ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL

'Alexander Graham Bell' (3 March 1847 – 2 August 1922) was a Scottish scientist, inventor and innovator. Born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland, he emigrated to Canada in 1870, and then to the United States in 1871, becoming a U.S. citizen in 1882.^[1]
Alexander Graham Bell was called "the father of the deaf".^[2] With both his mother and wife deaf, he studied hereditary deafness in order to better understand the affliction, leading him to a career as a teacher of the deaf.^[3] His research on hearing and speech further led him to experiment with hearing devices that eventually culminated in the telephone. Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. Although other inventors had claimed the honor, the Bell patent remained in effect. Recognized as an eminent scientist and inventor, many other inventions marked Bell's later years including groundbreaking work in hydrofoils and aeronautics. In 1888, Alexander Graham Bell was one of the founding members of the National Geographic Society. ^[4]

Early years

Alexander Graham Bell was born in Edinburgh Scotland ^[5] on 3 March 1847. The family home was at 16 South Charlotte Street, Edinburgh and has an commemorative marker placed at the doorstep, marking this as Alexander Graham Bell's birthplace. He had two brothers: Melville James Bell (1845-1870) and Edward Charles Bell (1848-1867). Both of his brothers died of tuberculosis, Edward in 1867 and Melville in 1870.^[6] His father was Professor Alexander Melville Bell, and his mother was Eliza Grace (nee Symonds). ^[7] At age ten, he made a plea to his father to have a middle name like his two brothers. ^[8]For his 11th birthday, his father acquiesced and allowed him to adopt the middle name "Graham" chosen out of admiration for Alexander Graham, a Canadian being treated by his father and boarder who had become a family friend.^[9] To family and friends he remained "Aleck" which his father continued to call him into later life. ^[10]

First invention

As a child, Bell displayed a natural curiosity about his world, resulting in gathering botanical specimens as well as experimenting even at an early age. His best friend was Ben Herdman, a neighbour whose family operated a flour mill, the scene of many forays. When their typical child's play had caused a racket one day, John Herdman admonished the two boys, "Why don't you do something useful?" Young Aleck asked what needed to be done at the mill. He was told wheat had to be dehusked through a laborious process and at the age of 12, Bell built a homemade device that combined rotating paddles with sets of nail brushes, creating a simple dehusking machine that was put into operation and used steadily for a number of years. Bruce 1990, p. 16.In return, John Herdman gave both boys the run of a small workshop to "invent." Bruce 1990, p. 16.

Early work with speech

From his early years, Aleck showed a sensitive nature and a talent for art, poetry and music that was encouraged by his mother. With no formal training, he mastered the piano and became the family's pianist. Gray 2006, p. 8.Despite being normally quiet and introspective, he reveled in mimicry and "voice tricks" akin to ventriloquism that constantly entertained family guests. Gray 2006, p. 8. Aleck was also deeply affected by his mother's gradual deafness (she began to lose her hearing when Aleck was 12) and learned a manual finger language so he could sit at her side and tap out silently the conversations swirling around the family parlour. Gray 2006, p. 9. He also developed a technique of speaking to his mother wherein she would hear him with reasonable clarity. Mackay 1997, p.25. Note: Young Aleck spoke in clear, modulated tones directly into his mother's forehead.Aleck's preoccupation with his mother's deafness led him to study acoustics.
His family was associated with the teaching of elocution: his grandfather, Alexander Bell, in London, his uncle in Dublin, and his father, in Edinburgh, were all elocutionists. His father published a variety of works on the subject, several of which are still well known, especially his ''The Standard Elocutionist'' (1860) ^[11] Gray 2006, p. 8. and treatise on ''Visible Speech'', which appeared in Edinburgh in 1868. In this treatise, he explains his methods of how to instruct deaf mutes (as they were then known) to articulate words and read other people's lip movements to decipher meaning. Aleck's father taught him and his brothers not only to write Visible Speech but also to identify any symbol and its accompanying sound. Petrie 1975, p. 7. Aleck became so proficient that he became part of his father's public demonstrations and astounded audiences with his abilities in deciphering Latin, Gaelic and even Sanskrit symbols. Petrie 1975, p. 7.

Education

Although young Aleck Bell, like his brothers, received his early schooling at home from his father, he was enrolled at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, Scotland, from which he graduated at age 15, completing the first four forms only.^[12] His school record was undistinguished, marked by absenteeism and lacklustre grades. His main interest remained in the sciences, especially biology but other school subjects were treated with indifference, to the dismay of his demanding father. ^[13] At age 16, he secured a position as a "pupil-teacher" of elocution and music, in Weston House Academy, at Elgin, Moray, Scotland. ^[14]The following year, he attended the University of Edinburgh, joining his older brother Melville who was already enrolled there the previous year; Aleck intended to write exams there but later graduated from the University of Toronto.

