Alexander Graham Bell

1847- 1922

Inventor

Alexander Bell was born in Edinburgh Scotland on March 3, 1847. At the age of 12, he made his first invention the dehusking machine for his neighbors' mill. Bell we first homeschooled and not a particularly good student. Eventually thanks to his grandfather he gained a love of learning. He attended the University of Edinburgh for a year.

After the death of his brother from tuberculosis, the family moved to Canada, where his family bought a farm. He split his time between teaching and working in Boston and his family back in Canada. He demonstrated his first telephone in 1875. On March 7, 1876, the US patent office issued Bell a patent that covered "the method of, and apparatus for, transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically by causing electrical undulations, similar in form to the vibrations of the air accompanying the said vocal or other sound". The first commercial phone was offered a mere year later. Bell also worked on early aircraft designs, but none of his other efforts equaled the profound impact of the telephone.