-1876 “Mr Watson, come here, I want to see you.” First words spoken on a telephone.
-March 3, 1847 born in Edenburough, Scotland
-home school by hearing impaired mother til age 11.
-she taught piano too
-father = overbearing, and valued speech pronunciation (construction of speech)
-Graham liked to be alone, good problem-solver, head-strong
-invented corn husking machine @ 9y.o.
-moved in w/G-Pa @ 15y.o.
-Elgan, Scotland teaching job taken @ 16y.o. (he looked older than his age)
-visible speech (phonetics)
-artificial speech interest–challenged his brothers to make machines
-both bros died of tuberculosis
-July 21, 1870 remaining family moved to Canada
-Melleville (his father) was offered teaching job @ deaf school
-Alexander Bell accepted the position so father could keep promoting visible speech.
-Bell liked MA scholar
-Georgie Sanders & Mable Hubbard were his students. Their father became Bell’s financial backers.
-competition for Western Union Telegraph, b/c Bell though different freq could carry more than 1 message at once.
-intense competition when developing harmonic telegraph.
-Needed more rapid communication, & mult messages
-Phonotograph by French inventor @ MIT science fair inspired Bell to make his own using a dead man’s ear bones.
-1874 telephone was conceived this way.
-His backer wanted Bell, to work on the harmonic telegraph though, and time was imperative b/c of many competitors.
-Watson brought on to become a (motivational) partner. He was better @ building and electric things.
-Bell realized current should be undulating, not stable, and phone arose.
-Bell fell in love w/Mable Hubbard. Her parents disapproved b/c of his class and older age.
-on Thanksgiving 1975, parents finally blessed the couple.
-Bell put off filling a patent, until Gray was talking about getting it.
-Watson secretly filed a patent for the telephone, and hours later Gray applied for the same patent.
-No one but Bell saw potential in the telephone. No publicity.
-Bell used public demonstrations.
-Bell was a superb speaker and astonished crowds.
-Oct 1876 Watson and Bell had first 2 way phone convo.
-first phone line b/w Bells home and boss Charles Williams.
-July 11, 1877 Bell married Mable Hubbard
-Elsie May (daughter) born May 8, 1878
-driven by fear majority of his life would be anticlimactic.
-1870’s = the first telephone directories published
-Elisha Gray contested the validity of Bell’s telephone patent.
-longest patent litigation in U.S. history
-a letter from Gray to Bell acknowledged that Bell had idea.
-true passion for educating the deaf.
-wanted to mainstream deaf community
-taught speech articulation, believed in day schools for deaf in order to integrate deaf into society
-Edward Galladet believed in signing and opposed Bell’s theories
-Bell started and funded a school that eventually failed.
-1880, Marion born
-1881 & 1883 two male children died.
-vacuum jacket then invented by Bell to help people breathe–a forerunner to iron lung.
-photophone invented by Bell, and nothing ever came of it
-Bell invented bullet probe on short notice to help save President Garfield’s life after being shot, and was precursor to x-ray technology
-telephone complained about by Mark Twain.
-net worth of 1 million in the 1800s
-1892 first call from NY to Chicago
-Bell got interested in kites and thought human flight might be possible.
-founded association for deaf named after him
-Bell introduced to Helen Keller and arranged for Ann Sullivan to become her personal teacher.
-National Geographic (started by father-in-law) supported financially by Bell
-Natl Geo supported adventurers, and was focused on pics
-Bell inspired by Wright Bros, and assembled 4 engineers to form Arial Experiment Association
-Bell drew pics, engineers made a plane on March 12, 1908
-first public demonstration for flight.
-1908 June Bug & Silver Dart had 3 wheel landing gears and rudders, which stayed w/aviation
-Bell won trophy for aviation
-strength to weight ratio of kites helped tetrahedral construction
-conducted genetic experiments on sheep, which could predict wool color for breeding
-Maria Montsourri’s views of teaching accepted by Bell
-he became her primary backer, built a building, and enrolled his grand-kids in her school
-hydrofoil invented by Bell (70y.o.) and Casey and set world speed record that stood for 10 years.
-Helen Kellar’s book had note to Bell, which was his proudest accolade.
-Bell died in 1922, and Mable died a few months later
-Bell Labs pioneer fiber-optics today
-Photoacoustics pioneered by Bell. Used today to enable diabetics to monitor blood sugar.
Related articles
- Smithsonian Researchers Play Alexander Graham Bell’s “Unplayable” Records (indianajen.com)
- AGBell did more than just a telephone (willsford.wordpress.com)
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