitting sound, reporting: "Without knowing much about the subject, it seemed to me that if vowel sounds could be produced by electrical means, so could consonants, so could articulate speech." He also later remarked: "I thought that Helmholtz had done it ... and that my failure was due only to my ignorance of electricity. It was a valuable blunder ... If I had been able to read German in those days, I might never have commenced my experiments!"[38][39][40][N 5]
Family tragedy
In 1865, when the Bell family moved to London,
Helping his father in Visible Speech demonstrations and lectures brought Bell to Susanna E. Hull's private school for the deaf in South Kensington, London. His first two pupils were deaf-mute girls who made remarkable progress under his tutelage. While his older brother seemed to achieve success on many fronts including opening his own elocution school, applying for a patent on an invention, and starting a family, Bell continued as a teacher. However, in May 1870, Melville died from complications due to tuberculosis, causing a family crisis. His father had also experienced a debilitating illness earlier in life and had been restored to health by a convalescence in Newfoundland. Bell's parents embarked upon a long-planned move when they realized that their remaining son was also sickly. Acting decisively, Alexander Melville Bell asked Bell to arrange for the sale of all the family property,[43][N 6] conclude all of his brother's affairs (Bell took over his last student, curing a pronounced lisp),[44] and join his father and mother in setting out for the "New World". Reluctantly, Bell also had to conclude a relationship with Marie Eccleston, who, as he had surmised, was not prepared to leave England with him.[45]
Canada
In 1870, 23-year-old Bell travelled with his parents and his brother's widow, Caroline Margaret Ottaway,
At the homestead, Bell set up his own workshop in the converted carriage house near to what he called his "dreaming place",
After setting up his workshop, Bell continued experiments based on Helmholtz's work with electricity and sound.[55] He also modified a melodeon (a type of pump organ) so that it could transmit its music electrically over a distance.[56] Once the family was settled in, both Bell and his father made plans to establish a teaching practice and in 1871, he accompanied his father to Montreal, where Melville was offered a position to teach his System of Visible Speech.
Work with the deaf
Bell's father was invited by
Returning home to Brantford after six months abroad, Bell continued his experiments with his "harmonic telegraph".[59][N 10] The basic concept behind his device was that messages could be sent through a single wire if each message was transmitted at a different pitch, but work on both the transmitter and receiver was needed.[60]
Unsure of his future, he contemplated returning to London to complete his studies, but decided to return to Boston as a teacher.
Throughout his lifetime, Bell sought to integrate the deaf and hard of hearing with the hearing world. Bell encouraged speech therapy and lip reading over sign language. He outlined this in an 1898 paper
Continuing experimentation
In 1872, Bell became professor of Vocal Physiology and Elocution at the Boston University School of Oratory. During this period, he alternated between Boston and Brantford, spending summers in his Canadian home. At Boston University, Bell was "swept up" by the excitement engendered by the many scientists and inventors residing in the city. He continued his research in sound and endeavored to find a way to transmit musical notes and articulate speech, but although absorbed by his experiments, he found it difficult to devote enough time to experimentation. While days and evenings were occupied by his teaching and private classes, Bell began to stay awake late into the night, running experiment after experiment in rented facilities at his boarding house. Keeping "night owl" hours, he worried that his work would be discovered and took great pains to lock up his notebooks and laboratory equipment. Bell had a specially made table where he could place his notes and equipment inside a locking cover.[73] Worse still, his health deteriorated as he had severe headaches.[60] Returning to Boston in fall 1873, Bell made a far-reaching decision to concentrate on his experiments in sound.
Deciding to give up his lucrative private Boston practice, Bell retained only two students, six-year-old "Georgie" Sanders, deaf from birth, and 15-year-old Mabel Hubbard. Each pupil would play an important role in the next developments. George's father, Thomas Sanders, a wealthy businessman, offered Bell a place to stay in nearby Salem with Georgie's grandmother, complete with a room to "experiment". Although the offer was made by George's mother and followed the year-long arrangement in 1872 where her son and his nurse had moved to quarters next to Bell's boarding house, it was clear that Mr. Sanders was backing the proposal. The arrangement was for teacher and student to continue their work together, with free room and board thrown in.[74] Mabel was a bright, attractive girl who was ten years Bell's junior but became the object of his affection. Having lost her hearing after a near-fatal bout of scarlet fever close to her fifth birthday,[75][76][N 11] she had learned to read lips but her father, Gardiner Greene Hubbard, Bell's benefactor and personal friend, wanted her to work directly with her teacher.[77]
The telephone
External audio | |
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Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson, 26:57, CBC Archives[78] |
By 1874, Bell's initial work on the harmonic telegraph had entered a formative stage, with progress made both at his new Boston "laboratory" (a rented facility) and at his family home in Canada a big success.[N 12] While working that summer in Brantford, Bell experimented with a "phonautograph", a pen-like machine that could draw shapes of sound waves on smoked glass by tracing their vibrations. Bell thought it might be possible to generate undulating electrical currents that corresponded to sound waves.[79] Bell also thought that multiple metal reeds tuned to different frequencies like a harp would be able to convert the undulating currents back into sound. But he had no working model to demonstrate the feasibility of these ideas.[80]
In 1874, telegraph message traffic was rapidly expanding and in the words of Western Union President William Orton, had become "the nervous system of commerce". Orton had contracted with inventors Thomas Edison and Elisha Gray to find a way to send multiple telegraph messages on each telegraph line to avoid the great cost of constructing new lines.[81] When Bell mentioned to Gardiner Hubbard and Thomas Sanders that he was working on a method of sending multiple tones on a telegraph wire using a multi-reed device, the two wealthy patrons began to financially support Bell's experiments.[82] Patent matters would be handled by Hubbard's patent attorney, Anthony Pollok.[83]
In March 1875, Bell and Pollok visited the scientist Joseph Henry, who was then director of the Smithsonian Institution, and asked Henry's advice on the electrical multi-reed apparatus that Bell hoped would transmit the human voice by telegraph. Henry replied that Bell had "the germ of a great invention". When Bell said that he did not have the necessary knowledge, Henry replied, "Get it!" That declaration greatly encouraged Bell to keep trying, even though he did not have the equipment needed to continue his experiments, nor the ability to create a working model of his ideas. However, a chance meeting in 1874 between Bell and Thomas A. Watson, an experienced electrical designer and mechanic at the electrical machine shop of Charles Williams, changed all that.
