Alexander Graham Bell (March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was an eminent
scientistA scientist, in the broadest sense, is any person who engages in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge or an individual that engages in such practices and traditions that are linked to schools of thought or philosophy. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the...
,
inventorAn innovation is a new way of doing something. It may refer to incremental and emergent or radical and revolutionary changes in thinking, products, processes, or organizations. Following Schumpeter , contributors to the scholarly literature on innovation typically distinguish between invention, an...
,
engineerEngineers are concerned with developing economical and safe solutions to practical problems, by applying mathematics and scientific knowledge while considering technical constraints. The term is derived from the Latin root "ingenium," meaning "cleverness"...
and
innovatorAn innovator or pioneer in a general sense is a person or an organisation who is one of the first to do something and often opens up a new area for others and achieves an innovation.-Innovators in history:...
who is credited with inventing the first practical
telephoneThe telephone is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sound, most commonly the human voice. It is one of the most common household appliances in the developed world, and has long been considered indispensable to business, industry and government...
.
Bell's father, grandfather, and brother had all been associated with work on
elocutionElocution is the study of formal speaking in pronunciation, grammar, style, and tone.-History:In Western classical rhetoric, one of the five core disciplines was pronuntiatio, which was the art of delivering speeches. Orators were trained not only on proper diction, but on the proper use of...
and
speechSpeech is the human faculty of speaking.It may also refer to:* Public speaking, the process of speaking to a group of people* Manner of articulation, how the body parts involved in making speech are manipulated...
, and both his mother and wife were deaf, profoundly influencing Bell's life's work. 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. patentUnited States patent law was established "to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;" as provided in the United States Constitution. Congress implemented these...
for the telephone in 1876. In retrospect, Bell considered his most famous invention an intrusion on his real work as a scientist and refused to have a telephone in his study.
Many other inventions marked Bell's later life, including groundbreaking work in
optical telecommunicationsIn telecommunications, Free Space Optics is an optical communication technology that uses light propagating in free space to transmit data between two points...
,
hydrofoilA hydrofoil is a winglike structure or foil, attached to the hull of a boat that raises all or part of the hull out of the water when the boat is moving forward, thus reducing drag....
s and
aeronauticsAeronautics is the science involved with the study, design, and manufacture of flight-capable machines, or the techniques of operating aircraft...
. In 1888, Alexander Graham Bell became one of the founding members of the
National Geographic SocietyThe National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...
.
Early years
Alexander Bell was born in
EdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland. It is the second largest Scottish city, after Glasgow, and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas....
,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
on March 3, 1847. The family home was at 16 South Charlotte Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, and now has a commemorative marker at the doorstep, marking it as Alexander Graham Bell's birthplace. He had two brothers: Melville James Bell (1845–1870) and Edward Charles Bell (1848–1867). Both of his brothers died of
tuberculosisTuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria...
. His father was Professor
Alexander Melville BellAlexander Melville Bell was a researcher of physiological phonetics and was the author of numerous works on orthoepy and elocution. He was the father of Alexander Graham Bell.-Biography:...
, and his mother was Eliza Grace (née Symonds). Although he was born "Alexander", at age ten, he made a plea to his father to have a
middle nameMany people's names include one or more middle names, placed between the first given name and the surname. In some countries, a middle name is effectively a second given name. In the USA and Canada there is usually only one middle name, often abbreviated by its possessor to the middle initial or...
like his two brothers. For his 11th birthday, his father acquiesced and allowed him to adopt the middle name "Graham", chosen out of admiration for Alexander Graham, a Canadian being treated by his father and boarder who had become a family friend. To close relatives and friends he remained "Aleck" which his father continued to call him into later life.
First invention
As a child, young Alexander Graham Bell displayed a natural curiosity about his world, resulting in gathering
botanicalBotany, plant science, phytology, or plant biology is a branch of biology and is the scientific study of plant life and development...
specimens as well as
experimentIn scientific research, an experiment is a method of investigating causal relationships among variables, or to test a hypothesis. An experiment is a cornerstone of the empirical approach to acquiring data about the world and is used in both natural sciences and social sciences...
ing even at an early age. His
best friendFriendship is the cooperative and supportive relationship between two or more people. In this sense, the term connotes a relationship which involves mutual knowledge, esteem, affection, and respect along with a degree of rendering service to friends in times of need or crisis...
was Ben Herdman, a neighbour whose family operated a flour
millA gristmill or grist mill is a building in which grain is ground into flour, or the grinding mechanism itself. In many countries these are referred to as corn mills or flour mills.- Early history :...
, the scene of many forays. Young Aleck asked what needed to be done at the mill. He was told wheat had to be dehusked through a laborious process and at the age of 12, Bell built a homemade device that combined rotating paddles with sets of nail brushes, creating a simple dehusking machine that was put into operation and used steadily for a number of years. In return, John Herdman gave both boys the run of a small workshop within which to "invent".
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
pianoThe piano is a musical instrument which is played by means of a keyboard. Widely used in Western music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and became the family's pianist. Despite being normally quiet and introspective, he reveled in mimicry and "voice tricks" akin to
ventriloquismVentriloquism is an act of stagecraft in which a person manipulates his or her voice so that it appears that the voice is coming from elsewhere. The act of ventriloquism is ventriloquizing and the ability to do so is commonly called in English the ability to "throw" one's voice...
that continually entertained family guests during their occasional visits. 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. 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. Bell's preoccupation with his mother's deafness led him to study
acousticsAcoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of sound, ultrasound and infrasound . A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician. The application of acoustics in technology is called acoustical engineering...
.
His family was long associated with the teaching of
elocutionElocution is the study of formal speaking in pronunciation, grammar, style, and tone.-History:In Western classical rhetoric, one of the five core disciplines was pronuntiatio, which was the art of delivering speeches. Orators were trained not only on proper diction, but on the proper use of...
: his grandfather, Alexander Bell, in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, his uncle in
DublinDublin is the largest city and capital of Ireland. It is officially known in Irish as Baile Átha Cliath or Áth Cliath ; the English name comes from the Irish Dubh Linn meaning "black pool". It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the...
, 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), 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-muteFor "deafness", see hearing impairment. For "Deaf" as a cultural term, see Deaf culture. For "inability to speak", see muteness.Deaf-mute is a derogatory term, was a term historically used by hearing people to identify a person who was deaf and could not speak...
s (as they were then known) to articulate words and read other people's lip movements to decipher meaning. Aleck's father taught him and his brothers not only to write
Visible SpeechVisible speech is the writing system used by Alexander Melville Bell, who was known internationally as a teacher of speech and proper elocution and an author of books on the subject. The system is composed of symbols that show the position and movement of the throat, tongue, and lips as they...
but also to identify any symbol and its accompanying sound. Aleck became so proficient that he became a part of his father's public demonstrations and astounded audiences with his abilities in deciphering
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
, Gaelic and even
SanskritSanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is also declared as a classical language by the government of India....
symbols.
Education
As a young child, Bell, like his brothers, received his early schooling at home from his father. At an early age, however, he was enrolled at the
Royal High SchoolThe Royal High School of Edinburgh can trace its roots back to 1128, and is one of the oldest schools in Scotland. It is a co-educational state comprehensive school, administered by the City of Edinburgh Council...
, Edinburgh, Scotland, which he left at age 15, completing only the first four forms. His school record was undistinguished, marked by
absenteeismAbsenteeism is a habitual pattern of absence from a duty or obligation.-Workplace:Frequent absence from the workplace may be indicative of poor morale or of sick building syndrome. However, many employers have implemented absence policies which make no distinction between absences for genuine...
and lacklustre grades. His main interest remained in the sciences, especially biology, while he treated other school subjects with indifference, to the dismay of his demanding father. Upon leaving school, Bell travelled to London to live with his grandfather, Alexander Bell. During the year he spent with his grandfather, a love of learning was born, with long hours spent in serious discussion and study. The elder Bell took great efforts to have his young pupil learn to speak clearly and with conviction, the attributes that his pupil would need to become a teacher himself. At age 16, Bell secured a position as a "pupil-teacher" of
elocutionElocution is the study of formal speaking in pronunciation, grammar, style, and tone.-History:In Western classical rhetoric, one of the five core disciplines was pronuntiatio, which was the art of delivering speeches. Orators were trained not only on proper diction, but on the proper use of...
and music, in Weston House Academy, at
ElginElgin is a former cathedral city and a former Royal Burgh in Moray, Scotland and is the administrative and commercial centre for Moray. The city originated to the south of the River Lossie on the higher ground above the flood plain. Elgin is first documented in the Cartulary of Moray in 1190...
,
MorayMoray is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland....
, Scotland. Although he was enrolled as a student in Latin and Greek, he instructed classes himself in return for board and £10 per session. The following year, he attended the
University of EdinburghThe University of Edinburgh founded in 1582, is an internationally renowned centre for teaching and research in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. It is the sixth university to be established in the British Isles, making it one of the ancient universities of the United Kingdom.The university is amongst the...
; joining his older brother Melville who had enrolled there the previous year.
First experiments with sound
Bell's father encouraged Aleck's interest in speech and, in 1863, took his sons to see a unique
automatonAn automaton is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot. An alternative spelling, now obsolete, is automation.- Etymology :...
, developed by Sir
Charles WheatstoneSir Charles Wheatstone FRS , was a British scientist and inventor of many scientific breakthroughs of the Victorian era, including the English concertina, the stereoscope , and the Playfair cipher...
based on the earlier work of
Baron Wolfgang von KempelenJohann Wolfgang Ritter von Kempelen de Pázmánd Johann Wolfgang Ritter von Kempelen de Pázmánd Johann Wolfgang Ritter von Kempelen de Pázmánd was a Hungarian author and inventor with Irish ancestors.-Life:...
. The rudimentary "mechanical man" simulated a
human voiceThe human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, etc. Human voice is specifically that part of human sound production in which the vocal folds are the primary sound source...