First experiments with sound

Bell's father encouraged Aleck's interest in speech and in 1863, took his sons to see a unique automaton, developed by Sir Charles Wheatstone based on the earlier work of Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen. Groundwater 2005, p. 25. The rudimentary "mechanical man" simulated a human voice. Aleck was fascinated by the machine and after he obtained a copy of von Kempelen's book published in Germany and had laboriously translated it, Aleck and his older brother, Melville built their own automaton head. Their father, highly interested in their project, offered to pay for any supplies and spurred the boys on with the enticement of a "big prize" if they were successful. Groundwater 2005, p. 25. While his brother constructed the throat and larynx, Aleck tackled the more difficult task of recreating a realistic skull. His efforts resulted in a remarkably lifelike head that could speak, albeit only a few words. Groundwater 2005, p. 25.The boys would carefully adjust the "lips" and when a bellows forced air through the windpipe, a very recognizable "Mama" ensued, to the delight of neighbors who came to see the Bell invention. Petrie 1975, p. 7-9.
Intrigued by the results of the automaton, Aleck continued to experiment with a live subject, the family's Skye terrier, "Trouve". ^[15] After he taught it to growl continuously, Aleck would reach into its mouth and manipulate the dog's lips and vocal chords to produce a crude-sounding "Ow ah oo ga ma ma." More indicative of his playful nature, his experiments convinced onlookers that they saw a "talking dog." Groundwater 2005, p. 30.However, these initial forays into experimentation with sound led Aleck to undertake his first serious work on the transmission of sound, using tuning forks to explore resonance. At the age of 19, he wrote a report on his work and sent it to Alexander Ellis, a colleague of his father. Groundwater 2005, p. 30. Ellis immediately wrote back indicating that the experiments were similar to existing work in Germany. Dismayed to find that ground-breaking work had already taken place by Hermann von Helmholtz who had conveyed vowel sounds by means of a similar tuning fork "contraption", he pored over the German scientist's book, ''Sensations of Tone''. From his translation of the original German edition, Aleck then made a deduction that would be the underpinning of all his future work on transmitting sound, "Without knowing much about the subject, it seemed to me that if vowel sounds could be produced by electrical means so could consonants, so could articulate speech." ^[16]

Family tragedy

In 1865, when the Bell family moved to London, ^[17]Aleck returned to Weston House as an assistant master and in his spare hours, continued experiments on sound using a minimum of laboratory equipment. ^[18] Throughout the fall and winter, his health faltered mainly though exhaustion. His younger brother, Edward "Ted" was similarily bed-ridden, suffering from tuberculosis. While Aleck recovered (now referring to himself in correspondence as "A.G. Bell") and served the next year as an instructor at Somerset College, Bath, Somerset, England, his brother's condition deteriorated. Edward would never recover. Upon his brother's passing, Aleck returned home in 1867. His older brother, "Melly" had married and moved out. With aspirations to obtain a degree at the University of London, Aleck considered his next years as preparation for the degree examinations, devoting his spare time at his family's residence to studying.
Helping his father in Visible Speech demonstrations and lectures brought Aleck to Susanna E. Hull's private school for the deaf in South Kensington, London. His first two pupils were "deaf mute" girls who made remarkable progress under his tutelage. While his older brother seemed to achieve success on many fronts including setting up his own school for elocution, applying for a patent on an invention, and beginning a family, Aleck continued as a teacher. In May 1870, Melville died from complications of tuberculosis, causing a family crisis. His father had also suffered a debilitating illness earlier in life and had been restored to health by a convalescence in Newfoundland. Making a swift judgement, Alexander Melville Bell asked Aleck to arrange for the sale of all the family property ^[19], conclude all of his brother's affairs (Aleck took over a last student, curing a pronounced lisp ^[20]) and join his father and mother in setting out for the "New World." ^[21]Reluctantly, Aleck also had to conclude a relationship with Marie Eccleston, who he surmised was not prepared to leave England with him. ^[22]