With financial support from Sanders and Hubbard, Bell hired Thomas Watson as his assistant,[N 13] and the two of them experimented with acoustic telegraphy. On June 2, 1875, Watson accidentally plucked one of the reeds and Bell, at the receiving end of the wire, heard the reed's overtones that would be necessary for transmitting speech. That demonstrated to Bell that only one reed or armature was necessary, not multiple reeds. This led to the "gallows" sound-powered telephone, which could transmit indistinct, voice-like sounds, but not clear speech.
The race to the patent office
In 1875, Bell developed an
Meanwhile, Elisha Gray was also experimenting with acoustic telegraphy and thought of a way to transmit speech using a water transmitter. On February 14, 1876, Gray filed a caveat with the U.S. Patent Office for a telephone design that used a water transmitter. That same morning, Bell's lawyer filed Bell's application with the patent office. There is considerable debate about who arrived first and Gray later challenged the primacy of Bell's patent. Bell was in Boston on February 14 and did not arrive in Washington until February 26.[citation needed]
Bell's patent 174,465, was issued to Bell on March 7, 1876, by the U.S. Patent Office. Bell's patent covered "the method of, and apparatus for, transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically ... by causing electrical undulations, similar in form to the vibrations of the air accompanying the said vocal or other sound"[87][N 14] Bell returned to Boston the same day and the next day resumed work, drawing in his notebook a diagram similar to that in Gray's patent caveat.[citation needed]
On March 10, 1876, three days after his patent was issued, Bell succeeded in getting his telephone to work, using a liquid transmitter similar to Gray's design. Vibration of the diaphragm caused a needle to vibrate in the water, varying the
Although Bell was, and still is, accused of stealing the telephone from Gray,[90] Bell used Gray's water transmitter design only after Bell's patent had been granted, and only as a proof of concept scientific experiment,[91] to prove to his own satisfaction that intelligible "articulate speech" (Bell's words) could be electrically transmitted.[92] After March 1876, Bell focused on improving the electromagnetic telephone and never used Gray's liquid transmitter in public demonstrations or commercial use.[93]
The question of priority for the variable resistance feature of the telephone was raised by the examiner before he approved Bell's patent application. He told Bell that his claim for the variable resistance feature was also described in Gray's caveat. Bell pointed to a variable resistance device in his previous application in which he described a cup of mercury, not water. He had filed the mercury application at the patent office a year earlier on February 25, 1875, long before Elisha Gray described the water device. In addition, Gray abandoned his caveat, and because he did not contest Bell's priority, the examiner approved Bell's patent on March 3, 1876. Gray had reinvented the variable resistance telephone, but Bell was the first to write down the idea and the first to test it in a telephone.[94]
The
Later developments
On March 10, 1876, Bell used "the instrument" in Boston to call Thomas Watson who was in another room but out of earshot. He said, "Mr. Watson, come here – I want to see you" and Watson soon appeared at his side.[96]
Continuing his experiments in Brantford, Bell brought home a working model of his telephone. On August 3, 1876, from the telegraph office in Brantford, Ontario, Bell sent a tentative telegram to the village of Mount Pleasant four miles (six kilometres) distant, indicating that he was ready. He made a telephone call via telegraph wires and faint voices were heard replying. The following night, he amazed guests as well as his family with a call between the Bell Homestead and the office of the Dominion Telegraph Company in Brantford along an improvised wire strung up along telegraph lines and fences, and laid through a tunnel. This time, guests at the household distinctly heard people in Brantford reading and singing. The third test on August 10, 1876, was made via the telegraph line between Brantford and Paris, Ontario, eight miles (thirteen kilometres) distant. This test was said by many sources to be the "world's first long-distance call".[97][98] The final test certainly proved that the telephone could work over long distances, at least as a one-way call. [99]
The first two-way (reciprocal) conversation over a line occurred between Cambridge and Boston (roughly 2.5 miles) on October 9, 1876.[100] During that conversation, Bell was on Kilby Street in Boston and Watson was at the offices of the Walworth Manufacturing Company.[101]
Bell and his partners, Hubbard and Sanders, offered to sell the patent outright to Western Union for $100,000, equal to $2,861,250 today, but it did not work (according to an apocryphal story, the president of Western Union balked, countering that the telephone was nothing but a toy[102]). Two years later, he told colleagues that if he could get the patent for $25 million (equal to $789,310,345 today), he would consider it a bargain. By then, the Bell company no longer wanted to sell the patent.[103] Bell's investors would become millionaires while he fared well from residuals and at one point had assets of nearly one million dollars.[104]
Bell began a series of public demonstrations and lectures to introduce the new invention to the
On January 14, 1878, at
The Bell Telephone Company was created in 1877, and by 1886, more than 150,000 people in the U.S. owned telephones. Bell Company engineers made numerous other improvements to the telephone, which emerged as one of the most successful products ever. In 1879, the Bell company acquired Edison's patents for the carbon microphone from Western Union. This made the telephone practical for longer distances, and it was no longer necessary to shout to be heard at the receiving telephone.[citation needed]
Emperor Pedro II of Brazil was the first person to buy stock in Bell's company, the Bell Telephone Company. One of the first telephones in a private residence was installed in his palace in Petrópolis, his summer retreat forty miles (sixty-four kilometres) from Rio de Janeiro.[111]
In January 1915, Bell made the first ceremonial transcontinental telephone call. Calling from the AT&T head office at 15 Dey Street in New York City, Bell was heard by Thomas Watson at 333 Grant Avenue in San Francisco. The New York Times reported:
On October 9, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A. Watson talked by telephone to each other over a two-mile wire stretched between Cambridge and Boston. It was the first wire conversation ever held. Yesterday afternoon [on January 25, 1915], the same two men talked by telephone to each other over a 3,400-mile wire between New York and San Francisco. Dr. Bell, the veteran inventor of the telephone, was in New York, and Mr. Watson, his former associate, was on the other side of the continent.[112]
Competitors
As is sometimes common in scientific discoveries, simultaneous developments can occur, as evidenced by a number of inventors who were at work on the telephone.[113] Over a period of 18 years, the Bell Telephone Company faced 587 court challenges to its patents, including five that went to the U.S. Supreme Court,[114] but none was successful in establishing priority over the original Bell patent,[115][116] and the Bell Telephone Company never lost a case that had proceeded to a final trial stage.[115] Bell's laboratory notes and family letters were the key to establishing a long lineage to his experiments.[115] The Bell company lawyers successfully fought off myriad lawsuits generated initially around the challenges by Elisha Gray and Amos Dolbear. In personal correspondence to Bell, both Gray and Dolbear had acknowledged his prior work, which considerably weakened their later claims.[117]
On January 13, 1887, the U.S. Government moved to annul the patent issued to Bell on the grounds of fraud and misrepresentation. After a series of decisions and reversals, the Bell company won a decision in the Supreme Court, though a couple of the original claims from the lower court cases were left undecided.