. Aleck was fascinated by the machine and after he obtained a copy of von Kempelen's book, published in German, and had laboriously translated it, he and his older brother Melville built their own automaton head. Their father, highly interested in their project, offered to pay for any supplies and spurred the boys on with the enticement of a "big prize" if they were successful. While his brother constructed the
throatIn anatomy, the throat is the anterior part of the neck, in front of the vertebral column. It consists of the pharynx and larynx. An important feature of the throat is the epiglottis, a flap which separates the esophagus from the trachea and prevents inhalation of food or drink.The throat...
and
larynxThe larynx , colloquially known as the voicebox, is an organ in the neck of mammals involved in protection of the trachea and sound production...
, Aleck tackled the more difficult task of recreating a realistic skull. His efforts resulted in a remarkably lifelike head that could "speak", albeit only a few words. The boys would carefully adjust the "lips" and when a
bellowsA bellows is a device for delivering pressurized air in a controlled quantity to a controlled location. Basically, a bellows is a deformable container which has an outlet nozzle. When the volume of the bellows is decreased, the air escapes through the outlet...
forced air through the
windpipeThe trachea, or windpipe, is a tube that connects to the pharynx or larynx, allowing the passage of air to the lungs. It is lined with pseudostratified ciliated columnar epithelium cells with mucosal goblet cells which produce mucus...
, a very recognizable "Mama" ensued, to the delight of neighbors who came to see the Bell invention.
Intrigued by the results of the automaton, Bell continued to experiment with a live subject, the family's
Skye TerrierThe Skye Terrier is a breed of dog that is a long, low terrier that is hardy.-Coat:The Skye is double coated, with a short, soft undercoat and a hard, straight topcoat, which must be flat against the body and free of curl. The ideal coat length is 5 1/2 inches , with no extra credit for a longer coat...
, "Trouve". After he taught it to growl continuously, Aleck would reach into its mouth and manipulate the dog's lips and
vocal cordsThe vocal folds, also known commonly as vocal cords, are composed of twin infoldings of mucous membrane stretched horizontally across the larynx. They vibrate, modulating the flow of air being expelled from the lungs during phonation...
to produce a crude-sounding "Ow ah oo ga ma ma." With little convincing, visitors believed his dog could articulate "How are you grandma?" More indicative of his playful nature, his experiments convinced onlookers that they saw a "talking dog." However, these initial forays into experimentation with sound led Bell to undertake his first serious work on the transmission of
soundSound is a travelling wave which is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.- Perception of sound...
, using
tuning forkA tuning fork is an acoustic resonator in the form of a two-pronged fork with the prongs formed from a U-shaped bar of elastic metal . It resonates at a specific constant pitch when set vibrating by striking it against a surface or with an object, and emits a pure musical tone after waiting a...
s to explore
resonanceIn physics, resonance is the tendency of a system to oscillate at larger amplitude at some frequencies than at others. These are known as the system's resonant frequencies . At these frequencies, even small periodic driving forces can produce large amplitude vibrations, because the system...
. At the age of 19, he wrote a report on his work and sent it to philologist
Alexander EllisAlexander John Ellis was an English mathematician and philologist. He changed his name from his father's name Sharpe to his mother's maiden name Ellis in 1825, based on a condition for receiving significant financial support from a relative on his mother's side.- Biography :Initially trained in...
, a colleague of his father (who would later be portrayed as Professor Henry Higgins in
PygmalionPygmalion is a play by George Bernard Shaw loosely inspired by the Greek myth of the same name. It tells the story of Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics who makes a bet with his friend Colonel Pickering that he can successfully pass off a Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, as a refined...
). Ellis immediately wrote back indicating that the experiments were similar to existing work in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
. Dismayed to find that groundbreaking work had already been undertaken by
Hermann von HelmholtzHermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz was a German physician and physicist who made significant contributions to several widely varied areas of modern science...
who had conveyed vowel sounds by means of a similar tuning fork "
contraptionA machine is any device that uses energy to perform some activity. In common usage, the meaning is that of a device having parts that perform or assist in performing any type of work. A simple machine is a device that transforms the direction or magnitude of a force without consuming any energy...
", he pored over the German scientist's book,
Sensations of Tone. Working from his own errant mistranslation of the original German edition, Aleck 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 vowelIn phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
sounds could be produced by electricalElectricity is a general term that encompasses a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge...
means so could consonantIn articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the upper vocal tract, the upper vocal tract being defined as that part of the vocal tract that lies above the larynx...
s, so could articulate speechSpeech is the human faculty of speaking.It may also refer to:* Public speaking, the process of speaking to a group of people* Manner of articulation, how the body parts involved in making speech are manipulated...
", and also later remarking:
"I thought that Helmhotz 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!"
Family tragedy
In 1865, when the Bell family moved to
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, Bell returned to Weston House as an assistant master and, in his spare hours, continued experiments on sound using a minimum of
laboratory equipmentLaboratory equipment refers to the various tools and equipment used by scientists working in a laboratory. These include tools such as Bunsen burners, and microscopes as well as specialty equipment such as operant conditioning chambers, spectrophotometers and calorimeters...
. Bell concentrated on experimenting with electricity to convey sound and later installed a telegraph wire from his room in Somerset College to that of a friend. Throughout the fall and winter of 1867, his health faltered mainly through exhaustion. His younger brother, Edward "Ted," was similarly bed-ridden, suffering from
tuberculosisTuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria...
. While Bell recovered (by then referring to himself in correspondence as "A.G. Bell") and served the next year as an instructor at
Somerset CollegeSomerset College is a non-denominational Christian school located in Mudgeeraba, Gold Coast, Australia.- History :Somerset College is one of Australia's leading independent Primary and Secondary education providers. From humble beginnings in 1983, Somerset College has achieved a much esteemed...
, Bath,
SomersetSomerset is a county in South West England. The county town is Taunton, which is in the south of the county. The ceremonial county of Somerset borders the counties of Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, his brother's condition deteriorated. Edward would never recover. Upon his brother's death, Bell returned home in 1867. His older brother, "Melly" had married and moved out. With aspirations to obtain a degree at the
University College LondonUniversity College London is a British university institution and a constituent college of the University of London, based primarily in Bloomsbury, London...
, Bell considered his next years as preparation for the degree examinations, devoting his spare time at his family's residence to studying.
Helping his father in Visible Speech demonstrations and lectures brought Bell to Susanna E. Hull's
private schoolPrivate schools, also known as independent schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students tuition, rather than relying on public funds...
for the deaf in
South KensingtonSouth Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. It is a built-up area located 2.4 miles west south-west of Charing Cross....
,
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
. 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 suffered a debilitating illness earlier in life and had been restored to health by a convalescence in
NewfoundlandNewfoundland and Labrador is a province of Canada on the country's Atlantic coast in northeastern North America. This easternmost Canadian province comprises two main parts: the island of Newfoundland off the country's eastern coast, and Labrador on the mainland to the northwest of the island.A...
. 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, conclude all of his brother's affairs (Bell took over his last student, curing a pronounced lisp), and join his father and mother in setting out for the "
New WorldThe New World is one of the names used for the non-Afro-Eurasian parts of the Earth, specifically the Americas and possibly Australia. When the term originated in the late 15th century, the Americas were new to the Europeans, who previously thought of the world as consisting only of Europe, Asia,...
." Reluctantly, Bell also had to conclude a relationship with Marie Eccleston, who, he had surmised, was not prepared to leave England with him.
Canada
In 1870, at age 23, Bell, his brother's widow, Caroline (Margaret Ottaway), and his parents travelled on the
SS Nestorian to Canada. After landing at
Quebec CityQuébec , is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in the province – after Montreal, about to the southwest...
, the Bells boarded a train to
MontrealMontreal is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie , the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the...
and later to
Paris, OntarioParis is a community on the Grand River in Ontario, Canada. In 1999, its town government was amalgamated into that of the County of Brant, Ontario, thus ending about 149 years as a separate incorporated municipality....
to stay with the Reverend Thomas Henderson, a family friend. After a brief stay with the Hendersons, the Bell family purchased a 10-and-a-half acre farm at Tutelo Heights (now called Tutela Heights), near Brantford,
OntarioOntario is a province located in east-central Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area. Ontario is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba to the west and Quebec to the east, and 5 U.S...
. The property consisted of an orchard, large farm house, stable, pigsty, hen-house and a carriage house, which bordered the
Grand RiverThe Grand River is a large river in southwestern Ontario, Canada. From its source, it flows south through Grand Valley, Fergus, Elora, Waterloo, Kitchener, Cambridge, Paris, Brantford, Caledonia, and Cayuga before emptying into the north shore of Lake Erie south of Dunnville at Port Maitland...
.
At the homestead, Bell set up his own workshop in the converted
carriage houseA carriage house, also called remise or coach house, is an outbuilding which was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and the related tack.- Current usages :...
near to what he called his "dreaming place", a large hollow nestled in trees at the back of the property above the river. Despite his frail condition upon arriving in Canada, Bell found the climate and environs to his liking, and rapidly improved. He continued his interest in the study of the human voice and when he discovered the
Six Nations ReserveSix Nations of the Grand River is the name applied to two contiguous Indian reserves southeast of Brantford, Ontario, Canada – Six Nations reserve no. 40 and Glebe Farm reserve no...
across the river at
Onondaga- Native American/First Nations :* Onondaga , a Native American/First Nations people and one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy* Onondaga language- Geology :...
, he learned the
Mohawk languageMohawk is a Native American language spoken by the Mohawk nation in the United States and Canada. It is part of the Iroquoian family. In schools of northern New York particularly in Native American Reservations Native American Languages are taught depending on the tribe in the...
and translated its unwritten vocabulary into Visible Speech symbols. For his work, Bell was awarded the title of Honorary Chief and participated in a ceremony where he donned a
MohawkMohawk" are an indigenous people of North America originally from the Mohawk Valley in upstate New York to southern Quebec and eastern Ontario. Their current settlements include areas around Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence River in Canada...
headdress and danced traditional dances.