Canada

In 1870, at age 23, Aleck, his brother's widow, Caroline (Margaret Ottaway)^[23], and his parents travelled on the ''SS Nestorian'' to Canada. ^[24] After landing at Quebec City, the Bells boarded a train to Montreal and later to Paris, Ontario to stay with the Reverend Thomas Henderson, a family friend. After a brief stay with the Hendersons, the Bell family purchased a ten and a half acre farm at Tutela Heights, near Brantford, Ontario. The property consisted of a orchard, larger farm house, stable, pigsty, hen-house and carriage house, bordering the Grand River. ^[25]
At the homestead, Aleck Bell set up his own workshop in the converted carriage house ^[26]near what he called his "dreaming place," a large hollow nestled in trees at the back of the property above the river. ^[27]Despite his frail condition upon arriving in Canada, Aleck found the climate and environs to his liking, and rapidly improved.^[28] He continued his interest in the study of the human voice and when he discovered the Six Nations Reserve across the river at Onondaga, he learned the Mohawk language and translated its unwritten vocabulary into Visible Speech symbols. For his work, Aleck was awarded the title of honourary chief and participated in a ceremony where he donned a Mohawk headdress and danced traditional dances. ^[29]
After setting up his workshop, Aleck continued experiments based on Helmholtz's work with electricity and sound. ^[26]He designed a piano which, by means of electricity, could transmit its music at a distance. Once the family was settled in, both Aleck and his father made plans to establish a teaching practice and in 1871, he accompanied his father to Montreal, where Melville was offered a position to teach his System of Visible Speech.

Work with the deaf

Subsequently, his father was invited by Sarah Fuller, principal of the Boston School for Deaf Mutes (which continues today as the Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing)^[31], in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, to introduce the Visible Speech System by providing training for her instructors but he declined the post, in favor of his son. Travelling to Boston in April 1871, Alexander quickly established a successful inservicing of the instructors and was asked to repeat the program at the American Asylum in Hartford and the Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton. Thus, teaching his father's system, in October 1872, Alexander Bell became professor of Vocal Physiology and Elocution at the Boston University School of Oratory.
One of his most famous pupils was Helen Keller, who came to him as a young child, unable to see, hear or speak. She later was to say that Bell dedicated his life to the penetration of that "inhuman silence which separates and estranges."^[32]

Bell speaking into prototype model of the telephone

At Boston University, he continued his research in the same field and endeavored to find a way to transmit musical notes and articulate speech.

Telephone

Main articles: Invention of the telephone

In 1874, telegraph message traffic was rapidly expanding and had become "the nervous system of commerce" in the words of Western Union President William Orton. Orton had contracted with inventors Thomas Edison and Elisha Gray to find a way to send multiple telegraph messages on each telegraph line to avoid the great cost of constructing new lines. When Bell mentioned to Gardiner Hubbard and Thomas Sanders (parents of two of Bell's students) that he was working on a method of sending multiple tones on a telegraph wire using a multi-reed device, Hubbard and Sanders began to financially support Bell's experiments. Patent matters would be handled by Hubbard's patent attorney Anthony Pollok.^[33]
In early 1875, Bell visited the famous scientist Joseph Henry, who was then director of the Smithsonian Institution, and asked Henry's advice on an electrical multi-reed apparatus which Bell hoped would transmit the human voice by telegraph. Henry replied that Bell had "the germ of a great invention". When Bell said that he did not have the necessary knowledge, Henry replied, "Get it!" That declaration greatly encouraged Bell to keep trying.
Bell was able to hire an assistant Thomas A. Watson who was an experienced electrical designer and mechanic. Bell and Watson experimented with acoustic telegraphy in 1874 and 1875. On 2 June 1875, Watson accidentally plucked one of the reeds and Bell at the receiving end of the wire heard the overtones of the reed, overtones that would be necessary for transmitting speech. This led to the "gallows" sound-powered telephone, which was able to transmit indistinct voice-like sounds but not clear speech.
Meanwhile, Elisha Gray was also experimenting with acoustic telegraphy and thought of a way to transmit speech using a water transmitter. On 14 February 1876, Gray filed a caveat with the U.S. patent office for a telephone design that used a water transmitter. That same morning, Bell's lawyer filed an application with the patent office for the telephone. There is a debate about who arrived first.See Elisha Gray and Alexander Bell Controversy.
On 14 February 1876, Bell was in Boston. Hubbard, the lawyer who was paying for the costs of Bell's patents, told his patent lawyer Anthony Pollok to file Bell's application in the U.S. Patent Office. This was done without Bell's knowledge. This patent 174,465 was issued to Bell on 7 March 1876 by the U.S. Patent Office which 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."
Three days after his patent was issued, Bell experimented with a water transmitter, using an acid-water mixture. Vibration of the diaphragm caused a needle to vibrate in the water which varied the electrical resistance in the circuit. When Bell spoke the famous sentence "Mr Watson—Come here—I want to see you"^[34] into the liquid transmitter, Watson, listening at the receiving end, heard the words clearly.
Bell and his partners Hubbard and Sanders offered to sell the patent outright to Western Union for $100,000. The president of Western Union balked, countering that the telephone was nothing but a toy. Two years later, he told colleagues that if he could get the patent for $25 million he would consider it a bargain. By then the Bell company no longer wanted to sell the patent.^[35]
In 1879, the Bell company acquired Edison's patents for the carbon microphone from Western Union. This made the telephone practical for long distances, unlike Bell's voice-powered transmitter that required users to shout into it to be heard at the receiving telephone, even at short distances.
The Bell company lawyers successfully fought off several lawsuits. On 13 January 1887 the United States Government moved to annul the patent issued to Alexander Graham Bell on the grounds of fraud and misrepresentation. The prosecuting attorney was the Hon. George M. Stearns under the direction of the Solicitor General George A. Jenks^[36] The Bell company won the case.