During a deposition filed for the 1887 trial, Italian inventor
The value of the Bell patent was acknowledged throughout the world, and patent applications were made in most major countries, but when Bell delayed the German patent application, the electrical firm of Siemens & Halske set up a rival manufacturer of Bell telephones under their own patent. The Siemens company produced near-identical copies of the Bell telephone without having to pay royalties.[129] The establishment of the International Bell Telephone Company in Brussels, Belgium in 1880, as well as a series of agreements in other countries eventually consolidated a global telephone operation. The strain put on Bell by his constant appearances in court, necessitated by the legal battles, eventually resulted in his resignation from the company.[130][N 17]
Family life
On July 11, 1877, a few days after the Bell Telephone Company was established, Bell married Mabel Hubbard (1857–1923) at the Hubbard estate in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His wedding present to his bride was to turn over 1,487 of his 1,497 shares in the newly formed Bell Telephone Company.[132] Shortly thereafter, the newlyweds embarked on a year-long honeymoon in Europe. During that excursion, Bell took a handmade model of his telephone with him, making it a "working holiday". The courtship had begun years earlier; however, Bell waited until he was more financially secure before marrying. Although the telephone appeared to be an "instant" success, it was not initially a profitable venture and Bell's main sources of income were from lectures until after 1897.[133] One unusual request exacted by his fiancée was that he use "Alec" rather than the family's earlier familiar name of "Aleck". From 1876, he would sign his name "Alec Bell".[134][135] They had four children:
- Elsie May Bell (1878–1964) who married Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor of National Geographic fame.[136][137]
- Marian Hubbard Bell (1880–1962) who was referred to as "Daisy". Married David Fairchild.[138][139][N 18]
- Two sons who died in infancy (Edward in 1881 and Robert in 1883).
The Bell family home was in Cambridge, Massachusetts, until 1880 when Bell's father-in-law bought a house in Washington, D.C.; in 1882 he bought a home in the same city for Bell's family, so they could be with him while he attended to the numerous court cases involving patent disputes.[142]
Bell was a
By 1885, a new summer retreat was contemplated. That summer, the Bells had a vacation on
Until the end of his life, Bell and his family would alternate between the two homes, but Beinn Bhreagh would, over the next 30 years, become more than a summer home as Bell became so absorbed in his experiments that his annual stays lengthened. Both Mabel and Bell became immersed in the Baddeck community and were accepted by the villagers as "their own".[147][N 20] The Bells were still in residence at Beinn Bhreagh when the Halifax Explosion occurred on December 6, 1917. Mabel and Bell mobilized the community to help victims in Halifax.[150]
Later inventions
This section needs additional citations for verification. (July 2022) |
Although Alexander Graham Bell is most often associated with the invention of the telephone, his interests were extremely varied. According to one of his biographers, Charlotte Gray, Bell's work ranged "unfettered across the scientific landscape" and he often went to bed voraciously reading the Encyclopædia Britannica, scouring it for new areas of interest.[151] The range of Bell's inventive genius is represented only in part by the 18 patents granted in his name alone and the 12 he shared with his collaborators. These included 14 for the telephone and telegraph, four for the photophone, one for the phonograph, five for aerial vehicles, four for "hydroairplanes", and two for selenium cells. Bell's inventions spanned a wide range of interests and included a metal jacket to assist in breathing, the audiometer to detect minor hearing problems, a device to locate icebergs, investigations on how to separate salt from seawater, and work on finding alternative fuels.[citation needed]
Bell worked extensively in
Bell's own home used a primitive form of air conditioning, in which fans blew currents of air across great blocks of ice. He also anticipated modern concerns with fuel shortages and industrial pollution.
Photophone
Bell and his assistant Charles Sumner Tainter jointly invented a wireless telephone, named a photophone, which allowed for the transmission of both sounds and normal human conversations on a beam of light.[152][153] Both men later became full associates in the Volta Laboratory Association.
On June 21, 1880, Bell's assistant transmitted a wireless voice telephone message a considerable distance, from the roof of the Franklin School in Washington, D.C., to Bell at the window of his laboratory, some 700 feet (213 m) away, 19 years before the first voice radio transmissions.[154][155][156][157]
Bell believed the photophone's principles were his life's "greatest achievement", telling a reporter shortly before his death that the photophone was "the greatest invention [I have] ever made, greater than the telephone".[158] The photophone was a precursor to the fiber-optic communication systems which achieved popular worldwide usage in the 1980s.[159][160] Its master patent was issued in December 1880, many decades before the photophone's principles came into popular use.
Metal detector
Bell is also credited with developing one of the early versions of a metal detector through the use of an induction balance, after the shooting of U.S. President James A. Garfield in 1881. According to some accounts, the metal detector worked flawlessly in tests but did not find Guiteau's bullet, partly because the metal bed frame on which the President was lying disturbed the instrument, resulting in static.[161] Garfield's surgeons, led by self-appointed chief physician Doctor Willard Bliss, were skeptical of the device, and ignored Bell's requests to move the President to a bed not fitted with metal springs.[161] Alternatively, although Bell had detected a slight sound on his first test, the bullet may have been lodged too deeply to be detected by the crude apparatus.[161]
Bell's own detailed account, presented to the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1882, differs in several particulars from most of the many and varied versions now in circulation, by concluding that extraneous metal was not to blame for failure to locate the bullet. Perplexed by the peculiar results he had obtained during an examination of Garfield, Bell "proceeded to the Executive Mansion the next morning ... to ascertain from the surgeons whether they were perfectly sure that all metal had been removed from the neighborhood of the bed. It was then recollected that underneath the horse-hair mattress on which the President lay was another mattress composed of steel wires. Upon obtaining a duplicate, the mattress was found to consist of a sort of net of woven steel wires, with large meshes. The extent of the [area that produced a response from the detector] having been so small, as compared with the area of the bed, it seemed reasonable to conclude that the steel mattress had produced no detrimental effect." In a footnote, Bell adds, "The death of President Garfield and the subsequent post-mortem examination, however, proved that the bullet was at too great a distance from the surface to have affected our apparatus."[162]
Hydrofoils
The March 1906
During his world tour of 1910–11, Bell and Baldwin met with Forlanini in France. They had rides in the Forlanini hydrofoil boat over
Aeronautics
In 1891, Bell had begun experiments to develop motor-powered heavier-than-air aircraft. The AEA was first formed as Bell shared the vision to fly with his wife, who advised him to seek "young" help as Bell was at the age of 60.
