Alexander Bell: biography and his invention (photo)

Alexander Graham Bell was born in Edinburgh (Scotland) on March 3, 1847. The circle of interests of this American scientist and inventor was unusually wide. In his amazing experiments he managed to combine art and science: acoustics and music, electrical engineering and mechanics. It was Alexander Bell who invented the phone and in many ways contributed to the development of the telecommunications industry in the United States.

Childhood and youth

Alexander Melville Bell, the father of the future inventor, is a professional philologist and author of a large-scale work on the art of eloquence. In particular, it is he who is credited with the creation of the "Visible Speech" system, which makes it possible to convey the sounds of oral human speech with the help of special written notations. Thanks to this development, the speaker, even without knowing a foreign language, could correctly pronounce certain words.

Bella's parents tried to give maximum attention to the sound of the voice and the recitation skills of the son. In his thirteen years, Alexander finished his studies at the Edinburgh Royal School, and a year later moved to his grandfather in London. Here he actively studies the subtleties of oratory, reads thematic literature. At the age of sixteen, a talented young man becomes a teacher of eloquence and music at the Weston-House Academy. Studies at the University of Edinburgh, Alexander Bell did not finish.

Moving to America

Shortly thereafter, two of Bella's brothers died of tuberculosis. Doctors advised Alexander to change the situation. He decides to move to Canada. In 1870, the entire family settled in Ontario, in a town called Brantford.

Since 1871, Alexander Bell lives in Boston and teaches at a specialized school for deaf-mute students. During his work as a teacher, the future scientist was actively looking for a way to demonstrate the deaf articulation of speech sounds . In particular, I tested the device in which a special membrane oscillated under the influence of sound waves and transmitted the resulting oscillations to the needle. The needle, in turn, recorded data on a rotating drum. This invention of Bella became the impetus for his main discovery.

Talking Telegraph

In 1876, within the framework of the World Exhibition (Philadelphia), the scientist presented to the public an amazing apparatus called him "speaking telegraph". This was the first phone of Alexander Bell. Can you imagine the surprise of the jury members when they could hear from the mouthpiece the famous monologue of the Prince of Denmark "To be or not to be?", Which at the same time the inventor himself was reading in the next room. Needless to say that the verdict of the jury regarding the first on the planet phone was unambiguous - to be?

Work on the possibility of broadcasting signals by telecommunication channels the scientist began in Scotland. Being in America, he continued his development. The emergence of the world's first phone contributed to many other interesting inventions.

For example, at a certain stage Bella managed to create a unique electric piano, which allows to transmit the sounds of music through the wires.

One day, Western Union announced a huge cash reward to someone who would have found a way to transmit several telegrams at the same time using only one pair of wires. The management sought to abandon additional telegraph lines, and Bell was able to offer them a suitable solution - with the help of his development, it was possible to transmit up to 7 telegrams at once!

In his scientific research, Bell actively collaborated with Thomas Watson, and according to the laws of electricians he was consulted by the famous scientist from Boston, D. Henry.

Personal life of the scientist

June 11, 1877 Alexander Bell married his former student Mabel Hubbard. The wife of the inventor lost her hearing in early childhood, at the age of four, after having had scarlet fever. After the wedding ceremony, the newlyweds returned to their homeland, Bella, to England. Here the inventor actively told everyone about the amazing speaking telegraph. "Phone performance" was given even to the royal family, whose members came in indescribable delight.

With his wife Bell lived 45 years. All this long time between them warm friendly relations were maintained.

Success and recognition

After the well-known and wealthy companies refused to buy out the rights to manufacture phones, the scientist created the American Speaking Telephone Company, which after a while became the largest in the world and began to generate huge revenue. Already by March 1979, Alexander Bell and his wife received 15% of the total profits, and by 1883 their fortune had reached an impressive mark of one million dollars.

In 1880, the inventor received the Volta Award. Bell spent the money on the development of a new gramophone project - one of the earliest recording systems in the world, created in collaboration with Charles Sumner Thainter.

At the same time, he continued his work in the field of medicine. Thus, the University of Heidelberg awarded Bella an honorary degree for his work in the field of acoustic physiology.

Perfection of the phone continued. In 1881 he became practically fully operational.

last years of life

Alexander Bell and his invention literally turned the world upside down. Unfortunately, health began to fail the scientist. Until the last breath, his wife Mabel stayed close. Later, she would write in her diary that the last silent message from Bell was a barely perceptible grip on her fingers at the moment when she asked not to leave her. The inventor died on August 4, 1922. As a sign of mourning for the great scientist, throughout the whole territory of Canada and the United States, all telephones were switched off, which at that time was over 13 million.

Interesting facts from the life of the inventor

Biography of Alexander Bell is interesting right down to the smallest details. So, the famous scientist had a habit of working exclusively in the dark, at night. Sometimes this became the cause of disagreements and disputes between spouses. Realizing Mabel's anxiety, Bell repeatedly made desperate attempts to return to the "normal" routine of the day, but none of them was successful.

And on August 15, 1877, a curious argument took place between Alexander and his legendary contemporary Thomas Edison , which eventually was resolved in favor of the latter. Edison proved that the perfect option for greeting at the beginning of a telephone conversation is the word "hello", which in Russia was converted into a familiar "allo". The inventor of the phone offered to use the word "ahoy", which translates as "Hey, who is there?".

It is also interesting that Bell himself did not like to use the phone - calls distracted him from reflection and work. But neither with his mother, nor with his wife, he could not talk - both of them were completely deaf.