The Bell Telephone Company was created in 1877, and by 1886 over 150,000 people in the U.S. owned telephones. Bell and his investors became millionaires. Bell company engineers made numerous other improvements to the telephone which developed into one of the most successful products.
On 25 January 1915, he sent the first transcontinental telephone call, at 15 Day Street in New York City, which was received by Thomas Watson at 333 Grant Avenue in San Francisco.^[37]

Competitors

In 1834, long before Bell applied for his own patent, the Italian inventor Antonio Meucci created the first working model of a telephone in Italy, and in 1849 he tested electric transmission of the human voice in Cuba. The next year, 1850, Meucci demonstrated his electric telephone in New York. By 1871, Meucci had paid for a patent caveat for his telephone, and in the summer of 1872, asked Edward B. Grant (vice president of American District Telegraph Co. of New York) for permission to test his telephone apparatus on the company's telegraph lines, providing Grant with a working prototype, a full written description of the invention, and copy of his caveat. By 1874, Meucci still could not raise the $250 for a full patent, having only enough money to renew his caveat while looking for further funding. After waiting two years without receiving an answer, Meucci asked Grant for his documents and prototype, but Grant claimed they were lost. That same year, Meucci's caveat expired because and he lacked the money to renew it.^[38]
After Bell received his patent in 1876, Meucci took Bell to court in order to establish his priority. Meucci lost his case due to lack of material evidence of his inventions. The best he could manage was to reconstruct them during the trial and call in witnesses to testify that he had invented the "Talking Telegraph," as he called it, years before. Bell Telephone Company also won in the trial ''The U.S. Government Versus Antonio Meucci'' by a decision on 19 July 1887, by Judge William J. Wallace (Circuit Court, S.D. New York.) "The experiments and invention of one Antonio Meucci, relating to the transmission of speech by an electrical apparatus [...] do not contain any such elements of an electric speaking telephone as would give the same priority over or interfere with the said Bell patent".^[39]

More than 100 years later, documents would surface which theorized a conspiracy between Bell Company and American District Telegraph Co. of New York. In their agreement, Bell had agreed to pay them 20 percent of the profits from commercialization of "his invention" for a period of 17 years. As a result, Grant conveniently "lost" all trace of Meucci's working prototype and documentation, contracting with Bell shortly thereafter.^[40]
Due to the efforts of Italian American Congressman Vito Fossella, Resolution 269 the U.S. House of Representatives on 11 June 2002 finally recognized the work previously done by Antonio Meucci, granting him posthumous recognition for his work on the telephone.^[41]
Over a period of 18 years, the Bell Telephone Company faced over 600 litigations from inventors claiming to have invented the telephone, never once losing a case.^[42].

Later inventions

Metal detector

Bell is also credited with the invention of the metal detector in 1881. The device was hurriedly put together in an attempt to find the bullet in the body of U.S. President James Garfield. The metal detector worked but did not find the bullet because the metal bed frame the President was lying on confused the instrument. Bell gave a full account of his experiments in a paper read before the American Association for the Advancement of Science in August 1882.