In 1898, Bell experimented with
Bell was a supporter of
The AEA's work progressed to heavier-than-air machines, applying their knowledge of kites to gliders. Moving to Hammondsport, the group then designed and built the
Their final aircraft design, the Silver Dart, embodied all of the advancements found in the earlier machines. On February 23, 1909, Bell was present as the Silver Dart flown by J. A. D. McCurdy from the frozen ice of Bras d'Or made the first aircraft flight in Canada.[172] Bell had worried that the flight was too dangerous and had arranged for a doctor to be on hand. With the successful flight, the AEA disbanded and the Silver Dart would revert to Baldwin and McCurdy, who began the Canadian Aerodrome Company and would later demonstrate the aircraft to the Canadian Army.[173]
Heredity and genetics
Bell, along with many members of the scientific community at the time, took an interest in the popular science of heredity which grew out of the publication of Charles Darwin's book On the Origin of Species in 1859.[174] On his estate in Nova Scotia, Bell conducted meticulously recorded breeding experiments with rams and ewes. Over the course of more than 30 years, Bell sought to produce a breed of sheep with multiple nipples that would bear twins.[175] He specifically wanted to see if selective breeding could produce sheep with four functional nipples with enough milk for twin lambs.[176] This interest in animal breeding caught the attention of scientists focused on the study of heredity and genetics in humans.[177]
In November 1883, Bell presented a paper at a meeting of the National Academy of Sciences titled "Upon the Formation of a Deaf Variety of the Human Race".[178] The paper is a compilation of data on the hereditary aspects of deafness. Bell's research indicated that a hereditary tendency toward deafness, as indicated by the possession of deaf relatives, was an important element in determining the production of deaf offspring. He noted that the proportion of deaf children born to deaf parents was many times greater than the proportion of deaf children born to the general population.[179] In the paper, Bell delved into social commentary and discussed hypothetical public policies to bring an end to deafness. He also criticized educational practices that segregated deaf children rather than integrated them fulling into mainstream classrooms. The paper did not propose sterilization of deaf people or prohibition on intermarriage,[180] noting that "We cannot dictate to men and women whom they should marry and natural selection no longer influences mankind to any great extent."[178]
A review of Bell's "Memoir upon the Formation of a Deaf Variety of the Human Race" appearing in an 1885 issue of the "American Annals of the Deaf and Dumb" states that "Dr. Bell does not advocate legislative interference with the marriages of the deaf for several reasons one of which is that the results of such marriages have not yet been sufficiently investigated." The article goes on to say that "the editorial remarks based thereon did injustice to the author."[181] The paper's author concludes by saying "A wiser way to prevent the extension of hereditary deafness, it seems to us, would be to continue the investigations which Dr. Bell has so admirable begun until the laws of the transmission of the tendency to deafness are fully understood, and then by explaining those laws to the pupils of our schools to lead them to choose their partners in marriage in such a way that deaf-mute offspring will not be the result."[181]
Historians have noted that Bell explicitly opposed laws regulating marriage, and never mentioned sterilization in any of his writings. Even after Bell agreed to engage with scientists conducting eugenic research, he consistently refused to support public policy that limited the rights or privileges of the deaf.[182]
Bell's interest and research on heredity attracted the interest of Charles Davenport, a Harvard professor and head of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. In 1906, Davenport, who was also the founder of the American Breeder's Association, approached Bell about joining a new committee on eugenics chaired by David Starr Jordan. In 1910, Davenport opened the Eugenics Records office at Cold Spring Harbor. To give the organization scientific credibility, Davenport set up a Board of Scientific Directors naming Bell as chairman.[183] Other members of the board included Luther Burbank, Roswell H. Johnson, Vernon L. Kellogg, and William E. Castle.[183]
In 1921, a
Death
Bell died of complications arising from diabetes on August 2, 1922, at his private estate in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, at age 75.[185] Bell had also been affected by pernicious anemia.[186] His last view of the land he had inhabited was by moonlight on his mountain estate at 2:00 a.m.[N 25][189][N 26] While tending to him after his long illness, Mabel, his wife, whispered, "Don't leave me." By way of reply, Bell signed "no...", lost consciousness, and died shortly after.[190][191]
On learning of Bell's death, the Canadian Prime Minister, Mackenzie King, cabled Mrs. Bell, saying:[190]
My colleagues in the Government join with me in expressing to you our sense of the world's loss in the death of your distinguished husband. It will ever be a source of pride to our country that the great invention, with which his name is immortally associated, is a part of its history. On the behalf of the citizens of Canada, may I extend to you an expression of our combined gratitude and sympathy.
Bell's coffin was constructed of Beinn Bhreagh pine by his laboratory staff, lined with the same red silk fabric used in his tetrahedral kite experiments. To help celebrate his life, his wife asked guests not to wear black (the traditional funeral color) while attending his service, during which soloist Jean MacDonald sang a verse of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Requiem":[192]
Under a wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die
And I laid me down with a will.
Upon the conclusion of Bell's funeral, for one minute at 6:25 p.m. Eastern Time,[193] "every phone on the continent of North America was silenced in honor of the man who had given to mankind the means for direct communication at a distance".[147][194]
Alexander Graham Bell was buried atop Beinn Bhreagh mountain, on his estate where he had resided increasingly for the last 35 years of his life, overlooking Bras d'Or Lake.[190] He was survived by his wife Mabel, his two daughters, Elsie May and Marian, and nine of his grandchildren.[190][195]
Legacy and honors
Honors and tributes flowed to Bell in increasing numbers as his invention became ubiquitous and his personal fame grew. Bell received numerous honorary degrees from colleges and universities to the point that the requests almost became burdensome.
