(1847-1922)
Alexander Graham Bell was born on March 3, 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland. There he lived for his first 23 years. In 1870, Bell immigrated to Canada. In 1871, he again immigrated to another country, the United States. Bell later became a naturalized U.S. Citizen in 1882. After 75 years, Alexander Graham Bell died, on August 2, 1922, at Baddeck, Canada.
Until Alexander Graham Bell was 10 he was taught at home. Bell attended the Weston House boy's school near Edinburgh. He continued his studies at both, Universities of Edinburgh and London. He began teaching deaf-mutes in 1871. This was his main joy and goal was to help the deaf. In 1872 Bell founded a school for deaf-mutes in Boston, Massachusetts. This school later became part of the Boston University. Here he was appointed professor of vocal physiology. As his interests and studies of the deaf grew, he was able to establish many programs to help them. This later led to the founding of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf in 1890.
Alexander Graham Bells major contribution to physics was the invention of the telephone. Although he has developed many things, he is most recognized for the telephone. Bell had been working on a multiple telegraph in 1874 when he developed the basic ideas for the "electrical speech machine," better known as the telephone. He experimented with the idea for a while with his assistant Thomas Watson and on March 10, 1876, the first sentence came through. "Watson, come here; I want you." were the first words transmitted and received by telephone.
Bell's telephone consisted of three things: a transmitter, a receiver, and a wire connecting the two. The transmitter and receiver were the same; they each were made up of a thin metallic diaphragm and a horseshoe magnet with a wire coil. When waves of sound hit the diaphragm, they would make it vibrate and go into the magnetic field of the magnet. These vibrations would generate an electric current that was put into the wire connecting the transmitter and the receiver by the wire coil. The current traveled through the wire connector into the receiver where it was transformed back into vibrations or sound by the diaphragm of the receiver. What Bell did was change sound vibrations into electric current and then repeated it backwards.
Alexander Graham Bell became the pioneer in the field of telecommunications. He invented many things, and soon a master map of all his inventions was compiled. Bells most recognized invention was the telephone. Bell imagined great uses for his telephone, like this model from the 1920s. News of his most recognized invention spread quickly throughout the country, and reached as far as Europe. By 1878, Bell had set up the first telephone exchange in New Haven, Connecticut. Long distance connections were made between Boston, Massachusetts and New York City by 1884. Since his death, his telephone and the telecommunication industry has undergone an amazing revolution. Today, non-hearing people are able to use a special display telephone in order to communicate non-verbally. Entire industries have developed based on phone communications including answering services and cell phone providers. Bell's "electrical speech machine" paved the way for the Information Superhighway.
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