Hydrofoil

Bell HD-4 on a test run c. 1919

The March 1906 ''Scientific American'' article by American hydrofoil pioneer William E. Meacham explained the basic principle of hydrofoils. Bell considered the invention of the hydroplane as a very significant achievement. Based on information gained from that article he began to sketch concepts of what is now called a hydrofoil boat.
Bell and assistant Frederick W. "Casey" Baldwin began hydrofoil experimentation in the summer of 1908 as a possible aid to airplane takeoff from water. Baldwin studied the work of the Italian inventor Enrico Forlanini and began testing models. This led him and Bell to the development of practical hydrofoil watercraft.
During his world tour of 1910–1911, Bell and Baldwin met with Forlanini in France. They had rides in the Forlanini hydrofoil boat over Lake Maggiore. Baldwin described it as being as smooth as flying. On returning to Baddeck, several designs were tried culminating in the HD-4, using Renault engines. A top speed of 54 miles per hour (87 km/h) was achieved, with rapid acceleration, good stability and steering, and the ability to take waves without difficulty. In 1913, Dr. Bell hired Walter Pinaud, a Sydney yacht designer and builder as well as the proprietor of Pinaud's Yacht Yard in Westmount, Nova Scotia to work on the pontoons of the HD-4. Pinaud soon took over the boatyard at Bell Laboratories on Beinn Bhreagh, Bell's estate near Baddeck, Nova Scotia. Pinaud's experience in boatbuilding enabled him to make useful design changes to the HD-4. After the First World War, work began again on the HD-4. Bell's report to the navy permitted him to obtain two 350 horsepower (260 kW) engines in July 1919. On 9 September 1919, the HD-4 set a world's marine speed record of 70.86 miles per hour (114.04 km/h).

Aeronautics

AEA Silver Dart c.1909

Bell was a supporter of aerospace engineering research through the Aerial Experiment Association (AEA), officially formed at Baddeck, Nova Scotia, in October 1907 at the suggestion of Mrs. Mabel Bell and with her financial support. The AEA was headed by Bell and the founding members were four young men: American Glenn H. Curtiss, a motorcycle manufacturer who later was awarded the Scientific American Trophy for the first official one-kilometre flight in the Western hemisphere and became a world-renowned airplane manufacturer; Frederick W. Baldwin, the first Canadian and first British subject to pilot a public flight in Hammondsport, New York; J.A.D. McCurdy; and Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, an official observer from the U.S. government.
Bell experimented with box kites and wings constructed of multiple compound tetrahedral kites covered in silk. The tetrahedral wings were named ''Cygnet'' I, II and III, and were flown both unmanned and manned (''Cygnet I'' crashed during a flight carrying Selfridge) in the period from 1907-1912. Some of Bell's kites are on display at the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site.
The AEA's work progressed to heavier-than-air machines, applying their knowledge of kites to gliders. Moving to Hammondsport, the group then designed and built the ''Red Wing'', framed in bamboo and covered in red silk and powered by a small air-cooled engine.^[43] On 12 March 1908, the biplane lifted off on the first public flight in North America. ^[44] The innovations that were incorporated into this design included a cockpit enclosure and tail rudder (later variations on the original design would add ailerons as a means of control). One of the AEA project's inventions, the aileron, is a standard component of aircraft today. (The aileron was also invented independently by Robert Esnault-Pelterie.) The ''White Wing'' and ''June Bug'' were to follow and by the end of 1908, over 150 flights without mishap had been accomplished. However, the AEA had depleted its initial reserves and only a $10,000 grant from Mrs. Bell allowed it to continue with experiments.^[45]
Their final aircraft design, the ''Silver Dart'' embodied all of the advancements found in the earlier machines. On 23 February 1909, Bell was present as the ''Silver Dart'' flown by J.A.D. McCurdy from the frozen ice of Lake Baddeck, made the first aircraft flight in Canada (and the British Empire). Bell had worried that the flight was too dangerous and had arranged for a doctor to be on hand. With the successful flight, the AEA disbanded and the ''Silver Dart'' would revert to Baldwin and McCurdy who began the Canadian Aerodrome Company and would later demonstrate the aircraft to the Canadian Army.^[46]

