Sample Entry "Alexander Graham Bell" - 101 Men and Women Who Shaped Our World
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101 Men and Women Who Shaped Our World Sample Entry “Alexander Graham Bell” The Lincoln Library Press, Inc. (800) 516-2656 toll free 812 Huron Road E, Suite 401 (216) 781-9559 fax Cleveland, OH 44115-1172 www.TheLincolnLibrary.com Citation Gall, Timothy, ed. “Bell, Alexander Graham.” The Lincoln Library of Shapers of Society., vol. 3, Cleveland, OH: Lincoln Library Press, Inc., 2008, 88–97. © 2008 by Lincoln Library Press, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical—including photocopying, recording, Web distribution, or by any information system—without permission in writing from the publisher.
Bell, Alexander Graham
Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922) was a teacher, scientist, and
inventor. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on March 3, 1847.
As a child, he developed a love of language by reading Shakespeare
and studying theater. Bell moved to Canada with his family when
he was twenty-three years old. There he worked with his father,
teaching deaf students to speak. In 1871, Bell moved to Boston,
where he opened a school for teachers of the deaf. He began a series
of experiments using electronic devices to copy human speech. Bell
discovered that speech could be transformed
into electricity, transmitted by wire, and
converted back into spoken words. On
March 10, 1876, he spoke the first complete
sentence ever transmitted by telephone:
“Watson, come here. I want you.” Although
other inventions would follow, Bell will always
be remembered for his invention of the
telephone. Bell died on Cape Breton Island,
Nova Scotia, Canada, on August 2, 1922.
business.” Bell’s father and grand- Young Alexander played the
father were both experts on the piano beautifully, but he was shy
subject of human speech. His father and not a very good student. His
invented a method of teaching deaf father, frustrated by Alexander’s
people to speak and published a poor performance in school, sent
book, Standard Elocutionist. him to live with his grandfather.
Alexander Bell (the middle name
There, young Alexander, a timid
“Graham” was added later) was His mother, who was partially middle child, grew into a confident
born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on deaf and an accomplished pianist,
March 3, 1847. He was the second young man. He developed a love of
encouraged young Alexander’s
of three sons born to Alexander interest in musical sounds. Bell poses with his family for a
Melville Bell and Eliza Grace Alexander and his brother discov- group shot. Bell, the only clear
Symonds.
ered that they could manipulate face in the picture, understood
The study of sounds and speech their pet dog’s voice box to make that he had to stay still in order
might be called the Bell “family his barks sound like words. to present a sharp image.
8889
“When one door closes another door opens; but we often
look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door,
that we do not see the ones which open for us.”
—Alexander Graham Bell
Bell, Alexander Graham
language by reading Shakespeare Bell attended Edinburgh
and studying theater. He returned University and the University of
to his parents, filled with excite- London. But his college studies
ment about sounds and speaking ended before he could gradu-
in a strong and powerful voice. ate because his family decided to
move. His two brothers had died
Young Alexander Graham Bell of tuberculosis, and his parents
poses with a book. felt they needed to move far away
from the tuberculosis epidemic to
keep Alexander safe. In 1870, the
Bell family moved to Brantford,
Canada.
In Canada, Alexander became
his father’s assistant, teaching the
deaf to speak using the elder Bell’s
“visible speech” method. This
method used illustrations of the
lips and tongue forming words and Bell, his wife Mabel, and their
sentences to teach both hearing daughters Elsie (left) and Marian,
and deaf people how to create the also known as Daisy.
sounds of language.
At this time, Bell also became Moving to Boston
interested in a device designed by In April of 1871, Bell moved
the German scientist Hermann to Boston. There he opened a
von Helmholtz. Helmholtz used school for teachers of the deaf that
tuning forks to conduct experi- popularized his father’s universal
ments in sound. He invented a phonetic alphabet. In 1873, Bell
device that used an intermittent was made a professor of vocal
electrical current to activate an physiology at Boston University. In
electromagnet. This in turn kept 1874, Bell applied for U.S. citizen-
the tuning fork vibrating. The ship. He became a naturalized U.S.
device spurred Bell to start citizen in 1882.
working with telegraphic instru-
ments and batteries. He told his Bell’s move to Boston was fortu-
friends, “Someday, someone will nate. The city, like Edinburgh, was
find a way to transmit speech a center for science and technol-
and music by telegraphy.” ogy. It was also a financial and
901847 Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, March 3, 1847.
U.S. Civil War
academic center. Boston revived
Bell’s interest in science and
technology. It set him on a course These photos depict either a young Alexander or his
that resulted in his greatest inven- brother Melville, making faces for the camera in the 1850s.
tion, the telephone. Moves to Canada with his family.
1870
Inventing the Telephone 1871 Opens school for teachers of the deaf in Boston.
The invention of the telephone was 1873 Becomes professor of vocal physiology at Boston University.
a by-product of Bell’s exposure to
1875 Thomas Watson joins Bell as a research assistant. Bell
electrically operated devices and submits a patent for the harmonic multiple telegraph, but
inventor Elisha Gray beats him by two days.