After setting up his workshop, Bell continued experiments based on Helmholtz's work with electricity and sound. He designed a
pianoThe piano is a musical instrument which is played by means of a keyboard. Widely used in Western music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, which, by means of electricity, could transmit its music at a distance. 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
Subsequently, his father was invited by Sarah Fuller, principal of the
Boston School for Deaf MutesHorace Mann was an American education reformer, and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1827 to 1833. He served in the Massachusetts Senate from 1834-1837. Mann was a brother-in-law to author Nathaniel Hawthorne, their wives being sisters.-Education and early career:Horace Mann was...
(which continues today as the public
Horace Mann School for the DeafThe Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is the oldest public day school for the Deaf and hard of hearing in the United States , located in Allston, Massachusetts. The Horace Mann School is Boston Public School and has a rich history providing quality education for Deaf and hard of...
), in Boston,
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, to introduce the Visible Speech System by providing training for Fuller's instructors, but he declined the post, in favor of his son. Traveling to Boston in April 1871, Bell provided successful in training the school's instructors. He was subsequently asked to repeat the program at the
American Asylum for Deaf-mutesThe American School for the Deaf is the oldest permanent school for the deaf in United States. It was founded April 15, 1817 in Hartford, Connecticut by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc and became a state-supported school in 1817.-History:...
in Hartford,
ConnecticutConnecticut is a state in the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and New York to the west and south ....
and the
Clarke School for the DeafClarke School for the Deaf is a private school located in Northampton, Massachusetts that specializes in educating deaf children using the oral method and suggests to its students to refrain from using sign language while on campus. However, it respects the decisions of the student to use sign...
in
Northampton, MassachusettsNorthampton is a city in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 28,978 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Hampshire County...
.
Returning home to Brantford after six months abroad, Bell continued his experiments with his "harmonic telegraph". 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 as needed. Unsure of his future, he first contemplated returning to London to complete his studies, but decided to return to Boston as a teacher. His father helped him set up his private practice by contacting
Gardiner Greene HubbardGardiner Greene Hubbard was an American lawyer, financier, and philanthropist. He was one of the founders of the Bell Telephone Company and the first president of the National Geographic Society.-Biography:...
, the president of the Clarke School for the Deaf for a recommendation. Teaching his father's system, in October 1872 Alexander Bell opened his "School of Vocal Physiology and Mechanics of Speech" in Boston, which attracted a large number of deaf pupils with his first class numbering 30 students. Working as a private tutor, one of his most famous pupils was
Helen Keller Helen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree....
, who came to him as a young child unable to see, hear, or speak. She was to later say that Bell dedicated his life to the penetration of that "inhuman silence which separates and estranges."
Several influential people of the time, including Bell, viewed deafness as something that ought to be eradicated, and also believed that with resources and effort they could teach the deaf to speak and avoid the use of sign language, thus enabling their integration within the wider society many were often being excluded from. However in several schools children were mistreated, for example by having their hands tied behind their backs so they could not communicate by signing —the only language they knew— and were therefore forced to attempt oral based communications.
Continuing experimentation
In the following year, Bell became professor of Vocal Physiology and Elocution at the
Boston UniversityBoston University is a private nonsectarian university located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Although chartered by the Massachusetts Legislature in 1869, Boston University traces its roots to the establishment of the Newbury Biblical Institute in Newbury, Vermont in 1839...
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 notesIn music, the term note has two primary meanings:#a sign used in musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound;#a pitched sound itself....
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 houseA boarding house, is a house in which lodgers rent one or more rooms for one or more nights, and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months and years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and some services, such as laundry and cleaning, may be supplied. They normally provide "bed...
. Keeping up "
night owlNight owl is a term used to describe a person who tends to stay up until late at night. Another name for a night owl is evening person....
" 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. Worse still, his health deteriorated as he suffered severe headaches. Returning to Boston in fall 1873, Bell made a fateful decision to concentrate on his experiments in sound.
Deciding to give up his lucrative private Boston practice, Bell only retained two students, six-year old "Georgie" Sanders, deaf from birth and 15-year old Mabel Hubbard. Each pupil would serve to play an important role in the next developments. George's father, Thomas Sanders, a wealthy businessman, offered Bell a place to stay at nearby
SalemSalem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Lawrence are the county seats of Essex County...
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. Mabel was a bright, attractive girl who was ten years his junior but became the object of Bell's affection. Losing her hearing after a bout of
scarlet feverScarlet fever is a disease caused by an erythrogenic exotoxin released by Streptococcus pyogenes. The term Scarlatina may be used interchangeably with Scarlet Fever, though it is commonly used to indicate the less acute form of Scarlet Fever that is often seen since the beginning of the twentieth...
at age five, she had learned to read lips but her father, Gardiner Greene Hubbard, Bell's
benefactorA benefactor is a person who gives some form of help to benefit a person, group or organization , often gifting a monetary contribution in the form of an endowment to help a cause...
and personal friend, wanted her to work directly with her teacher.
Telephone
By 1874, Bell's initial work on the harmonic telegraph had entered a formative stage with progress it made both at his new Boston "laboratory" (a rented facility) as well as at his family home in Canada a big success.
While working that summer in Brantford, Bell experimented with a "phonautograph," a pen-like machine that could draw shapes of sound waves on
smoked glassSmoked glass is used to refer to two different types of glass. It can be either:1) A flat sheet of glass held in the smoke of a candle flame such that one surface of the sheet of glass is covered in a layer of smoke residue. This is then used as a medium for recording pen traces in scientific...
by tracing their vibrations. Bell thought it might be possible to generate undulating electrical currents that corresponded to sound waves. Bell also thought that multiple metal reeds tuned to different frequencies like a harp would be able to convert the undulatory currents back into sound. But he had no working model to demonstrate the feasibility of these ideas.
In 1874, telegraph message traffic was rapidly expanding and in the words of
Western UnionThe Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States. Its North American headquarters is in Greenwood Village, Colorado, and its international marketing and commercial services headquarters are in Montvale, New Jersey...
President William Orton, had become "the nervous system of commerce". Orton had contracted with inventors
Thomas EdisonThomas Alva Edison was an American inventor, scientist and businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb...
and
Elisha GrayElisha Gray was an American electrical engineer who co-founded the Western Electric Manufacturing Company. Gray is best known for his development of a telephone prototype in 1876 in Highland Park, Illinois and is considered by many to be the true inventor of the variable resistance telephone...
to find a way to send multiple
telegraphTelegraphy is the long-distance transmission of written messages without physical transport of letters. It is a compound term formed from the Greek words tele = far and graphein = write. Radiotelegraphy or wireless telegraphy transmits messages using radio...
messages on each telegraph line to avoid the great cost of constructing new lines. 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. Patent matters would be handled by Hubbard's
patent attorneyA patent attorney is an attorney who has the specialized qualifications necessary for representing clients in obtaining patents and acting in all matters and procedures relating to patent law and practice, such as filing an opposition...
,
Anthony PollokAnthony Pollok was an American patent attorney who, with Marcellus Bailey, helped prepare Alexander Graham Bell's patents for the telephone and related inventions.- Biography :...
.
In March 1875, Bell and Pollok visited the famous scientist
Joseph HenryJoseph Henry was an American scientist who served as the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. During his lifetime, he was considered one of the greatest American scientists since Benjamin Franklin. While building electromagnets, Henry discovered the electromagnetic phenomenon of...
, who was then director of the
Smithsonian InstitutionThe Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its shops and its magazines...
, 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. WatsonThomas Augustus Watson was an assistant to Alexander Graham Bell, notably in the invention of the telephone in 1876. He is best known because his name was one of the first words spoken over the telephone. "Mr. Watson - Come here - I want to see you." were the first words Bell said using the new...
, an experienced electrical designer and mechanic at the electrical machine shop of
Charles Williams-United Kingdom:* Sir Charles Hanbury Williams , Member of Parliament and satirist* Charles Williams, Baron Williams of Elvel , life peer ennobled in 1985...
, changed all that.
With financial support from Sanders and Hubbard, Bell was able to hire Thomas Watson as his assistant and the two of them experimented with
acoustic telegraphyAcoustic telegraphy was also known as harmonic telegraphy.During the 1800s inventors tried to find ways of sending multiple telegraph messages simultaneously over a single telegraph wire by using different audio frequencies for each message. These inventors included Charles Bourseul, Thomas...
. On 2 June 1875, Watson accidentally plucked one of the reeds and Bell, at the receiving end of the wire, heard the overtones of the reed; 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 "
gallowsA gallows is a frame, typically wooden, used for execution by hanging.A gallows can take several forms.*the simplest form resembles an inverted "L", with a single upright and a horizontal beam to which the rope noose would be attached.*the horizontal crossbeam is supported at both ends.*temporary...
"
sound-powered telephoneA sound-powered telephone is a communication device that allows users to talk to each other with the use of a handset, similar to a conventional telephone, but without the use of external power...
, which was able to transmit indistinct, voice-like sounds, but not clear speech.
The race to the patent office
In 1875, Bell developed an
acoustic telegraphThe Acoustic Telegraph was a method for multiplexing signal on a single telegraph wire. It used signals at different acoustic frequencies. A telegrapher used a conventional Morse key to tap out the message, the key pulses being sent as pulses of a specific frequency...
and drew up a
patent applicationA patent application is a request pending at a patent office for the grant of a patent for the invention described and claimed by that application. An application consists of a description of the invention , together with official forms and correspondence relating to the application...
for it. Since he had agreed to share U.S. profits with his investors Gardiner Hubbard and Thomas Sanders, Bell requested that an associate attempt to patent it in Britain, instructing his lawyers to apply for a patent in the U.S. only after they received word from Britain. (Britain would only issue patents for discoveries not previously patented elsewhere.)
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
caveatA patent caveat was a legal document filed with the United States Patent Office. Caveats were instituted by the US Patent Act of 1836, but were discontinued in 1909. A caveat was like a patent application with a description of an invention and drawings, but without claims. It was an official...
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 officeA patent office is a governmental or intergovernmental organization which controls the issue of patents. In other words, "patent offices are government bodies that may grant a patent or reject the patent application based on whether or not the application fulfils the requirements for...
. 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, 1876.