Other inventions

The range of Bell's inventive genius is represented only in part by the 18 patents granted in his name alone and the 12 he shared with his collaborators. These included 14 for the telephone and telegraph, four for the photophone, one for the phonograph, five for aerial vehicles, four for "hydroairplanes," and two for selenium cells.
Bell made many other inventions in his life. They include the metal jacket that assists in breathing, the audiometer to detect minor hearing problems, a device that locates icebergs, investigated on how to separate salt from seawater, and he also worked on finding alternative fuels. He worked in medical research and invented techniques for teaching speech to the deaf.
During his Volta Laboratory period, Bell and his associates considered impressing a magnetic field on a record as a means of reproducing sound. Although the trio briefly experimented with the concept, they were unable to develop a workable prototype. They abandoned the idea, never realizing they had glimpsed a basic principle which would one day find its application in the tape recorder, the hard disc and floppy disc drive, and other magnetic media.
Bell's own home used a primitive form of air conditioning, in which fans blew currents of air across great blocks of ice. He also anticipated modern concerns with fuel shortages and industrial pollution. Methane gas, he reasoned, could be produced from the waste of farms and factories. At his Canadian estate in Nova Scotia, he experimented with composting toilets and devices to capture water from the atmosphere. In a magazine interview published shortly before his death, he reflected on the possibility of using solar panels to heat houses.

Eugenics

Along with many very prominent thinkers and scientists of the time, Bell was connected with the eugenics movement in the United States. From 1912 until 1918 he was the chairman of the board of scientific advisers to the Eugenics Record Office associated with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, and regularly attended meetings. In 1921, he was the honorary president of the Second International Congress of Eugenics held under the auspices of the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Organizations such as these advocated passing laws (with success in some states) that established the compulsory sterilization of people deemed to be, as Bell called them, a "defective variety of the human race". By the late 1930s, about half the states in the U.S. had eugenics laws, and the California laws were used as a model for eugenics laws in Nazi Germany.
His ideas about people he considered defective centered on the deaf. This was because of his feelings for his deaf family and his contact with deaf education. In addition to advocating sterilization of the deaf, Bell wished to prohibit deaf teachers from being allowed to teach in schools for the deaf. He worked to outlaw the marriage of deaf individuals to one another, and he was an ardent supporter of oralism over the use of sign language to educate deaf students. His avowed goal was to eradicate the language and culture of the deaf so as to encourage them to assimilate into the hearing culture, for their own long-term benefit and for the benefit of society at large.
Although he supported what some consider harsh and inhumane policies today, he was not unkind to deaf individuals who supported his theories of oralism. He was a personal and longtime friend of Helen Keller, and his wife Mabel was deaf (none of their children were).

Family life

On 11 July 1877, a few days after the Bell Telephone Company began, Bell married Mabel Hubbard (1857-1923), daughter of Boston lawyer Gardiner Hubbard who helped finance Bell's work and organize the new telephone company. Mabel was one of Bell's deaf pupils. ^[47] They had four children: Elsie May Bell (1878-1964) who married Gilbert Grosvenor of National Geographic ^[48] ^[49]; Marian Hubbard Bell (1880-1962) who was referred to as "Daisy" ^[50]; and two sons who died in infancy.
In 1880, Bell received the Volta Prize which he used to fund the Volta Laboratory in Washington, D.C.
In 1882, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
In 1883, Bell and Gardiner Hubbard established the publication ''Science''.
In 1886, Bell started building a mansion overlooking Bras d'Or Lake across from the village of Baddeck on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada, which he left in the care of a friend, writer David Narbaitz.
In 1888, Bell was one of the founding members of the National Geographic Society and became its second president (1898-1903). He was the recipient of many honors. The French government conferred on him the decoration of the Légion d'honneur (Legion of Honor); the Académie française bestowed on him the Volta Prize of 50,000 francs; the Royal Society of Arts in London awarded him the Albert Medal in 1902; and the University of Würzburg, Bavaria, granted him a Ph.D. He was awarded the AIEE's Edison Medal in 1914 for "For meritorious achievement in the invention of the telephone."
In 1891, Bell began experiments to develop motor-powered heavier-than-air aircraft.
In 1898, he began experiments with tetrahedral kites, and he became the president of the National Geographic Society and regent of the Smithsonian Institution (1898-1922).
In 1907, Bell founded the Aerial Experiment Association, and in 1908, he began development of the hydrodrome (hydrofoil).

