Alexander Graham Bell

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Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell was born March 3, 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Bell was called Aleck. He had two brothers, Melville James and Edward Charles both who died from tuberculosis. He was given the middle name Graham when he was 10 years old. Bell was homeschooled by his mother, which had a profound influence on him being a proficient pianist despite her deafness. Bell had on year of formal education in a private school and two years at Edinburgh’s Royal High School. His education was largely received through numerous experiments in sound and the furthering of his father’s work on Visible Speech for the deaf. Visible Speech is a method of teaching speech to the deaf. In 1870 the family decided to immigrate to Canada. They settled in Brantford, Southern Ontario.

            Bell made many inventions in his life. His first invention was a device with rotating paddles with sets of nail brushes that dehusked wheat faster. The “photophone” was another device created by Bell this device enabled sound to be transmitted on a beam of light. Though out 1873 and 1874, Bell spent long days and nights trying to perfect the harmonic telephone. Bell worked with Thomas Watson on the design and patent of the first practical telephone. Then throughout 1847 and 1975, Bell and Watson labored on both the harmonic telegraph and a voice transmitting device. In 1976 at the age of 29 Bell invented the telephone.

Alexander Graham Bell often experimented with things also.  Bell often got sidetracked with transmitting the human voice over wires. He explored kites, airplanes, sheep breeding and water distillation. Also he looked into the nature of heredity among the deaf. When Bell's newborn son, Edward, died from respiratory problems, and Bell responded by designing a metal vacuum jacket that would facilitate breathing. In 1881 he constructed an electromagnetic device called an induction balance to try and locate a bullet lodged in President Garfield after an assassin had shot him. In 1883 Bell invented the graphophone, the first practical system of sound recording.

Bell had a lot of different jobs throughout his life. At 16, Alexander Graham Bell taught at Weston House Academy in Elgin, Scotland. In 1872, he set out to tutor deaf children in Boston. He opened a school for the teachers of the deaf in Boston in 1873 and became a professor of vocal physiology at the city’s university. In 1877 he formed the Bell Telephone Company and married Mabel Hubbard. In 1881 he set up the Volta Laboratory in Washington, D.C. Bell held 18 patents in his name alone and 12 that he shared with colleagues. He died in 1922.

Works Cited

"Alexander Graham Bell Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2013.

"Alexander Graham Bell." Spartacus Educational. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Feb. 2013.

"Alexander Graham Bell (American Inventor)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2013.