Bell's patent 174,465, was issued to Bell on March 7, 1876 by the
U.S. Patent OfficeThe United States Patent and Trademark Office is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that issues patents to inventors and businesses for their inventions, and trademark registration for product and intellectual property identification.The USPTO is currently based in Alexandria,...
. 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"
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.
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 which varied the
electrical resistanceThe electrical resistance of an object is a measure of its opposition to the passage of a steady electric current. An object of uniform cross section will have a resistance proportional to its length and inversely proportional to its cross-sectional area, and proportional to the resistivity of the...
in the circuit. When Bell spoke the famous sentence "Mr Watson — Come here —I want to see you" into the liquid transmitter, Watson, listening at the receiving end in an adjoining room, heard the words clearly.
Although Bell was accused, and is still accused, of stealing the telephone from Gray, Bell used Gray's water transmitter design only after Bell's patent was granted and only as a
proof of conceptProof of concept is a short and/or incomplete realization of a certain method or idea to demonstrate its feasibility, or a demonstration in principle, whose purpose is to verify that some concept or theory is probably capable of exploitation in a useful manner...
scientific experiment to prove to his own satisfaction that intelligible "articulate speech" (Bell's words) could be electrically transmitted. After March 1876, Bell focused on improving the electromagnetic telephone and never used Gray's liquid transmitter in public demonstrations or commercial use.
The
patent examinerA patent examiner or patent clerk is an employee, usually a civil servant, working at a patent office. Major employers of patent examiners are the European Patent Office , the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the Japan Patent Office.-Duties:Patent examiners review patent applications...
, Zenas Fisk Wilber, later stated in a sworn affidavit that he was an alcoholic who was much in debt to Bell's lawyer,
Marcellus BaileyMarcellus Bailey was an American patent attorney who, with Anthony Pollok, helped prepare Alexander Graham Bell's patents for the telephone and related inventions.-Biography:...
, with whom he had served in the Civil War. He claimed he showed Gray's patent caveat to Bailey. Wilber also claimed (after Bell arrived in Washington D.C. from Boston) that he showed Gray's caveat to Bell and that Bell paid him $100. Bell claimed they only discussed the patent in general terms, although in a letter to Gray, Bell admitted that he learned some of the technical details. Bell denied in a sworn affidavit that he ever gave Wilber any money.
Later developments
Continuing his experiments in Brantford, Bell brought home a working model of his telephone. On August 3, 1876, from the telegraph office in
Mount PleasantMount Pleasant is a reemerging community located in northwest portion of Brampton, Ontario. Historically, the community consisted mainly of agricultural lands with a farm named Mount Pleasant. Since opening the Mount Pleasant GO Station in 2006 The area has experienced rapid suburban growth.-See...
five miles (8 km) away from Brantford, Bell sent a tentative telegram indicating that he was ready. With curious onlookers packed into the office as witnesses, faint voices were heard replying. The following night, he amazed guests as well as his family when a message was received at the Bell home from Brantford, four miles (six km) distant along an improvised wire strung up along telegraph lines, fences, and laid through a tunnel. This time, guests at the household distinctly heard people in Brantford reading and singing. These experiments clearly proved that the telephone could work over long distances.
Bell and his partners, Hubbard and Sanders, offered to sell the patent outright to Western Union for $100,000. The president of Western Union balked, countering that the telephone was nothing but a toy. Two years later, he told colleagues that if he could get the patent for $25 million he would consider it a bargain. By then, the Bell company no longer wanted to sell the patent. Bell's investors would become millionaires while he fared well from residuals and he, at one point, had assets nearly reaching one million dollars.
Bell began a series of public demonstrations and lectures in order to introduce the new invention to the
scientific communityThe scientific community consists of the total body of scientists, its relationships and interactions. It is normally divided into "sub-communities" each working on a particular field within science. Objectivity is expected to be achieved by the scientific method...
as well as the general public. Only one day after his demonstration of an early telephone prototype at the 1876
Centennial ExpositionThe Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. It was officially the International Exhibition of...
in Philadelphia made the telephone the featured headline worldwide. Influential visitors to the exhibition included
Emperor Pedro II of BrazilPedro II , nicknamed "the Magnanimous" was the second and last Emperor of Brazil, having reigned for 58 years. His name in full was Pedro de Alcântara João Carlos Leopoldo Salvador Bibiano Francisco Xavier de Paula Leocádio Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga...
, and later Bell had the opportunity to personally demonstrate the invention to
William ThomsonWilliam Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin , OM, GCVO, PC, PRS, FRSE, was a British mathematical physicist and engineer...
, a renowned Scottish scientist and even Queen Victoria who had requested a private audience at
Osborne HouseOsborne House is a former royal residence in East Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK. The house was built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a summer home and rural retreat....
, her
Isle of WightThe Isle of Wight is an English island and a county, located 3-5 miles from the south coast of the mainland, in the English Channel. It is separated from mainland England by the Solent and is situated south of the county of Hampshire...
home; she called the demonstration "most extraordinary". The enthusiasm surrounding Bell's public displays laid the groundwork for universal acceptance of the revolutionary device.
The
Bell Telephone CompanyThe Bell Telephone Company was founded in 1878 by Alexander Graham Bell's father-in-law Gardiner Greene Hubbard, who also helped organize a sister company — the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company...
was created in 1877, and by 1886, over 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 microphoneThe carbon microphone, also known as a carbon button microphone or a carbon transmitter, is a sound-to-electrical signal transducer consisting of two metal plates separated by granules of carbon. One plate faces outward and acts as a diaphragm...
from Western Union. This made the telephone practical for long distances and it was no longer necessary to shout to be heard at the receiving telephone.
On January 25, 1915, Bell made the first transcontinental
telephone callA telephone call is a connection over a telephone network between the calling party and the called party.-Information transmission:A telephone call may carry ordinary voice transmission using a telephone, data transmission when the calling party and called party are using modems, or facsimile...
. Calling from 15 Day Street in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, Bell was heard by
Thomas Watson-Bishops:*Thomas Watson , Bishop of Lincoln from 1557-1560*Thomas Watson -Writers:*Thomas Watson , English poet and translator...
at 333 Grant Avenue in San Francisco. The New York Times reported:
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. Over a period of 18 years, the Bell Telephone Company faced over 600 lawsuits posing legal challenges concerning the rights to the telephone, but none was successful in establishing priority over the original Bell patent and the Bell Telephone Company never lost a case that had proceeded to a final trial stage. Bell's laboratory notes and family letters were the key to establishing a long lineage to his experiments. The Bell company lawyers successfully fought off myriad lawsuits generated initially around the challenges by Elisha Gray and
Amos DolbearAmos Emerson Dolbear was an American physicist and inventor. His patents interfered with Guglielmo Marconi's planned activities in the U.S. Dolbear researched electrical spark conversion into sound waves and electrical impulses. He was a professor at University of Kentucky in Lexington from 1868...
. In personal correspondence to Bell, both Gray and Dolbear had acknowledged his prior work, which considerably weakened their later claims.
On 13 January 1887, the United States 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 CourtA supreme court is in some jurisdictions the highest judicial body within that jurisdiction's court system, whose rulings are not subject to further review by another court. The designations for such courts differ among jurisdictions...
, though a couple of the original claims from the lower court cases were left undecided. By the time that the trial wound its way through nine years of legal battles, the U.S. prosecuting attorney had died and the two Bell patents (No. 174,465 and dated 7 March 1876 and No. 186,787 dated January 30, 1877) were no longer in effect, although the presiding judges agreed to continue the proceedings due to the case's importance as a
"precedent."Stare decisis is the legal principle by which judges are obliged to obey the precedents established by prior decisions.In the United States, which uses a common law system in its federal courts and most of its state courts, the Ninth...
With a change in administration and charges of
conflict of interestA conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other.A conflict of interest can only existif a person or testimony...
(on both sides) arising from the original trial, the
U.S. Attorney GeneralThe United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The Attorney General is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...
dropped the law suit on 30 November 1897 leaving several issues undecided
on the meritsOn the merits refers to a legal decision based on the facts in evidence and the law pertaining to those facts, because the judge considers technical and procedural defenses to be overcome or irrelevant....
.
During a deposition filed for the 1887 trial, Italian inventor
Antonio MeucciAntonio Meucci was an Italian inventor, who developed a form of voice communication apparatus in 1857...
also claimed to have created the first working model of a telephone in
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
in 1834. In 1886, in the first of three cases in which he was involved, Meucci took the stand as a witness in the hopes of establishing his invention's priority. Meucci's evidence in this case was disputed due to a lack of material evidence for his inventions as his working models were purportedly lost at the laboratory of
American District TelegraphADT Security Services, originally American District Telegraph now also known as ADT Fire and Security or simply ADT, is a division of Tyco International and a worldwide supplier of electronic security systems, fire alarm systems, communication systems, and integrated building management...
(ADT) of New York, which later, in 1901, was incorporated as a subsidiary of Western Union. Meucci's work, like many other inventors of the period, was based on earlier acoustic principles and despite evidence of earlier experiments, the final case involving Meucci was eventually dropped upon Meucci's death. However, due to the efforts of Congressman
Vito FossellaVito John Fossella, Jr. is a former U.S. Republican politician from the state of New York who represented the state's 13th Congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives for six terms, from 1997 to 2009. Fossella, a Staten Island native, was born to a family that included several...
, the U.S. House of Representatives on 11 June 2002 stated that Meucci's "work in the invention of the telephone should be acknowledged", even though this did not put an end to a still contentious issue. Some modern scholars do not agree with the claims that Bell's work on the telephone was influenced by Meucci's inventions.
The value of the Bell patent was acknowledged throughout the world, and patent applications were made in most major countries, but when Bell had delayed the German patent application, the electrical firm of
Siemens & Halske (S&H)Siemens AG is Europe's largest engineering conglomerate. Siemens' international headquarters are located in Berlin and Munich, Germany. The company is a conglomerate of three main business sectors: Industry, Energy and Healthcare with a total of 15 Divisions.Worldwide, Siemens and its subsidiaries...
managed to 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. 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.