Death

Bell died of Pernicious anemia^[51] on 2 August 1922, age 75, at his private estate, Beinn Bhreagh, located on Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island near the village of Baddeck. He was buried atop Beinn Bhreagh mountain overlooking Bras d'Or Lake. He was survived by his wife and two of their four children.^[52]
Upon Bell's death, the nation's phones stilled their ringing for a silent minute in tribute to the man whose yearning to communicate made them possible.
Bell's last word was "No" traced out to his wife. ^[53]

Tributes

In the early 1970s, the UK rock group The Sweet recorded a tribute to Bell and the telephone, suitably titled "Alexander Graham Bell". The song gives a fictional account of the invention, in which Bell devises the telephone so he can talk to his girlfriend who lives on the other side of the United States. The song reached the top 40 in the UK and went on to sell over one million recordings worldwide.
The Royal Bank of Scotland One Pound Note was issued to mark the 150th Anniversary of the birth of Alexander Graham Bell on 3 March 1997. ^[54]
Eric Walters' ''The Hydrofoil Mystery'' (1999) sets a novel in Alexander Graham Bell's workshops, casting the hydrofoil as a new weapon of war being readied for use against German U-boats in the First World War.^[55]
Bell was honoured on the television programs the 100 Greatest Britons (2002), the top-ten Greatest Canadians (2004), and the 100 Greatest Americans (2005). The nominees and rankings for these programs were determined by popular vote. Bell was the only person to be on more than one of the programs.
Another musical tribute to Bell, Alexander Graham Bell (2006) was written by the British songwriter and guitarist Richard Thompson. The chorus reminds the listener that "of course there was the telephone, he'd be famous for that alone, but there's 50 other things as well from Alexander Graham Bell".^[56]
One of the residence halls at Rochester Institute of Technology adjacent to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf building is Alexander Graham Bell Hall.

References

1. Bruce 1990, p. 90, 471-472. Note: Throughout his early life, Alexander Graham Bell was a British subject but in 1915, he characterized his status as: "I am not one of those hyphenated Americans who claim allegiance to two countries." Despite this declaration, Bell has been claimed as a "native son" by Canada, Scotland and the United States.
2. Gray 2006, p. 229.
3. Bruce 1990, p. 419.
4. National Geographic magazine
5. Petrie 1975, p. 4.
6. Time Line of Alexander Graham Bell
7. Alexander M. Bell Dead. Father of Prof. A.G. Bell Developed Sign Language for Mutes.
8. Call me Alexander Graham Bell Note: Bell typically signed his name in full on his correspondence.
9. Groundwater 2005, p.23.
10. Bruce 1990, p. 17-19.
11. Mackay 1997, p. 24. Note: ''The Standard Elocutionist'' appeared in 168 British editions and sold over a quarter of a million copies in the United States alone.
12. Mackay 1997, p. 31.
13. Gray 2006, p. 11.
14. Bruce 1990, p. 37. Note: Although Alexander was enrolled as a student in Latin and Greek, he instructed in return for board and ten pounds per session.
15. Petrie 1975, p. 9. Note: With little convincing, Aleck told visitors that his dog could articulate "How are you grandma?"
16. Groundwater 2005, p. 31.
17. Micklos 2006, p. 8.
18. Bruce 1990, p. 45. Note: Bell concentrated on experimenting with electricity to convey sound and later installed a telegraph wire from his room in Somerset College to that of a friend.
19. Bruce 1990, p. 67-68. Note: The family pet was given to his brother's family.
20. Bruce 1990, p. 68.
21. Groundwater 2005, p. 33. Note: Aleck's parents precipitated a long-planned move when they realized that their remaining son was also sickly.
22. Groundwater 2005, p. 33.
23. Mackay 1997, p. 50.
24. Petrie 1975, p. 10.
25. Mackay 1997, p. 61.
26. Wing 1980, p. 10.
27. Groundwater 2005, p. 34.
28. Mackay 1997, p. 62. Note: Aleck would later write that he had come to Canada a "dying man."
29. Groundwater 2005, p. 35. Note: Bell was thrilled at his recognition by the Six Nations Reserve and throughout his life, would launch into a Mohawk war dance when he was excited.
30. Wing 1980, p. 10.
31. Bruce 1973, p. 74.
32. Petrie 1975, p. 17.
33. Evenson 2000, p. 18-25.
34. Bell's Lab notebook I, p. 40-41 (image 22).
35. Fenster, Julie M. "Inventing the Telephone—And Triggering All-Out Patent War". ''American Heritage'', 2006. AmericanHeritage.com
36. Basilio Catania 2003 The United States Government vs. Alexander Graham Bell.
37. Phone to Pacific From the Atlantic
38. Catania Basilio 2003 Antonio Meucci inventore del telefono, Notiziario Tecnico Telecom Italia, anno 12 n.1, December 2003, p. 114.]
39. Globe Telephone Company 1884 - Famous ATT Patent Fight © 1996 - 2007 Scripophily .com
40. [1]
41. Vito Fossella's Press Release on Resolution 269Original material about Meucci's work and his trial against Bell can be found here: Basilio Catania's Work on Antonio Meucci, Federazione Italiana di Elettrotecnica Museo Antonio Meucci
42. Groundwater 2005, p. 95.
43. Phillips 1977, p. 95.
44. Selfridge Aerodrome Sails Steadily for 319 Feet. At 25 to 30 miles an Hour. First Public Trip of Heavier-than-air Car in America.
45. Phillips 1977, p. 96.
46. Phillips 1977, p. 96-97.
47. Mrs. A.G. Bell Dies. Inspired Telephone. Deaf Girl's Romance With Distinguished Inventor Was Due to Her Affliction.
48. Dr. Gilbert H. Grosvenor Dies; Head of National Geographic, 90; Editor of Magazine 55 Years Introduced Photos, Increased Circulation to 4.5 Million
49. Mrs. Gilbert Grosvenor Dead; Joined in Geographic's Treks; Married Professor's Son
50. Mrs. David Fairchild, 82, Dead; Daughter of Bell, Phone Inventor
51. Gray 2006, p. 418.
52. Dr. Bell, Inventor of Telephone, Dies
53. Anecdote.com Note: While tending to her husband after a long illness, Mabel whispered, "Don't leave me." By way of reply, Bell traced the sign for "No" - and promptly expired.
54. Royal Bank Commemorative Notes
55. Walters 1999, p. 166-167.
56. Thompson's song The song mentions Bell's work with discs rather than cylinders, the hydrofoil, his work with the deaf, the invention of the respirator and several other of Bell's achievements.