March 7. Receives patent for the telephone.
Bell carried out his experiments March 10. Speaks first complete sentence ever transmitted
on the top floor of this building over a wire.
at 109 Court Street, Boston, in
1875.
invent first airplane
Wright Brothers
A model of Bell’s first telephone
1903
Invents the tetrahedral kite.
World War I
One of Bell’s tetrahedral kites
1922
August 2. Dies at the age of 75 at his estate on Cape
Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Milestones in the Life of Alexander Graham Bell
91“Watson, come here. I want you.”
—Alexander Graham Bell
Bell, Alexander Graham
his experiments in duplicating
human speech. Other devices were
the phonautograph, which made
speech visible, and the duplex
telegraph, which made it possible
to send messages in two directions
at the same time, on the same
wire. In the summer of 1874, Bell
managed to put together the basic
principle of the telephone.
Bell discovered that the inten-
sity of a continuous electric
current could be made to change
(or undulate), just as air density
varies when sound or speech is
produced. But Bell did not believe,
at first, that ordinary speech would
have enough force to cause an
armature to vibrate, thus reproduc-
ing words.
Bell put the idea aside.
He preferred to work on his
harmonic multiple telegraph.
This was a telegraph capable of
sending several messages over the
same wire, at the same time. One
of Bell’s students, Mabel Hubbard,
spurred Bell on in his work. He
and Mabel later married.
In early 1875, Bell hired Thomas
A. Watson as his assistant. Both
men worked on the harmonic
A page from Bell’s laboratory
notebook showing a sketch of
the telephone.
92The second page of Bell’s patent
drawing for the telephone. His
work culminated in one of the
most profitable and contested of
all nineteenth-century patents.
multiple telegraph. In February of
that year, Bell submitted his appli-
cation for a patent. However, Bell
found out that a Chicago inventor,
Elisha Gray, had beaten him by
two days. Still, all was not lost. Bell
was the first person to file patent
applications covering a number
of important parts for such a
telegraphic system. However, Bell
decided to change direction. He
acted under the advice of Joseph
Henry, head of the Smithsonian
Institution and a famous American
scientist. Henry encouraged Bell
to pursue his idea for a telephone.
In June 1875, Bell and
Watson made a key discovery.
The act of removing a steel
reed stuck on an electromag-
net caused another reed to
make an audible sound. Bell and
Watson succeeded in trans-
mitting a musical note by wire.
More important, the receiver
and the transmitter were the
same: a metal disk in front of
an electromagnet.
A man demonstrates Bell’s first
telephone.
93“Great discoveries and improvements invariably
involve the cooperation of many minds.”
—Alexander Graham Bell
Bell, Alexander Graham
On February 14, 1876, Bell transmitted over a wire: “Watson, at the Centennial Exposition in
filed for a patent. It was granted on come here. I want you.” He said Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On
March 7. this because some battery acid had July 9, 1877, Gardiner Hubbard,
accidentally spilled on his clothing. Bell’s father-in-law, established the
Three days later, Bell spoke
the first complete sentence ever Bell’s telephone was demonstrated Bell Telephone Company.
Was Bell First?
When technological progress has
advanced to a certain stage, it is
common for multiple people at the
same time to independently grasp
the implications of that progress.
Those implications often lead to
new ideas, discoveries, and inven-
tions by various people working
independently of each other.
In other words, Bell was not
the only person to have the idea
of sending speech through a
wire. In 1860, German inventor
Johann Philipp Reis created a low-
functioning machine that trans-
mitted inexact noises at limited
frequencies. It could transmit
tones and some vowels, and so it
is often referred to as the “musical
telephone.” Many Germans like to
think that Reis was the inventor of
the telephone.
Bell at the New York end of
the circuit to Chicago. This line
was opened in 1892 as part of
ceremonies incidental to the
World’s Columbian Exposition.
94understand. That was Bell’s singu- Other Inventions
lar achievement. Bell did not rest on his laurels after
Being “first” often means being inventing the telephone. He was
the first one to the patent office. impressed by Thomas Edison’s
When Bell went to patent his work at his laboratory in Menlo
harmonic multiple telegraph, he Park, New Jersey. Bell sought to
found Elisha Gray had beaten duplicate Edison’s efforts by creat-
him to the patent office by ing his own laboratory. See also
two days. Each had invented the Edison, Thomas Alva.
harmonic multiple telegraph, but Bell produced many inventions
Gray got the credit. The tables there. He invented the photophone
turned when it came to the patent (1880), which was able to transmit
for the telephone. speech by light. He invented the
On February 14, 1876, Gray spectrophone (1881), which used
Bell, sitting with his grandson, applied for a patent caveat for the sound to detect the colors of the
Melville Bell Grosvenor, observes telephone. It was the thirty-ninth spectrum. And he invented the
the progress of one of his entry of the day at the U.S. Patent telephone probe (1881) to locate
tetrahedral kites (above right) Office. Bell’s patent application, foreign metals (such as bullets) in
from the porch of his laboratory however, was entry number five. the human body. Bell also contrib-
in Baddeck, Nova Scotia. Bell had beaten Gray to the uted to the development of phono-
patent office by a matter of graph recording on wax discs.