Family life
On July 11, 1877, a few days after the
Bell Telephone CompanyThe Bell Telephone Company was founded in 1878 by Alexander Graham Bell's father-in-law Gardiner Greene Hubbard, who also helped organize a sister company — the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company...
was established, Bell married
Mabel HubbardMabel Gardiner Hubbard , was the daughter of Boston lawyer Gardiner Hubbard, and the wife of Alexander Graham Bell. - Biography :...
(1857–1923) at the Hubbard estate in
CambridgeCambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, a nexus of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Notably, Cambridge is home to two internationally prominent...
. His wedding present to his bride was to turn over 4,990 of his 5,000 shares in the newly created Bell Telephone Company.Shortly thereafter, the newlyweds embarked on a year-long honeymoon in Europe. During that excursion, Alec took a handmade model of his telephone with him, making it a "working holiday". The courtship had begun years earlier, however Alexander 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. 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." They had four children: Elsie May Bell (1878–1964) who married Gilbert Grosvenor of National Geographic fame, Marian Hubbard Bell (1880–1962) who was referred to as "Daisy", and two sons who died in infancy. The Bell family home was located in
Cambridge, MassachusettsCambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, a nexus of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Notably, Cambridge is home to two internationally prominent...
until 1880 when Bell's father-in-law bought a house, and then later in 1882 the
Brohead Mansion, in
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
for the Bell family, so that Alec's family could be with him while he attended to the numerous court cases involving patent disputes.
Bell was a
British subjectIn British nationality law, the term British subject has at different times had different meanings. The current definition of the term British subject is contained in the British Nationality Act 1981.- Prior to 1949 :...
throughout his early life in Scotland and later in Canada until 1882, when he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. In 1915, he characterized his status as:
"I am not one of those hyphenated Americans who claim allegiance to two countries." Despite this declaration, Bell has been claimed as a "native son" by
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Scotland and the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. By 1885, a new summer retreat was contemplated. That summer, the Bells had a vacation on
Cape Breton IslandCape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the French word "Breton", referring to Brittany.Cape Breton Island is part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada...
in
Nova ScotiaNova Scotia is a Canadian province located on Canada's southeastern coast. It is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. Its capital, Halifax, is a major economic centre of the region. Nova Scotia is the second-smallest province in Canada with an area of...
, spending time at the small village of Baddeck. Returning in 1886, Bell started building an estate on a point across from Baddeck, overlooking
Bras d'Or LakeBras d'Or Lake is a large body of salt water dominating the centre of Cape Breton Island in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. Bras d'Or Lake is sometimes referred to as the Bras d'Or Lakes or the Bras d'Or Lakes system, however its official geographic name is Bras d'Or Lake as it is a singular...
. By 1889, a large house, christened
The Lodge was completed and two years later, a larger complex of buildings were begun that the Bells would name Beinn Bhreagh (Gaelic:
beautiful mountain) after Alec's ancestral
Scottish highlandsThe Scottish Highlands include the rugged and mountainous regions of Scotland north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east...
. Bell would spend his final, and some of his most productive, years in residence in both Washington, D.C., where he and his family initially resided for most of the year, and
Beinn BhreaghBeinn Bhreagh is the name given to the estate of Alexander Graham Bell and his descendants located in Victoria County, Nova Scotia. It translates to "beautiful mountain" in Scottish Gaelic...
.
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 annual stays lengthened. Both Mabel and Alec became immersed in the Baddeck community and were accepted by the villagers as "their own". The Bells were still in residence at
Beinn Bhreagh when the
Halifax ExplosionThe Halifax Explosion occurred on Thursday, December 6, 1917, when the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, was devastated by the huge detonation of the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship, fully loaded with wartime explosives, which accidentally collided with the Norwegian SS Imo in "The Narrows"...
occurred on 6 December 1917. Mabel and Alec mobilized the community to help victims in Halifax.
Later inventions
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 GrayCharlotte Gray, CM is a Canadian historian and author.Born in England and educated at Oxford University and the London School of Economics, Gray came to Canada in 1979. She worked for a number of years as a journalist, writing a regular column on national politics for Saturday Night and appearing...
, Bell's work ranged
"unfettered across the scientific landscape" and he often went to bed voraciously reading the
Encyclopaedia Britannica, scouring it for new areas of interest. 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
photophoneThe Photophone was invented jointly by Alexander Graham Bell and his assistant Charles Sumner Tainter on February 19, 1880. Bell believed the photophone was his most important invention. The device allowed for the transmission of sound on a beam of light...
, one for the
phonographThe record player, phonograph or gramophone was the most common device for playing recorded sound from the late 1870s until the late 1980s.- Terminology :...
, five for aerial vehicles, four for "hydroairplanes" and two for
seleniumSelenium is a chemical element with the atomic number 34, represented by the chemical symbol Se, an atomic mass of 78.96. It is a nonmetal, chemically related to sulfur and tellurium, and rarely occurs in its elemental state in nature....
cells. Bell's inventions spanned a wide range of interests and included a metal jacket to assist in breathing, the
audiometerAn audiometer is a machine used for evaluating hearing loss. The invention of this machine is generally credited to Dr. Harvey Fletcher of Brigham Young University. Audiometers are standard equipment at ENT clinics and in audiology centers...
to detect minor hearing problems, a device to locate icebergs, investigations on how to separate salt from seawater, and work on finding
alternative fuelAlternative fuels, also known as non-conventional fuels, are any materials or substances that can be used as fuels, other than conventional fuels...
s.
Bell worked extensively in medical research and invented techniques for teaching speech to the deaf. During his Volta Laboratory period, Bell and his associates considered impressing a
magnetic fieldMagnetic fields surround magnetic materials and electric currents and are detected by the force they exert on other magnetic materials and moving electric charges...
on a record as a means of reproducing sound. Although the trio briefly experimented with the concept, they were unable to develop a workable prototype. They abandoned the idea, never realizing they had glimpsed a basic principle which would one day find its application in the
tape recorderThis article deals mainly with analog tape recorders for audio applications; information on digital recording, recording of video signals, and recording of data can be found in other articles....
, the hard disc and floppy disc drive and other magnetic media.
Bell's own home used a primitive form of
air conditioningAn air conditioner is a home appliance, system, or mechanism designed to dehumidify and extract heat from an area, or provide heat to an area. The cooling is done using a simple refrigeration cycle...
, in which fans blew currents of air across great blocks of ice. He also anticipated modern concerns with fuel shortages and industrial pollution.
MethaneMethane is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest alkane, and the principal component of natural gas. Methane's bond angles are 109.5 degrees. Burning methane in the presence of oxygen produces carbon dioxide and water. The relative abundance of methane and its clean...
gas, he reasoned, could be produced from the waste of farms and factories. At his Canadian estate in Nova Scotia, he experimented with
composting toiletA composting toilet is an aerobic processing system that treats excreta, typically with no water or small volumes of flush water, via composting or managed aerobic decomposition...
s and devices to capture water from the atmosphere. In a magazine interview published shortly before his death, he reflected on the possibility of using
solar panelA photovoltaic module or photovoltaic panel is a packaged interconnected assembly of photovoltaic cells, also known as solar cells. The photovoltaic module, known more commonly as the solar panel, is then used as a component in a larger photovoltaic system to offer electricity for commercial and...
s to heat houses.
Metal detector
Bell is also credited with the invention of the
metal detectorA metal detector is a device which uses electromagnetic induction to detect metal.The simplest form of a metal detector consists of an oscillator producing an alternating current that passes through a coil producing an alternating magnetic field...
in 1881. The device was quickly put together in an attempt to find the bullet in the body of
U.S. PresidentThe President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition...
James GarfieldJames Abram Garfield was the 20th President of the United States. His death, two months after being shot and six months after his inauguration, made his tenure, at 199 days, the second shortest in United States history.Before his election as president, Garfield served as a major general in the...
. The metal detector worked flawlessly in tests but did not find the assassin's bullet partly because the metal bed frame the President was lying on disturbed the instrument, resulting in static. The president's surgeons, who were sceptical of the device, ignored Bell's requests to move the president to a bed not fitted with metal springs. Alternately, although Bell had detected a slight sound on his first test, the bullet may have lodged too deeply to be detected by the crude apparatus. Bell gave a full account of his experiments in a paper read before the
American Association for the Advancement of ScienceThe American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation between scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for...
(AAAS) in August 1882.
Hydrofoils
The March 1906
Scientific AmericanScientific American is a popular science magazine published since August 28, 1845, which according to the magazine makes it the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States...
article by American
hydrofoilA hydrofoil is a winglike structure or foil, attached to the hull of a boat that raises all or part of the hull out of the water when the boat is moving forward, thus reducing drag....
pioneer William E. Meacham explained the basic principle of
hydrofoilA hydrofoil is a winglike structure or foil, attached to the hull of a boat that raises all or part of the hull out of the water when the boat is moving forward, thus reducing drag....
s and
hydroplaneA hydroplane is a type of motorboat used exclusively for racing.A key aspect of Hydroplanes is that they only use the water they're on for propulsion and steering —when going at full speed they are primarily held aloft by a principle of fluid dynamics known as "planing", with only a tiny fraction...
s. Bell considered the invention of the hydroplane as a very significant achievement. Based on information gained from that article he began to sketch concepts of what is now called a hydrofoil boat. Bell and assistant
Frederick W. "Casey" BaldwinFrederick Walker Baldwin , also known as Casey Baldwin, was an engineer and a hydrofoil and aviation pioneer who was also the first Canadian to pilot an aircraft.-Biography:...
began hydrofoil experimentation in the summer of 1908 as a possible aid to airplane takeoff from water. Baldwin studied the work of the Italian inventor
Enrico ForlaniniEnrico Forlanini was an Italian engineer, inventor and aeronautical pioneer, well known for his works on helicopters, aircraft, hydrofoils and dirigibles. He was born in Milan...
and began testing models. This led him and Bell to the development of practical hydrofoil watercraft.
