The Story of Alexander Graham Bell

On October 9, 1876, the first outdoor telephone conversation between Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson happened. Bell communicated with a telegraph line by word of mouth from an office located in Boston, with Watson who was at a factory in Cambridge port-2 miles away. This article sheds more light on the road to the first telephone conversation ever.

The Early Life of Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell is a scientist, innovator, engineer and inventor born on 3rd March 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was popularly known for inventing the telephone. Bell became interested in the study of sound due to his background. His father and uncle were experts in speech correction and elocution for the deaf. In 1870, Bell and his parents decided to move from Scotland to Canada after his two elder brothers died of tuberculosis.

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Alexander Graham Bell and family, Graham Bell at far left, with father, mother, brother Melville Bell and brother Edward Bell, who died as a young man, 1870. Note: Image has been digitally colorized using a modern process. Colors may not be period-accurate. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images).

On moving to Canada, the Bells built a speech therapy school specialized in teaching the deaf how to speak. Even though his principal source of income was from the school of the deaf, Bell’s inquisitive character and pursuit for knowledge made him pursue his studies of sound during his free time. This pursuit for knowledge led him to the invention of the photophone, metal detector, of course, the telephone.

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