In America, an Italian immigrant hours. He was awarded U.S. In 1888, Bell was a found-
by the name of Antonio Meucci Patent Number 174,465: the ing member of the National
began developing a device he called first patent for a telephone. Geographic Society. His father-
the “telectrophone” in 1849. In in-law, Gardiner Greene Hubbard,
Years later, Meucci came for-
1871, he filed for a patent caveat ward claiming to be the telephone’s became the society’s first presi-
(a one-year renewable notice of dent and Bell served as its second
true inventor. The U.S. House of
an impending patent), but did (1898–1903). Bell’s son-in-law,
Representatives even recognized
not renew it. Consequently, some Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, was the
his role in the development of the
first full-time editor of National
people believe Meucci was the telephone on June 11, 2002, when
Geographic magazine.
inventor of the telephone. they passed a resolution honoring
his work. However, the carefully In 1903, Bell invented the tetra-
It is questionable, however, worded resolution, sponsored by hedral kite. His great interest in
whether either Reis or Meucci Congressman Vito Fossella, does flight led to the establishment of
created a device that could trans- not challenge the claim of Bell as the Aerial Experiment Association
mit speech that anyone could the inventor of the telephone. (AEA) in 1907.
95“A man, as a general rule, owes very little to what he is
born with—a man is what he makes of himself.”
—Alexander Graham Bell
Bell, Alexander Graham
The association, financed by his people believed she was unteach- and books proved inspirational to
wife Mabel, was formed to design able. Her parents, however, were thousands.
a working model of Bell’s idea for optimistic. When she was seven
a motorized tetrahedral kite. It years old, they took her to meet Bell took a lasting interest in
also collaborated on the produc- Bell. He recommended Anne Keller and her pursuits, and the
tion of airplanes designed by each Mansfield Sullivan (1865–1936)— two maintained a close thirty-six–
member. Together they built the once partially blind herself—as a year friendship that is documented
Silver Dart. It was the first airplane teacher for the child. in photos and correspondence. In
with a wheeled undercarriage and, 1918, Helen wrote to Bell, “You
in 1909, the first to fly in Canada. Sullivan came to live with her have always shown a father’s joy in
When the AEA disbanded in 1909, pupil and began her work on my successes and a father’s tender-
Bell turned his attention to design-
March 2, 1887. By the end of ness when things have not gone
ing hydrofoils and catamarans.
the month, she had taught Helen right.”
to communicate by touch. Keller
Teacher of the Deaf progressed rapidly, learning to Bell was awarded many medals
Bell maintained many friendships read, write, and later converse, and honorary degrees. In his later
over his lifetime, including an proving that she possessed a years he spent much of his time at
especially close one with Helen powerful intellect. his estate on Cape Breton Island
Keller. Keller was a remarkable in Nova Scotia, Canada. Bell died
woman who gained the admiration In 1904, she was graduated from there on August 2, 1922.
of America. A serious illness had Radcliffe cum laude and began
deprived her at the age of nineteen the many philanthropic works for Bell earned a reputation as an
months of sight and hearing and, which she became famous. The inventor, but he was most proud
it was assumed, of speech. Most story of her own life in her lectures of his early work. Throughout
his entire life, Bell always listed
“teacher of the deaf” as his profes-
sion. When the New York Times
published his obituary on August
3, 1922, it ended with the line,
“Personally he was one of the most
attractive of men.”
Men on skates guide the Silver
Dart across the iced-over Bras
d’Or Lake on Cape Breton Island.
The aircraft stayed aloft for six
minutes.
96Bell with Hellen Keller (above).
The two shared a close
relationship for over thirty-six
years. Keller wrote a letter to
Bell (right) congratulating him on
his experiments with flight. The
photograph below shows Bell
communicating with Keller using
hand language. Keller’s teacher,
Anne Sullivan, is sitting on the
ground.
Further Study
BOOKS
Fisher, Leonard Everett. Alexander
Graham Bell. New York: Atheneum,
1999. (Ages 9–12)
Linder, Greg. Alexander Graham Bell: A
Photo-Illustrated Biography. Mankato,
MN: Bridgestone Books, 1999. (Ages
4–8)
MacLeod, Elizabeth. Alexander Graham
Bell: An Inventive Life. Tonawanda,
NY: Kids Can Press, 1998. (Ages 9–12)
Matthews, Tom L. Always Inventing:
A Photobiography of Alexander
Graham Bell. Washington, DC: National
Geographic Society, 1999.
Pasachoff, Naomi. Alexander Graham
Bell: Making Connections. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1996.
WEB SITES
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). “More
about Bell.” www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/
telephone/peopleevents/mabell.html
(accessed April 2007).
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