During his world tour of 1910–1911, Bell and Baldwin met with Forlanini in France. They had rides in the Forlanini hydrofoil boat over
Lake MaggioreLake Maggiore is the most westerly of the three large prealpine lakes of Italy and the second largest after Lake Garda. It lies approximately at .It has a surface area of about 213 km², a maximum length of 54 km and, at its widest, is 12 km...
. Baldwin described it as being as smooth as flying. On returning to Baddeck, a number of initial concepts were built as experimental models, including the
Dhonnas Beag, the first self-propelled Bell-Baldwin hydrofoil. The experimental boats were essentially proof-of-concept prototypes that culminated in the more substantial HD-4, powered by
RenaultRenault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, buses, tractors, and trucks. Due to its alliance with Nissan, it is currently the world's fourth largest automaker. Headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt, Renault owns the Romanian automaker Automobile Dacia and the Korean automaker Renault...
engines. A top speed of 54
miles per hourThe mile per hour is a unit of speed, measured in Imperial units expressing the number of international miles covered per hour.It is currently the unit used for speed limits, and speeds, on roads in the United Kingdom and United States...
(87 km/h) was achieved, with the hydrofoil exhibiting rapid acceleration, good stability and steering along with the ability to take waves without difficulty. In 1913, Dr. Bell hired Walter Pinaud, a Sydney yacht designer and builder as well as the proprietor of Pinaud's Yacht Yard in
Westmount, Nova ScotiaWestmount is a community in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.-Geography:Located on the west bank of the Sydney River at the point where Sydney Harbour begins, Westmount faces Sydney's downtown. Neighbouring communities include Point Edward, Coxheath and Edwardsville...
to work on the pontoons of the HD-4. Pinaud soon took over the boatyard at Bell Laboratories on Beinn Bhreagh, Bell's estate near
Baddeck, Nova ScotiaBaddeck is a Canadian village in Victoria County, Nova Scotia.It is the county's shire town and is situated on the northern shore of Bras d'Or Lake on Cape Breton Island...
. Pinaud's experience in boat-building enabled him to make useful design changes to the HD-4. After the
First World WarWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
, work began again on the HD-4. Bell's report to the
U.S. NavyThe United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
permitted him to obtain two 350
horsepowerHorsepower is the name of several non-SI units of power. It was originally defined to allow the output of steam engines to be measured and compared with the power output of draft horses. The horsepower was widely adopted to measure the output of piston engines, turbines, electric motors and other...
(260
kWThe watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units . It measures rate of energy conversion. One watt is equivalent to 1 joule of energy per second....
) engines in July 1919. On 9 September 1919, the HD-4 set a world marine speed record of 70.86 miles per hour (114.04 km/h), a record which stood for ten years.
Aeronautics
In 1891, Bell had begun experiments to develop motor-powered
heavier-than-air aircraftAn aircraft is a vehicle which is able to fly by being supported by the air, or in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil An aircraft is a vehicle which is able to fly by being supported...
.
The AEA was first formed as Bell shared the vision to fly with his wife, who advised him to seek "young" help as Alexander was at the graceful age of 60.
In 1898, Bell experimented with tetrahedral
box kite
A box kite is a high-performance kite, noted for developing relatively high lift. The typical design has four parallel struts. The box is made rigid with diagonal crossed struts. There are two sails, or ribbons, whose width is about a quarter of the length of the box. The ribbons wrap around...
s and wings constructed of multiple compound
tetrahedral kiteA tetrahedral kite is a multicelled rigid box kite composed of tetrahedrally shaped cells. The cells are usually arranged in such a way that the entire kite is also a regular tetrahedron. The kite can be described as a compound dihedral kite as well....
s covered in silk. The tetrahedral wings were named
Cygnet I, II and III, and were flown both unmanned and manned (
Cygnet I crashed during a flight carrying Selfridge) in the period from 1907–1912. Some of Bell's kites are on display at the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site.
Bell was a supporter of
aerospace engineeringAerospace engineering is the branch of engineering behind the design, construction and science of aircraft and spacecraft. It is broken into two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering...
research through the
Aerial Experiment AssociationThe Aerial Experiment Association was a Canadian aeronautical research group formed on 30 September 1907, under the tutelage of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell...
(AEA), officially formed at Baddeck, Nova Scotia, in October 1907 at the suggestion of Mrs. Mabel Bell and with her financial support. The AEA was headed by Bell and the founding members were four young men: American Glenn H. Curtiss, a motorcycle manufacturer at the time termed the "world's fastest man" having had ridden his self-constructed motor bicycle around in the shortest time, later was awarded the Scientific American Trophy for the first official one-kilometre flight in the
Western hemisphereThe Western Hemisphere, also Western hemisphere or western hemisphere, is a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian , the other half being the eastern hemisphere...
and became a world-renowned airplane manufacturer; Lieutenant
Thomas SelfridgeThomas Etholen Selfridge was a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and the first person to die in a crash of a powered airplane.-Biography:...
, an official observer from the
U.S. governmentThe federal government of the United States is the central government entity established by the United States Constitution, which shares sovereignty over the United States with the governments of the individual U.S. states. The federal government has three branches: the legislative, executive, and...
and the only person in the army who believed aviation was the future,
Frederick W. BaldwinFrederick Walker Baldwin , also known as Casey Baldwin, was an engineer and a hydrofoil and aviation pioneer who was also the first Canadian to pilot an aircraft.-Biography:...
, the first Canadian and first British subject to pilot a public flight in
Hammondsport, New YorkHammondsport is a village in Steuben County, New York, United States. The population was 731 at the 2000 census. The village is named after its founding father.The Village of Hammondsport is in the Town of Urbana and is northeast of Bath, New York....
; and J.A.D. McCurdy; both engineering students at University of Toronto.
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
Red WingThe Red Wing was an early aircraft designed by Thomas Selfridge and built by the Aerial Experiment Association in 1908. It was named for the bright red color of its silk wings - chosen to achieve the best result with the photography techniques of the day.On 12 March 1908 Frederick W...
, framed in bamboo and covered in red silk and powered by a small
air-cooledInternal combustion engine cooling refers to the cooling of an internal combustion engine, typically using either air or a liquid.-History:The change of air cooling to liquid cooling occurred at the start of World War II when the US military needed reliable vehicles. The subject of boiling engines...
engine. On March 12, 1908, over
Keuka LakeKeuka Lake is an unusual member of the Finger Lakes because it is Y-shaped instead of long and narrow. Because of its shape, it was referred to in the past as Crooked Lake...
, the biplane lifted off on the first public flight in North America. The innovations that were incorporated into this design included a cockpit enclosure and
tail rudderA rudder is a device used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft,or other conveyance that moves through a fluid . On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw and p-factor and is not the primary control used to turn the airplane...
(later variations on the original design would add ailerons as a means of control). One of the AEA project's inventions, the
aileronFor the band with a similar name, see The AileronsAilerons are hinged control surfaces attached to the trailing edge of the wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. The ailerons are used to control the aircraft in roll...
, is a standard component of aircraft today. (The aileron was also invented independently by
Robert Esnault-PelterieRobert Albert Charles Esnault-Pelterie was a pioneering French aircraft designer and spaceflight theorist. He was born in Paris, the son of a textile industrialist...
.) The
White Wing and
June Bug were to follow and by the end of 1908, over 150 flights without mishap had been accomplished. However, the AEA had depleted its initial reserves and only a $10,000 grant from Mrs. Bell allowed it to continue with experiments.
Their final aircraft design, the
Silver DartThe Silver Dart was a derivative of an early aircraft built by a Canadian/U.S. team, which after many successful flights in Hammondsport, New York, earlier in 1909, was dismantled and shipped to Baddeck, Nova Scotia...
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. 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.
Eugenics
Along with many very prominent thinkers and scientists of the time, Bell was connected with the
eugenicsEugenics is the study and practice of selective breeding applied to humans, with the aim of improving the species. Widely popular in the early decades of the 20th century, after having become associated with the Holocaust, it has largely fallen into disrepute.- Overview :As a social movement...
movement in the United States. In his lecture
Memoir upon the formation of a deaf variety of the human race presented to the
National Academy of SciencesThe National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine."The group holds a congressional charter under Title 36 of the United States Code....
on 13 November 1883 he noted that congenitally deaf parents were more likely to produce deaf children and tentatively suggested that couples where both parties were deaf should not marry. However, it was his hobby of livestock breeding which led to his appointment to biologist
David Starr JordanDavid Starr Jordan, Ph.D., LL.D. was a leading eugenicist, ichthyologist , educator and peace activist. He was president of Indiana University and Stanford University....
's Committee on Eugenics, under the auspices of the American Breeders Association. The committee unequivocally extended the principle to man. From 1912 until 1918 he was the chairman of the board of scientific advisers to the
Eugenics Record OfficeThe Eugenics Record Office at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Cold Spring Harbor, New York was a center for eugenics and human heredity research in the first half of the twentieth century. Both its founder, Charles Benedict Davenport, and its director, Harry H...
associated with
Cold Spring Harbor LaboratoryThe Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is a private, non-profit institution with research programs focusing on cancer, neurobiology, plant genetics, genomics and bioinformatics. The Laboratory has a broad educational mission, including the recently established Watson School of Biological Sciences. It...
in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, and regularly attended meetings. In 1921, he was the honorary president of the Second International Congress of Eugenics held under the auspices of the
American Museum of Natural HistoryThe American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York, USA, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
in New York. Organisations such as these advocated passing laws (with success in some states) that established the
compulsory sterilizationCompulsory sterilization or also called forced sterilization programs are government policies which attempt to force people to undergo surgical sterilization...
of people deemed to be, as Bell called them, a "defective variety of the human race". By the late 1930s, about half the states in the U.S. had eugenics laws, and the
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
laws were used as a model for eugenics laws in
Nazi GermanyNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
.
Legacy and honors
Honors and tributes flowed to Bell in increasing numbers as his most famous 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. During his life he also received dozens of major awards, medals and other tributes. These included statuary monuments to both him and the new form of communication his telephone created, notably the
Bell Telephone Memorial erected in his honor in Brantford, Ontario's Alexander Graham Bell Gardens
in 1917.