A large number of Bell's writings, personal correspondence, notebooks, papers, and other documents reside in both the United States Library of Congress Manuscript Division (as the Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers),[198] and at the Alexander Graham Bell Institute, Cape Breton University, Nova Scotia; major portions of which are available for online viewing.
A number of historic sites and other marks commemorate Bell in North America and Europe, including the first telephone companies in the United States and Canada. Among the major sites are:
- The Baddeck, Nova Scotia, close to the Bell estate Beinn Bhreagh[200]
- The Bell Homestead National Historic Site, includes the Bell family home, "Melville House", and farm overlooking Brantford, Ontario and the Grand River. It was their first home in North America;
- Canada's first telephone company building, the "Henderson Home" of the late 1870s, a predecessor of the Bell Telephone Company of Canada (officially chartered in 1880). In 1969, the building was carefully moved to the historic Bell Homestead National Historic Site in Brantford, Ontario, and was refurbished to become a telephone museum. The Bell Homestead, the Henderson Home telephone museum, and the National Historic Site's reception centre are all maintained by the Bell Homestead Society;[201]
- The Alexander Graham Bell Memorial Park, which features a broad neoclassical monument built in 1917 by public subscription. The monument depicts mankind's ability to span the globe through telecommunications;[202]
- The Alexander Graham Bell Museum (opened in 1956), part of the Baddeck, Nova Scotia. Many of the museum's artifacts were donated by Bell's daughters;, part of the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site
In 1880, Bell received the
In partnership with
The bel (B) and the smaller
In 1936, the US Patent Office declared Bell first on its list of the country's greatest inventors,[218] leading to the US Post Office issuing a commemorative stamp honoring Bell in 1940 as part of its 'Famous Americans Series'. The First Day of Issue ceremony was held on October 28 in Boston, Massachusetts, the city where Bell spent considerable time on research and working with the deaf. The Bell stamp became very popular and sold out in little time. The stamp became, and remains to this day, the most valuable one of the series.[219]
The 150th anniversary of Bell's birth in 1997 was marked by a special issue of
Alexander Graham Bell was ranked 57th among the 100 Greatest Britons (2002) in an official BBC nationwide poll,[222] and among the Top Ten Greatest Canadians (2004), and the 100 Greatest Americans (2005). In 2006, Bell was also named as one of the 10 greatest Scottish scientists in history after having been listed in the National Library of Scotland's 'Scottish Science Hall of Fame'.[223] Bell's name is still widely known and used as part of the names of dozens of educational institutes, corporate namesakes, street and place names around the world.
Honorary degrees
Alexander Graham Bell, who could not complete the university program of his youth, received at least a dozen honorary degrees from academic institutions, including eight honorary
- University of Würzburg in Würzburg, Bavaria (Ph.D.) in 1882[225]
- Heidelberg University in Heidelberg, Germany (M.D.) in 1886[225][37]
- Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts (LL.D.) in 1896[225]
- Illinois College, in Jacksonville, Illinois (LL.D.) in 1896, possibly 1881[225][227]
- Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts (LL.D.) in 1901[225]
- St. Andrew's University in St Andrews, Scotland (LL.D) in 1902[225]
- University of Oxford in Oxford, England (D.Sc.) in 1906[225]
- University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland (LL.D.) in 1906[225][228]
- George Washington University in Washington, D.C. (LL.D.) in 1913[225]
- Queen's University at Kingston in Kingston, Ontario, Canada (LL.D.) in 1908[225][229]
- Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire (LL.D.) in 1913,[230] possibly 1914[225]
Portrayal in film and television
- The 1939 film The Story of Alexander Graham Bell was based on his life and works.[231]
- The 1965 BBC miniseries Alexander Graham Bell starring Alec McCowen and Francesca Annis.
- The 1992 film The Sound and the Silence was a TV film.
- Biographyaired an episode Alexander Graham Bell: Voice of Invention on August 6, 1996.
- Eyewitness No. 90 A Great Inventor Is Remembered, a 1957 NFB short about Bell.
Bibliography
- Bell, Alexander Graham (October 1880). "On the Production and Reproduction of Sound by Light". doi:10.1038/022500a0.
- Bell, Alexander Graham (1898). The Question of Sign-Language and The Utility of Signs in the Instruction of the Deaf—Two papers (PDF). Washington, D.C.: Sanders Printing Office. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 29, 2012. Retrieved January 2, 2012.
- Bell, Alexander Graham (February 1917). "Prizes for the Inventor: Some of the Problems Awaiting Solution". The National Geographic Magazine. Vol. 31, no. 2. National Geographic Society. pp. 131–146.
See also
- Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
- Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site
- Bell Boatyard
- Bell Homestead National Historic Site
- Bell Telephone Memorial
- Berliner, Emile
- Bourseul, Charles
- IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal
- Manzetti, Innocenzo
- Meucci, Antonio
- Oriental Telephone Company
- People on Scottish banknotes
- Pioneers, a Volunteer Network
- Reis, Philipp
- The Story of Alexander Graham Bell, a 1939 movie of his life
- The Telephone Cases
- Volta Laboratory and Bureau
- William Francis Channing, submitted telephone ideas to Bell
References
Notes
- Bell Telephone Memorial to an audience numbering in the thousands, saying: "Dr. Bell is to be congratulated upon being able to receive the recognition of his fellow citizens and fellow countrymen".[6]
- ^ From Black (1997), p. 18: "He thought he could harness the new electronic technology by creating a machine with a transmitter and receiver that would send sounds telegraphically to help people hear."
- ^ After Bell's death his wife Mabel wrote to John J. Carty, an AT&T vice-president, and commented on her husband's reluctance to have a phone in his study, saying "[of the statements in the newspapers] ...publishing of Mr. Bell's dislike of the telephone. Of course, he never had one in his study. That was where he went when he wanted to be alone with his thoughts and his work. The telephone, of course, means intrusion by the outside world. And the little difficulties and delays often attending the establishment of conversation... did irritate him, so that as a rule he preferred having others send and receive messages. But all really important business over the telephone he transacted himself. There are few private houses more completely equipped with telephones than ours... and there was nothing that Mr. Bell was more particular about than our telephone service... We never could have come here [to Beinn Bhreagh] in the first place or continued here, but for the telephone which kept us in close touch with doctors and neighbors and the regular telegraph office... Mr. Bell did like to say in fun, "Why did I ever invent the Telephone," but no one had a higher appreciation of its indispensableness or used it more freely when need was—either personally or by deputy—and he was really tremendously proud of it and all it was accomplishing."[10]
- ^ Bell typically signed his name in full on his correspondence.
