Who Was Alexander Graham Bell?
By: Elsie Mohr
Date: 04/02/2025
When I say “Telephone” you are probably thinking I am referring to your mobile device that you carry around in your day to day life. The device that you use to text and post on social media, but no. I’m talking about a telephone. A telephone has wires that plug into a wall. Most telephones have to stay in one place while you use it. Using a telephone, you can make calls to any place in the world. But who actually invented the telephone?
A man named Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in the mid to late 1800’s. Alexander Graham Bell was born on March 3, 1847 and died on August 2, 1922. Bell was born and grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland. When he was 15 years old his family moved to London, England where he enrolled in the University College of London. He studied anatomy and physiology. However, Alexander Graham Bell was not able to finish his learning at the University College of London because his family decided to move to Brantford, Ontario, in Canada after the deaths of his two younger brothers.
His family was only in Canada for a short time, quickly moving to Boston, Massachusetts. In Massachusetts, Alexander taught at the Boston School for Deaf Mutes, Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, Massachusetts and the American School of Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut. While teaching, Alexander fell in love with Mabel Hubbard, one of his students who was ten years younger than himself, and on July 11, 1877 they got married. Alexander Graham Bell and Mabel Hubbard had four children Elsie (born in 1878), Marian (born in 1880) and two sons who died as infants.
Alexander Graham Bell continued teaching and started to wonder if he could send vocal messages through wires. He became fascinated with the idea of transmitting human speech electronically. While he was experimenting with this idea, he realized that it was possible to send vocal messages through a wire. Alexander kept experimenting with these methods and it soon led to him being able to speak into a wire and a needle hooked to the end of the wire to vibrate.
After Alexander Graham Bell knew that it was possible to send the sound of a human voice through a wire he started working with Thomas Watson to try to make his larger ideas possible. Bell started working with Watson in 1875 and in 1876, Bell created the first ever telephone with Watson’s help. On March 7th, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for his work of creating the telephone.
After Alexander Graham Bell won a patent award for inventing the first telephone, he made the first ever phone call to his partner Thomas Watson three days later. He called Watson from his laboratory in Boston on March 10th, 1876. The most famous quote from Alexander Graham Bell was said during this call, where he said “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.”
Alexander Graham Bell dedicated his life to working with the deaf and to creating the first ever telephone. We have him to thank for creating the original telephone that evolved into our modern technology! Alexander Graham Bell passed away on August 2nd, 1922 and his wife passed away six months later on January 3rd, 1923. There is now a museum about Alexander Graham Bell to keep his memory alive, it’s called the Alexander Graham Bell Historical Site. This museum is located on Bell’s estate in Beinn Bhreagh estate where he’s buried and lived with his wife for the last 35 years of his life.
These are the sources I used to gather my information: