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Inventor: Alexander Graham Bell
Most
Famous Invention: Telephone
Biography:
Alexander Graham
Bell was born March 3, 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was the middle
boy of three brothers, leading a jokester to once quip that he was the
meat in the sandwich. He also had two sisters, both of whom had died in
their infancy.
During their younger years, both Aleck as
he was then called and his two brothers were educated at home by their
father. Young Aleck was anything but a well disciplined student, much
to the utmost dismay of his father. If he was interested in the
subject, as he was in science, then he was quite apt to excel in that
part of his studies, but if he was not interested, well, it was rather
like pulling hens’ teeth for his father to be able to get him to retain
any of the information which he was trying to impart to him.
When he became slightly older, Aleck was
enrolled in the Royal High School in Edinburgh, Scotland where he
maintained the same sort of scholastic interests as he had when studying
under his father’s tutelage. He left school at the age of fifteen
having completed only what the British refer to as the first four forms.
Alexander Graham Bell
Aleck went to live with his grandfather for
a time and it was from him he learned to love learning about various
things, although science was always by far his top preference. He later
attended the University of Edinburgh. He also went on to become an
instructor at Sumerset College, Bath, Somerset. Quite an accomplishment
considering his earlier interests in studying and quite pleasing to his
father.
Both Aleck’s mother and his wife Mabel
Hubbard whom he married in 1877 were deaf and it was this that led Aleck
into the study of the telephone, actually searching for some sort of
communication device which would help them with hearing.
As Aleck was about to test the telephone,
he accidentally spilled some battery acid on his clothing and exclaimed,
“Mr. Watson, come here, I want you.” This was the first telephone call
and the accident with the battery acid was quickly forgotten in the
success of the telephone itself.
Alexander Graham Bell died August 1, 1922
in Baddek, Nova Scotia and the telephone, which some called a mere toy,
has continued on.
Alexander Graham Bell - Early
Telephone
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