- ^ Helmholtz's The Sensations of Tone is credited with inspiring Bell, at the age of 23, to further his studies of electricity and electromagnetism.[37]
- ^ The family pet was given to his brother's family.
- ^ The estate, dating from 1858, is in the present day located at 94 Tutela Heights Road, Brantford, and is now known as the "Bell Homestead", and formally as the Bell Homestead National Historic Site of Canada. It received its historical designation from the Government of Canada on June 1, 1996.[50]
- ^ Bell would later write that he had come to Canada a "dying man".
- ^ Bell was thrilled at his recognition by the Six Nations Reserve and throughout his life would launch into a Mohawk war dance when he was excited.
- ^ In later years, Bell described the invention of the telephone and linked it to his "dreaming place".
- manual versus oral education for deaf children, as children who are older at the onset of deafness retain greater vocalization skills and are thus more successful in oral education programs. Some of the debate centred on whether Mabel had to relearn oral speech from scratch, or whether she never lost it.
- ^ From Alexander Graham Bell (1979), p. 8: "Brantford is justified in calling herself 'The Telephone City' because the telephone originated there. It was invented in Brantford at Tutela Heights in the summer of 1874."
- ^ Hubbard's financial support to the research efforts fell far short of the funds needed, necessitating Bell to continue teaching while conducting his experiments.[84] Bell was so short of funds at times that he had to borrow money from his own employee, Thomas Watson. Bell also sought an additional CAD$150 from the former Premier of Canada, George Brown, in exchange for 50% of the patent rights in the British Empire (Brown later retracted his offer to patent the telephone in the U.K. for fear of being ridiculed). The Bell Patent Association, composed of Hubbard, Sanders and Bell and which would become the precursor of the Bell Telephone Company (and later, AT&T), would later assign an approximate 10% interest of its shares to Watson,[7] in lieu of salary and for his earlier financial support to Bell while they worked together creating their first functional telephone.
- ^ A copy of a draft of the patent application is shown, described as "probably the most valuable patent ever."
- ^ Meucci was not involved in the final trial.[clarification needed]
- ^ Tomas Farley also writes that "Nearly every scholar agrees that Bell and Watson were the first to transmit intelligible speech by electrical means. Others transmitted a sound or a click or a buzz but our boys [Bell and Watson] were the first to transmit speech one could understand."[128]
- ^ Many of the lawsuits became rancorous, with Elisha Gray becoming particularly bitter over Bell's ascendancy in the telephone debate, but Bell refused to launch a countersuit for libel.[citation needed]
- ^ Marian was born only days after Bell and his assistant Sumner Tainter had successfully tested their new wireless telecommunication invention at their Volta Laboratory, one which Bell would name as his greatest achievement. Bell was so ecstatic that he wanted to jointly name his new invention and his new daughter Photophone (Greek: "light–sound"),[140][141] Bell wrote: "Only think!—Two babies in one week! Mabel's baby was light enough at birth but mine was LIGHT ITSELF! Mabel's baby screamed inarticulately but mine spoke with distinct enunciation from the first." Bell's suggested scientific name for their new infant daughter did not go over well with Marian's mother, Mabel Gardiner Hubbard Bell.[140]
- Cabot, Everett & Mead, a Nova Scotia company, Rhodes, Curry & Company, carried out the actual construction.
- ^ In one memorable incident, the newly arrived Bells were walking down one of Baddeck's central streets when Bell peered into a storefront window and saw a frustrated shopkeeper fiddling with his problematic telephone. Bell quickly disassembled it and effected a repair, to the owner's amazement. When asked how he was able to do so Bell only needed to introduce himself.
- ^ Bell was inspired in part by Australian aeronautical engineer Lawrence Hargrave's work with man-carrying box kites.[166] Hargrave declined to take patents on his inventions, similar to Bell's decision not to file patents on some of his inventions. Bell also chose maroon-colored silk as it would show up clearly against the light-colored sky in his photographic studies.
- ^ "Selfridge Aerodrome Sails Steadily for 319 feet (97 m)." The Washington Post May 13, 1908.
- ^ At 25 to 30 Miles an Hour. First Public Trip of Heavier-than-air Car in America. Professor Alexander Graham Bell's New Machine, Built After Plans by Lieutenant Selfridge, Shown to Be Practicable by Flight Over Keuka Lake. Portion of Tail Gives Way, Bringing the Test to an End. Views of an Expert. Hammondsport, New York, March 12, 1908.
- ^ The aileron had been conceived of as early as 1868 by British inventor M.P.W. Boulton and was also created independently by Robert Esnault-Pelterie and several others.
- ^ In the last years of his life, as his final projects wound down, Bell and his wife, their extended family and friends, lived exclusively at their beloved Beinn Bhreagh.[187][188]
- ^ From Bethune (2009), p. 119: "[his end came] at 2:00 am... His wife, Mabel, daughter Daisy, and son-in-law David Fairchild had gathered around him. His last view was of the moon rising above the mountain he loved".
- ^ The Charles Fleetford Sise Chapter of the Telephone Pioneers of America commissioned and dedicated the large bronze statue of Bell in the front portico of Brantford, Ontario's new Bell Telephone Building plant on June 17, 1949. Attending the formal ceremony were Bell's daughter, Mrs. Gillbert Grosvenor, Frederick Johnson, President of the Bell Telephone Company of Canada, T.N. Lacy, President of the Telephone Pioneers, and Brantford Mayor Walter J. Dowden. To each side of the portico facing the monument are the engraved inscriptions "In Grateful Recognition of the Inventor of the Telephone". Its dedication was broadcast live nationally by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.[196][197]
- ^ The decibel is defined as one tenth of a bel.
Citations
- ISBN 978-0-88780-621-6.
- ^ [Is the following a quote from the source referenced?:] While Bell worked in many scientific, technical, professional and social capacities throughout his life he would remain fondest of his earliest vocation. To the end of his days, when discussing himself, Bell would always add with pride "I am a teacher of the deaf".[1]
- ^ "Particle Physics Resurrects Alexander Graham Bell's Voice". IEEE Spectrum. April 30, 2018. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
- ^ "The Bell Family". Bell Homestead National Historic Site. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
- ^ Gray 2006, p. 228.