----

★ Bruce, Robert V. ''Bell: Alexander Bell and the Conquest of Solitude''. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1990. ISBN 0-80149691-8.

★ Groundwater, Jennifer. ''Alexander Graham Bell: The Spirit of Invention''. Calgary: Altitude Publishing, 2005. ISBN 1-55439-006-0.

★ Gray, Charlotte. ''Reluctant Genius: Alexander Graham Bell and the Passion for Invention''. New York: Arcade Publishing, 2006. ISBN 1-55970-809-3.

★ Eber, Dorothy Harley. ''Genius at Work: Images of Alexander Graham Bell''. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1982. ISBN 0-7710-3036-3.

★ Evenson, A. Edward. ''The Telephone Patent Conspiracy of 1876: The Elisha Gray - Alexander Bell Controversy''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland Publishing, 2000. ISBN 0-7864-0138-9.

★ Mackay, James. ''Sounds Out of Silence: A life of Alexander Graham Bell''. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing Company, 1997. ISBN 1-85158-833-7.

★ Micklos, John Jr. ''Alexander Graham Bell: Inventor of the Telephone''. New York: Harper Collins Publishers Ltd., 2006. ISBN 978-0-06-057618-9.

★ Petrie, A. Roy. ''Alexander Graham Bell''. Don Mills, Ontario: Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited, 1975. ISBN 0-88902-209-7.

★ Phillips, Allan. ''Into the 20th Century: 1900/1910'' (Canada's Illustrated Heritage). Toronto: Natural Science of Canada Limited, 1977. ISBN 0-9196-4422-8.

★ Walters, Eric. ''The Hydrofoil Mystery''. Toronto: Puffin Books, 1999. ISBN 0-14-130220-8.

★ Wing, Chris. ''Alexander Graham Bell at Baddeck''. Baddeck, Nova Scotia: Christopher King, 1980.

External links

Patents

★ Complete list of Bell patents
''US patent images in TIFF format''

★ ''Improvement in Transmitters and Receivers for Electric Telegraphs'', filed March 1875, issued April 1875 (multiplexing signals on a single wire)

★ ''Improvement in Telegraphy'', filed February 14 1876, issued March 7, 1876 (Bell's first telephone patent)

★ ''Improvement in Telephonic Telegraph Receivers'', filed April 1876, issued June 1876

★ ''Improvement in Generating Electric Currents'' (using rotating permanent magnets), filed August 1876, issued August 1876

★ ''Electric Telegraphy'' (permanent magnet receiver), filed January 15 1877, issued January 30 1877

★ ''Apparatus for Signalling and Communicating, called Photophone'', filed August 1880, issued December 1880

★ ''Aerial Vehicle'', filed June 1903, issued April 1904

Movie biographies

★

★ ''The Story of Alexander Graham Bell'', 1939 film reformatted for VCR tape, Don Ameche playing Bell, (1966) ISBN 0-7939-1251-2

★ ''Biography - Alexander Graham Bell'', A&E DVD biography based on historical footage and still pictures of Bell, (2005)

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