A large number of Bell's writings, personal correspondence, notebooks, papers and other documents reside at both the United States Library of Congress Manuscript DivisionThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress and is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and holds the largest number of books. The head...
(as the Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers), and at the
Alexander Graham Bell Institute,
Cape Breton UniversityCape Breton University , formerly the "University College of Cape Breton" , is a Canadian university in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, near Sydney, Nova Scotia. Primarily an undergraduate institution, CBU is the only university located in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. It has an enrollment of...
,
Nova ScotiaNova Scotia is a Canadian province located on Canada's southeastern coast. It is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. Its capital, Halifax, is a major economic centre of the region. Nova Scotia is the second-smallest province in Canada with an area of...
; 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 companiesA telephone company provides telecommunications services such as telephony and data communications. Most of the largest telcos, whatever their origins, are or were at one time nationalized or state-regulated monopolies...
of the United States and Canada. Among the major sites are:
- Park's Canada's
Parks Canada is a Government of Canada agency that is mandated to protect and present nationally significant examples of Canada's natural and cultural heritage and foster public understanding, appreciation and enjoyment in ways that ensure their ecological and commemorative integrity for present...
Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site, which incorporates the Alexander Graham Bell Museum, in Baddeck, Nova ScotiaBaddeck is a Canadian village in Victoria County, Nova Scotia.It is the county's shire town and is situated on the northern shore of Bras d'Or Lake on Cape Breton Island...
, close to the Bell estate Beinn Bhreagh;
- The Bell Homestead, also known as Melville House, overlooking Brantford, Ontario
Brantford is a city located on the Grand River in Southern Ontario, Canada. This single-tier municipality is geographically within Brant County and they are part of the same census division, but Brantford is municipally distinct from it...
and the Grand RiverThe Grand River is a large river in southwestern Ontario, Canada. From its source, it flows south through Grand Valley, Fergus, Elora, Waterloo, Kitchener, Cambridge, Paris, Brantford, Caledonia, and Cayuga before emptying into the north shore of Lake Erie south of Dunnville at Port Maitland...
, which was the Bell family's first home in North America;
- Canada's first telephone company building, the Henderson Home, of the nascent 1877 Bell Telephone Company of Canada, which was carefully relocated in 1969 to the historic Bell Homestead. The Bell Homestead and the Bell Telephone Company Building are both maintained by the Bell Homestead Society in Brantford, Ontario
Brantford is a city located on the Grand River in Southern Ontario, Canada. This single-tier municipality is geographically within Brant County and they are part of the same census division, but Brantford is municipally distinct from it...
;
- The Alexander Graham Bell Memorial Park, which features a broad neoclassical monument built in 1917 by public subscription. The monument graphically depicts mankind's ability to span the globe through telecommunications;
- The Alexander Graham Bell Museum (opened in 1956), which is part of the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site, which was completed in 1978 in Baddeck, Nova Scotia
Baddeck is a Canadian village in Victoria County, Nova Scotia.It is the county's shire town and is situated on the northern shore of Bras d'Or Lake on Cape Breton Island...
. Many of the museum's artifacts were contributed by Bell's daughters;
In 1880, Bell received the
Volta PrizeThe Volta Prize was established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1803 to honor Alessandro Volta, an Italian physicist noted for developing the battery. In 1801, Alessandro Volta was summoned to Paris to demonstrate his great discovery before the French Academy of Sciences. Bonaparte declared his...
of 50,000 francs (approximately US$10,000) for the invention of the telephone from L’
Académie françaiseL'Académie française, or the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution, it was...
, representing the French government, in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Among the luminaries who judged were
Victor HugoVictor-Marie Hugo was a French poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
and
père Alexandre DumasAlexandre Dumas, père, born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his numerous historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...
. The Volta Prize was established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1803 to honor
Alessandro VoltaCount Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta was an Italian physicist known especially for the development of the first electric cell in 1800.-Early life and works:...
, and Bell received only the third such prize in its history. Since Bell was becoming increasingly affluent, he used his
prize moneyGenerally, prize money or purse is a monetary prize awarded for winning or coming a place in a competition. Prize money also has a distinct meaning in naval warfare; it was a monetary reward paid out to the crew of a ship for capturing an enemy vessel....
to create endowment funds (the 'Volta Fund') and institutions in and around the United States capital of
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
. They included the prestigious 'Volta Laboratory Association'
(1880), also known as the 'Volta Laboratories'
and as the 'Alexander Graham Bell Laboratory',
as well as creating the Volta BureauVolta Bureau, also known as the Alexander Graham Bell Laboratory, the Bell Carriage House, Bell Laboratory or Volta Laboratory, is in NW area of Washington, D.C.....
(1887) as a center for studies on deafness. The Volta Laboratory became a permanently funded experimental facility devoted to scientific discovery, and the very next year invented a wax phonographThe record player, phonograph or gramophone was the most common device for playing recorded sound from the late 1870s until the late 1980s.- Terminology :...
cylinder that was later used by Thomas Edison; The laboratory was also the site where he and his assistant invented his 'proudest achievement',
the photophoneThe Photophone was invented jointly by Alexander Graham Bell and his assistant Charles Sumner Tainter on February 19, 1880. Bell believed the photophone was his most important invention. The device allowed for the transmission of sound on a beam of light...
, the optical telephone which presaged
fibre optical telecommunicationsFiber-optic communication is a method of transmitting information from one place to another by sending pulses of light through an optical fiber. The light forms an electromagnetic carrier wave that is modulated to carry information...
.
In partnership with Gardiner Hubbard, Bell helped established the publication
ScienceScience is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is considered one of the world's most prestigious scientific journals. The peer-reviewed journal, first published in 1880 is circulated weekly and has a print subscriber base of around 130,000...
during the early 1880s. In 1888, Bell was one of the founding members of the
National Geographic SocietyThe National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...
and became its second president (1897–1904), and also became a Regent of the Smithsonian Institution (1898–1922). The
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
government conferred on him the decoration of the
Légion d'honneurThe Légion d'honneur or Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
(Legion of Honour); the
Royal Society of ArtsThe Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce is a British multi-disciplinary institution, based in London. The name Royal Society of Arts is frequently used for brevity . It was founded in 1754 and was granted a Royal Charter in 1847...
in London awarded him the
Albert MedalThe Albert Medal of the Royal Society of Arts was instituted in 1864 as a memorial to Prince Albert, who had been President of the Society for 18 years. It was first awarded in 1864 for "distinguished merit in promoting Arts, Manufactures and Commerce"...
in 1902; and the
University of WürzburgThe University of Würzburg is a university in Würzburg, Germany, founded in 1402. The university is a member of the Coimbra Group.-Name:The University’s official name is Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg which translates to Julius Maximilian University Würzburg but it is commonly referred to...
,
BavariaBavaria , with an area of and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, is located in the southeast of Germany and is the largest state of Germany by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, granted him a Ph.D. He was awarded the
AIEEThe American Institute of Electrical Engineers was a United States based organization of electrical engineers that existed between 1884 and 1963...
's Edison Medal in 1914 "For meritorious achievement in the invention of the telephone."
The bel
(B) and the smaller decibelThe decibel is a logarithmic unit of measurement that expresses the magnitude of a physical quantity relative to a specified or implied reference level. Since it expresses a ratio of two quantities with the same unit, it is a dimensionless unit...
(dB) are
units of measurementA measurement unit is a scalar quantity, defined and adopted by convention, with which any other quantity of the same kind can be compared to express the ratio of the two quantities as a number....
of
sound intensityThe sound intensity, I, is defined as the sound power Pac per unit area A. The usual context is the noise measurement of sound intensity in the air at a listener's location...
invented by
Bell LabsBell Laboratories is the research and development organization of Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company .Bell Laboratories has had its headquarters at Murray Hill, New Jersey, and it has research and development facilities...
and named after him. Since 1976 the IEEE's
Alexander Graham Bell MedalThe IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal is an award that honors outstanding contributions in the field of telecommunications. It was instituted by the IEEE Board of Directors in 1976, commemorating the centennial of the invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell...
has been awarded to honor outstanding contributions in the field of telecommunications.
The 150th anniversary of Bell's birth in 1997 was marked by a special issue of commemorative £1
banknoteA banknote is a kind of negotiable instrument, a promissory note made by a bank payable to the bearer on demand, used as money, and in many jurisdictions is legal tender. Along with coins, banknotes make up the cash or bearer forms of all modern money...
s from the Royal Bank of Scotland. The illustrations on the reverse of the note include Bell's face in profile, his signature, and objects from Bell's life and career: users of the telephone over the ages; an audio
wave signalWaveform means the shape and form of a signal such as a wave moving in a solid, liquid or gaseous medium.In many cases the medium in which the wave is being propagated does not permit a direct visual image of the form. In these cases, the term 'waveform' refers to the shape of a graph of the...
; a diagram of a telephone receiver; geometric shapes from engineering structures; representations of sign language and the
phonetic alphabetPhonetic alphabet can mean:* phonetic transcription system: a system for transcribing the precise sounds of human speech into writing.** International Phonetic Alphabet : the most widespread such system...
; the geese which helped him to understand
flightFlight is the process by which an object moves either through the air, or movement beyond earth's atmosphere , by aerodynamically generating lift, propulsive thrust or aerostatically using buoyancy, or by simple ballistic movement.-Buoyant flight:Humans, although not apparently other animals, have...
; and the sheep which he studied to understand
geneticsGenetics, , a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and variation in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding...
.. Additionally, the Government of Canada honoured Bell in 1997 with a $100
CADThe Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. It is divided into 100 cents...
gold coinA gold coin is a coin made mostly or entirely of gold. Gold has been used for coins practically since the invention of coinage, originally because of gold's intrinsic value...