- ^ Reville, F. Douglas (1920). History of the County of Brant: Illustrated With Fifty Half-Tones Taken From Miniatures And Photographs (PDF). Brantford, Ontario: Brantford Historical Society & Hurley Printing. p. 319. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 19, 2012. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
- ^ a b Bruce 1990, p. 291.
- ISBN 978-0-8014-9691-2.
- ISBN 978-1-55074-456-9.
- ^ Bell, Mabel (October 1922). "Dr. Bell's Appreciation of the Telephone Service". Bell Telephone Quarterly. 1 (3): 65. Retrieved September 18, 2015.
- ^ Howley, Andrew (May 26, 2011). "NGS Celebrates 23rd Founders Day". NGS. National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on February 2, 2016. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
Though he wasn't one of the original 33 founders, Bell had a major influence on the Society.
- PMID 15618310.
- ^ a b Bruce, Robert V. (March 15, 2020). "Bell: Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude". Plunkett Lake Press – via Google Books.
- ISBN 978-0-88902-209-6.
- ^ "Time Line of Alexander Graham Bell." memory.loc.goiv. Retrieved: July 28, 2010. Archived October 24, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Alexander M. Bell Dead. Father of Prof. A. G. Bell Developed Sign Language for Mutes". The New York Times. August 8, 1905. Retrieved September 18, 2015.
- ^ "Call me Alexander Graham Bell". The Franklin Institute. January 14, 2014. Archived from the original on February 24, 2015. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
- ISBN 978-1-55439-006-9.
- ^ Bruce 1990, pp. 17–19.
- ^ Bruce 1990, p. 490.
- ^ a b Bruce 1990, p. 16.
- ^ a b c Gray 2006, p. 8.
- ^ Gray 2006, p. 9.
- ISBN 978-1-85158-833-6.
- ^ a b Petrie 1975, p. 7.
- ^ Mackay 1997, p. 31.
- ^ Gray 2006, p. 11.
- ISBN 978-0-7172-1950-6.
- ^ Bruce 1990, p. 37.
- ISBN 978-0-393-06206-9.
- ^ a b c Groundwater 2005, p. 25.
- ^ Petrie 1975, pp. 7–9.
- ^ Petrie 1975, p. 9.
- ^ Messenger, Stephen (March 29, 2014). "Before Inventing The Telephone, Alexander Graham Bell Tried To Teach His Dog To Talk". The Dodo. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
- ^ a b Groundwater 2005, p. 30.
- ^ Shulman 2008, p. 46.
- ^ a b c Surtees, Lawrence (2005). "BELL, ALEXANDER GRAHAM". In Cook, Ramsay; Bélanger, Réal (eds.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. XV (1921–1930) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. Retrieved March 6, 2009.
- ISBN 978-0-7661-4385-2.
- ^ Groundwater 2005, p. 31.
- ^ Shulman 2008, pp. 46–48.
- ISBN 978-0-06-057618-9.
- ^ Bruce 1990, p. 45.
- ^ Bruce 1990, pp. 67–28.
- ^ Bruce 1990, p. 68.
- ^ Groundwater 2005, p. 33.
- ^ Mackay 1997, p. 50.
- ^ Gray 2006, p. 21.
- Canada's Historic Places. Retrieved August 5, 2020.
- ^ Mackay 1997, p. 61.
- ^ Bell Homestead National Historic Site of Canada. Canadian Register of Historic Places. Retrieved September 17, 2015.
- ^ Wing, Chris (1980). Alexander Graham Bell at Baddeck. Baddeck, Nova Scotia: Christopher King. p. 10.
- ^ Groundwater 2005, p. 34.
- ^ Mackay 1997, p. 62.
- ^ Groundwater 2005, p. 35.
- ^ Wing 1980, p. 10.
- London Free Pressor by the Brantford Expositor, date unknown.
- ^ Bruce 1990, p. 74.
- ^ Town 1988, p. 12.
- ^ Alexander Graham Bell ((booklet)). Halifax, Nova Scotia: Maritime Telegraph & Telephone Limited. 1979. p. 8.
- ^ a b Groundwater 2005, p. 39.
- ^ Petrie 1975, p. 14.
- ^ Petrie 1975, p. 15.
- ^ Town 1988, pp. 12–13.
- ^ Petrie 1975, p. 17.
- ^ Schoenherr, Steven E. (February 10, 2000). "Charles Sumner Tainter and the Graphophone". Recording Technology History. Audio Engineering Society. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
- ^ Hochfelder, David (July 31, 2015). "Alexander Graham Bell". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved September 18, 2015.
- ^ "Image 1 of Pamphlet by Alexander Graham Bell, 1898". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
- ^ "Alexander Graham Bell and His Role in Oral Education". Disabilitymuseum.org.
- ISBN 978-1-56368-121-9.
- ^ Jay, Michelle (January 2, 2020). "Alexander Graham Bell - Helpful or Harmful? | Start ASL". Retrieved March 11, 2022.
- ^ "Eugenics and Deaf People in 20th Century America". Medium. May 11, 2021. Retrieved June 28, 2022.
- ^ "A Deaf Variety Of The Human Race". Gallaudet University. Retrieved March 11, 2022.
- ^ Town 1988, p. 15.
- ^ Town 1988, p. 16.
- ISBN 978-0-458-98090-1.
- ISBN 978-0-7710-3036-9.
- ISBN 978-1-85210-958-5.
- ^ "Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson". CBC. July 25, 1975. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
- ISBN 978-0-7922-7391-2.
- ^ Matthews 1999, p. 21.
- S2CID 19680450. Archived from the originalon December 23, 2009.
- ^ Town 1988, p. 17.
- ^ Evenson 2000, pp. 18–25.
- ^ Fitzgerald, Brian (September 14, 2001). "Alexander Graham Bell: The BU Years". B.U. Bridge. Vol. V, no. 5. Boston University. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
- ^ Bruce 1990, pp. 158–159.
- ^ US 174465 Alexander Graham Bell: "Improvement in Telegraphy" filed on February 14, 1876, granted on March 7, 1876.
- ^ MacLeod 1999, pp. 12–13.
- ^ "Alexander Graham Bell – Lab notebook pp. 40–41 (image 22)". Quotegrab. IAP Quotegrab. August 2, 2019. Archived from the original on May 14, 2020. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
- ^ MacLeod 1999, p. 12.
- ^ Shulman 2008, p. 211.
- ^ Evenson 2000, p. 99.
- ^ Evenson 2000, p. 98.
- ^ Evenson 2000, p. 100.
- ^ Evenson 2000, pp. 81–82.
- ^ "Mr. Wilbur "confesses"". The Washington Post. May 22, 1886. p. 1.
- ISBN 0786408839.
- ^ "Alexander Graham Bell 1847–1922 Inventor of the Bell System". Telecommunications Canada. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
- ^ "Invention of the Telephone National Historic Event". Parks Canada. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
Bell made public demonstrations of his now patented invention, culminating in the world's first long distance call, to Paris, 13 kilometres away, on 10 August
- ^ MacLeod 1999, p. 14.
- ^ Popular Mechanics Aug 1912. New York: Popular Mechanics. August 1912. p. 186.
- ^ "First Phone Call".
- ^ Lapsley, Phil (January 8, 2011). "The Greatest "Bad Business Decision" Quotation That Never Was". The History of Phone Phreaking Blog. Retrieved February 2, 2024.
- ^ Fenster, Julie M. (March 7, 2006). "Inventing the Telephone—And Triggering All-Out Patent War". American Heritage. Archived from the original on March 11, 2006. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
- ISBN 978-0-913580-99-8.
- ISBN 978-0-7730-5049-5.
- ^ "Bell's centennial telephone transmitter, 1876". National Archives UK. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
- ^ "140 Years Since the First Telephone Call to Queen Victoria on the Isle of Wight". Island Echo. January 14, 2018. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
He made the UK's first publicly-witnessed long distance calls, calling Cowes, Southampton and London. Queen Victoria liked the telephone so much she wanted to buy it.
- ^ "Alexander Graham Bell demonstrates the newly invented telephone". The Telegraph. January 13, 2017. Archived from the original on January 11, 2022. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
one of the Queen's staff wrote to Professor Bell to inform him "how much gratified and surprised the Queen was at the exhibition of the Telephone"
- ^ "pdf, Letter from Alexander Graham Bell to Sir Thomas Biddulph, February 1, 1878". Library of Congress. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
The instruments at present in Osborne are merely those supplied for ordinary commercial purposes, and it will afford me much pleasure to be permitted to offer to the Queen a set of Telephones to be made expressly for her Majesty's use.
- ISBN 978-0-7398-4415-1.
- ^ "Dom Pedro II and America". The Library of Congress. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
- ^ "Phone to Pacific From the Atlantic". The New York Times. January 26, 1915. Retrieved July 21, 2007.
- ^ MacLeod 1999, p. 19.
- ^ "Who Really Invented The Telephone?". Australasian Telephone Collecting Society. Moorebank, NSW, Australia. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved April 22, 2011.
- ^ a b c Groundwater 2005, p. 95.
- ISBN 978-1-55138-081-0.
- ^ Mackay 1997, p. 179.
- ^ "US v. American Bell Tel Co (1897)". Findlaw. May 10, 1897. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
- ^ "United States V. American Bell Telephone Co., 128 U.S. 315 (1888)". Jusrtia US Supreme Court. November 12, 1885. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
- S2CID 144185363.
- ^ Catania, Basilio (November 6, 2009). "Antonio Meucci – Questions and Answers: What did Meucci to bring his invention to the public?". Chezbasilio.org. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
- ^ "Our History". ADT. Retrieved September 18, 2015.
- ^ Bruce 1990, pp. 271–272.
- ^ Rory Carroll (June 17, 2002). "Bell did not invent telephone, US rules". The Guardian. Retrieved October 25, 2015.
- ^ "H.RES.269: Resolution 269." thomas.loc.gov. Retrieved: July 28, 2010. Archived July 13, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Congressional Record – Speech by Prof. Basillio". September 5, 2001. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved September 18, 2015.
- ^ "Antonio Meucci (1808–1889)". Italian Historical Society of America. Archived from the original on October 15, 2015. Retrieved September 18, 2015.
- ^ a b Bellis, Mary. "The History of the Telephone – Antonio Meucci". About.com Inventors. Archived from the original on May 28, 2020. Retrieved December 29, 2009.
- ^ Mackay 1997, p. 178.
- .
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Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, died at 2 o'clock this morning at Beinn Breagh, his estate near Baddeck
The last line of the typed note refers to the future disposition of award funds: He intends putting the full amount into his Laboratory and Library.
RESOLVED: That the Executive Committee be requested to prepare a memorial commemorative of the life and work of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, Regent of the Smithsonian Institution from 1898 to 1922, said memorial to be presented at the next Annual Meeting of the Board.
Further reading
- Mullett, Mary B. The Story of A Famous Inventor. New York: Rogers and Fowle, 1921.
- Walters, Eric. The Hydrofoil Mystery. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: ISBN 0-14-130220-8.
- Winzer, Margret A. The History Of Special Education: From Isolation To Integration. Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet University Press, 1993. ISBN 978-1-56368-018-2.
External links
- Alexander and Mabel Bell Legacy Foundation
- Alexander Graham Bell Institute at Cape Breton University (archived 8 December 2015)
- Bell Telephone Memorial, Brantford, Ontario
- Bell Homestead National Historic Site, Brantford, Ontario
- Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site of Canada, Baddeck, Nova Scotia
- Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers at the Library of Congress
- Alexander Graham Bell — Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences
- Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
- Science.ca profile: Alexander Graham Bell
- Works by Alexander Graham Bell at Project Gutenberg
- Alexander Graham Bell at IMDb
- Alexander Graham Bell's notebooks at the Internet Archive
- "Téléphone et photophone : les contributions indirectes de Graham Bell à l'idée de la vision à distance par l'électricité" at the Histoire de la télévision
- Newspaper clippings about Alexander Graham Bell in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
- Alexander Graham Bell and the Aerial Experiment Association Photograph Collection at The Museum of Flight (Seattle, Washington).
Multimedia
- Alexander Graham Bell at The Biography Channel
- The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939) at IMDb
- Alexander Graham Bell portrayed by John Bach (1992). The Sound and the Silence (Television production). Canada, New Zealand, Ireland: Atlantis Films.
- The Animated Hero Classics: Alexander Graham Bell (1995) at IMDb
- Gray, Charlotte (May 2013). "We Had No Idea What Alexander Graham Bell Sounded Like. Until Now". Smithsonian.
- Shaping The Future, from the Heritage Minutes and Radio Minutes collection at HistoricaCanada.ca (1:31 audio drama, Adobe Flash required)