, in tribute also to the 150th anniversary of his birth, and with a
silver dollarSilver dollar may refer to:* A United States dollar coin made of any white metal, especially one made of silver.* A Canadian Silver Dollar commemorative coin.* Silver trade dollars issued by a number of countries...
coin in 2009 to honour of the 100
th anniversary of flight in Canada. That first flight was made by an airplane designed under Dr. Bell's tutelage, named the
Silver DartThe Silver Dart was a derivative of an early aircraft built by a Canadian/U.S. team, which after many successful flights in Hammondsport, New York, earlier in 1909, was dismantled and shipped to Baddeck, Nova Scotia...
Bell's image, and also those of his many inventions have graced paper money, coinage and postal stamps in numerous countries worldwide for many dozens of years.
Bell's name is widely known and still used as part of the names of dozens of educational institutes, corporate namesakes, street and place names around the world. Alexander Graham Bell was also ranked 57th among
the 100 Greatest Britons100 Greatest Britons was broadcast in 2002 by the BBC. The programme was the result of a vote conducted to determine whom the United Kingdom public considers the greatest British people have been in history....
(2002) in an official
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
nationwide poll, and among the
Top Ten Greatest CanadiansOfficially launched on April 5, 2004, The Greatest Canadian was a television program series by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to determine who is considered to be the greatest Canadian of all time, at least among those who watched and participated in the program...
(2004), and
the 100 Greatest AmericansThe Greatest American was a four-part American television series hosted by Matt Lauer in 2005. The show featured biographies and lists of influential persons in U.S. history, and culminated in a contest in which millions the audience nominated and voted for the person they felt was the "greatest...
(2005).
Honorary Degrees
Alexander Graham Bell, who was unable to complete the university program of his youth, received numerous
Honorary DegreeAn honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements...
s from academic institutions, including: Gallaudet College in
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
(
Ph.DDoctor of Philosophy, abbreviated PhD , for the Latin , meaning "teacher of philosophy", or alternatively, DPhil, for the equivalent , is an advanced academic degree awarded by universities...
) in 1880
http://provost.gallaudet.edu/Academic_Affairs/Honorary_Degrees/Honorary_Degree_Recipients.html Harvard UniversityHarvard University is a private university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and currently comprises ten separate academic units...
in
Cambridge, MassachusettsCambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, a nexus of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Notably, Cambridge is home to two internationally prominent...
(
LL.DDoctor of Laws is a doctoral degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country, and includes degree such as the LL.D., Ph.D., Dr. iur., D.C.L., and S.J.D. or J.S.D...
) in 1896
University of WürzburgThe University of Würzburg is a university in Würzburg, Germany, founded in 1402. The university is a member of the Coimbra Group.-Name:The University’s official name is Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg which translates to Julius Maximilian University Würzburg but it is commonly referred to...
in
WürzburgWürzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located on the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....
,
BavariaBavaria , with an area of and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, is located in the southeast of Germany and is the largest state of Germany by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
(
Ph.DDoctor of Philosophy, abbreviated PhD , for the Latin , meaning "teacher of philosophy", or alternatively, DPhil, for the equivalent , is an advanced academic degree awarded by universities...
) in 1902
University of EdinburghThe University of Edinburgh founded in 1582, is an internationally renowned centre for teaching and research in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. It is the sixth university to be established in the British Isles, making it one of the ancient universities of the United Kingdom.The university is amongst the...
in Edinburgh, Scotland (
LL.DDoctor of Laws is a doctoral degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country, and includes degree such as the LL.D., Ph.D., Dr. iur., D.C.L., and S.J.D. or J.S.D...
) in April 1906
http://www.registry.ed.ac.uk/Graduations/Honorary_Grads/Honorary_Graduates.cfm Queen's UniversityQueen's University, generally referred to simply as Queen's, is a coeducational, non-sectarian, research intensive, public university located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. In 2008, Queen's maintained its status as one of the top universities in Canada.The Church of Scotland established Queen's...
in
Kingston, OntarioKingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario, where Lake Ontario runs into the St. Lawrence River and the Thousand Islands begin.Kingston is the county seat of Frontenac County...
in 1909
Dartmouth CollegeDartmouth College is a private, coeducational university located in Hanover, New Hampshire, USA. Incorporated as "Trustees of Dartmouth College," it is a member of the Ivy League and one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution...
in
Hanover, New HampshireHanover is a town along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 10,850 at the 2000 census. In 2007, CNN and Money magazine rated Hanover the second best place to live in America....
(
LL.DDoctor of Laws is a doctoral degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country, and includes degree such as the LL.D., Ph.D., Dr. iur., D.C.L., and S.J.D. or J.S.D...
) on June 25, 1913
Death
Bell died of diabetes on August 2, 1922, at his private estate, Beinn Bhreagh, Nova Scotia, at age 75. Bell had also been afflicted with
pernicious anemiaPernicious anemia is a form of megaloblastic anemia due to vitamin B-12 deficiency, caused by impaired absorption of vitamin B-12 due to the immune destruction of intrinsic factor in the setting of atrophic gastritis, and more specifically of loss of gastric parietal cells.While the term...
. While tending to her husband after a long illness, Mabel whispered, "Don't leave me." By way of reply, Bell traced the sign for no
—and then he expired.
Upon Bell's death, during his funeral, "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"
.
On learning of Bell's death, Canadian Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister of Canada is the primary Minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government of Canada. The office is not outlined in any of the documents that constitute the written portion of the constitution of Canada; executive authority is formally vested in the...
Mackenzie KingWilliam Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was a Canadian lawyer, economist, university professor, civil servant, journalist, fisherman, waiter, teacher and politician. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921, to June 28, 1926; September 25, 1926, to August 6, 1930;...
cabled Mrs. Bell, saying:
[The Government expresses] 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.
Dr. 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. He was survived by his wife and his two daughters, Elisa May and Marion.
Patents
U.S. patent images in TIFF format
Improvement in Transmitters and Receivers for Electric Telegraphs
, filed March 1875, issued April 1875 (multiplexing signals on a single wire) Improvement in Telegraphy
, filed 14 February 1876, issued March 7, 1876 (Bell's first telephone patent) Improvement in Telephonic Telegraph Receivers
, filed April 1876, issued June 1876 Improvement in Generating Electric Currents
(using rotating permanent magnets), filed August 1876, issued August 1876 Electric Telegraphy
(permanent magnet receiver), filed 15 January 1877, issued January 30, 1877 Apparatus for Signalling and Communicating, called Photophone
, filed August 1880, issued December 1880 Aerial Vehicle
, filed June 1903, issued April 1904
External links
Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
Alexander Graham Bell Institute
(Italian) Timeline for Antonio Meucci
Bell Homestead, National Historic Site
Bell Telephone Memorial erected in honor both Bell and the Invention of the TelephoneThe modern telephone is the culmination of work done by many individuals, all worthy of recognition for their contributions to the field. Alexander Graham Bell was the first to patent the telephone, an "apparatus for transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically", after experimenting with many...
in Brantford, Ontario's Alexander Graham Bell Gardens
Biography and photos at the Canada's Telecommunications Hall of Fame website
Biographical video footage at the Canada's Telecommunications Hall of Fame website
Appleton's Biography edited by Stanley L. Klos
http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/ns/grahambell/index_e.aspAlexander Graham Bell National Historic Site Museum located in Baddeck, Nova ScotiaNova Scotia is a Canadian province located on Canada's southeastern coast. It is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. Its capital, Halifax, is a major economic centre of the region. Nova Scotia is the second-smallest province in Canada with an area of...
containing many of Bell's experiments and models]
Alexander Graham Bell family papers Online version at the Library of Congress comprises a selection of 4,695 items (totaling about 51,500 images) containing correspondence, scientific notebooks, journals, blueprints, articles, and photographs documenting Bell's invention of the telephone and his involvement in the world's first telephone company, his family life, his interest in the education of the deaf and his aeronautical and other scientific works
Bell's path to the invention of the telephone
http://histv2.free.fr/bell/bell1.htmBell's speech before the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston on August 27, 1880, presenting the photophoneThe Photophone was invented jointly by Alexander Graham Bell and his assistant Charles Sumner Tainter on February 19, 1880. Bell believed the photophone was his most important invention. The device allowed for the transmission of sound on a beam of light...
, very clear description; published as "On the Production and Reproduction of Sound by Light" in the American Journal of Sciences, Third Series, vol. XX, #118, October 1880, pp. 305–324 and as "Selenium and the Photophone" in NatureNature is a prominent British scientific journal, first published on 4 November 1869. Most scientific journals are now highly specialized, and Nature is among the few journals that still publish original research articles across a wide range of scientific...
, September 1880]
AlexanderBell.com - Telecom pioneer
Alexander Graham Bell Biographical information, science resources and information on 1912 Franklin Award for 'electrical transmission of articulate speech' at The Franklin Institute's Case Files online exhibit
Alexander Graham Bell gravesite
Alexander Graham Bell: Biography and Much More from Answers.com Excellent summary of Alexander Graham Bell's life, has many useful dates for important parts of his life
Basilio Catania, 2003 The United States Government vs. Alexander Graham Bell. An important acknowledgment for Antonio Meucci
Bell family tree
American Treasures of the Library of Congress, Alexander Graham Bell - Lab notebook I, pp. 40–41 (image 22)
Scientists' profile: Alexander Graham Bell
Movie biographies
- The Story of Alexander Graham Bell, 1939 film reformatted for VCR tape, Don Ameche
-Biography:Ameche was born Dominic Felix Amici in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the son of Barbara, who was of Irish and German descent, and Felix Ameche, an immigrant from Italy whose original surname was "Amici." He had three brothers, Omberto , James , and Louis and two sisters, Elizabeth and Catherine...
playing Bell, (1966) ISBN 0-7939-1251-2
- Biography — Alexander Graham Bell, A&E DVD biography based on historical footage and still pictures of Bell, (2005)
- The Sound and the Silence (1992) (TV) with John Bach
John Bach is a Welsh-born actor who has spent most of his career working in New Zealand.His best known role internationally is Madril in the two last movies of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , but he has substantial television credits in New Zealand, including the title role of Detective...
as Alexander Graham Bell; Canada / New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
/ Ireland Sound and the Silence