Alexander Greham Bell.
1847- 1922
Date of
Birth: March 3rd.
Place
of birth:- Edinburgh, Scotland.
Alexander Bell, Aleck for his father, was the second
son born to Professor Melville James Bell and the pianist Eliza Symonds. The elder child was Melville James Bell and the younger Edward Charles Bell. They had a long line of elocutionists on the
paternal side.
1852 Age 5Yrs.
Attended Royal High School, school
in Edinburgh. He was a child of average intellect but had an inquisitive mind
and a profound interest in Nature.
1857 Age 10Yrs.
He made a complaint to his
parents about his name. “ My two brothers
have three names each; whereas I have only two names”.
1858 Age 11Yrs.
His father as a Birthay present
to him, included ‘Greham’ as his middle name. Yet he could not be happy as his
mother was losing her ability to hear.
1859 Age 12Yrs.
He often visited his friend and
neighbour Ben. They owned a flour mill. Aleck observed that it was a time
consuming laborious task to remove the husk in wheat grain. The boy made quite
an efficient machine to de-husk the grains which was used for a long time.
He did his utmost to communicate
with his mother who had become totally deaf by this time. He Kept his lips on
the forehead of her mother and spoke, so that the sound could go through her
bones. He also invented a finger tapping language to keep her mum follow
conversations.
1860 Age 13YRS.
His father who had written a
popular book on visual speech, which had been printed again and again, taught
him, and his brothers to recognise sounds from any language. His father used
Alex at his workshops which earned him high applause.
1862 Age 15 Yrs.
He had a disagreement with his
father which made him go to his grand father.
1863 Age 16Yrs.
He was back
assisting his father in his work with the deaf. Alex started working as a pupil
teacher of elocution and music, in Weston House Academy,. He was determined to
study the science of sound to help his mother.
1865, Age 18Yrs.
Bell family moved to London, Bell
returned to Weston House as an assistant master and, in his spare hours,
continued experiments on conveying sound through electricity. He even stretched
a wire from his room to a friend for his telegraphic experiments.
1866 Age !9Yrs.
His father knew a famous
Philologist Alexander Ellis; who was later to be portrayed in ‘My fair Lady’ as Professor Higgins. Alex
sent a report about his experiment on acoustics he was engaged in. Professor
promptly replied appreciating his work and comparing it the research going on
in Germany at the time. He also sent him a copy of The Sensations of Tone as
a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music, which described the work of
the famous scientist Hermann von Helmholtz.
1867 Age 20Yrs.
The two brothers. Edward and Alex
contacted Tuberculosis and became seriously ill. Edward succumbed to the
disease while Alex recovered and concentrated on his studies with the intention
of following his elder brother. Melville had married but had joined the
University of London to pursue a Degree.
1868 Age 21Yrs.
Bell completed his London matriculation exam and
became eligible for admission to the University of London.
1870
Age 23Yrs.
The family
settled in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. There, Alexander set up a workshop to
continue his study of the human voice. He started
using the latest discoveries in science on electro-magnetism to achieve his
goal. He designed a method to send piano signals using electricity.
Boston University in appreciation
of the “Visible speech system” developed by his father offered him a Professorship.
This was passed over to his son Alex who became the Professor of Physiology and
Elocution at the School of Oratory attached to the University.
1871
Antonio Meucci, an Italian
immigrant, filed a caveat (an announcement of an invention). the design of a talking telegraph. He could not renew
this due to hardships. U.S. House of Representatives passed a Resolution
on 11-6-2002, honouring Meucci's
contributions.
1874 Age 27 Yrs.
The Western Union could not cope
up with telegraph traffic their Director contacted Edison and Elisha Grey to
develop a system to send many messages through a single wire. Alexander Greham
heard this and confessed his ability to do this to Gardiner Hubbard and Sanders
who were two parents of his students.
These two gave the funds and
initiated the Bell Telephone company.
1875 Age 28 Yrs.
Alex met Joseph Henry, the director of the
Smithsonian Institute and discussed his dream project which was to send human
voice by telegraphy. Henry told him that Greham had the ‘germ of a great invention’. This was a big impetus to the young
man.
He started
research and hired Thomas Watson who was an electrical designer. On June
2nd Watson plucked one of the reeds.
Greham Bell received it at the other end. "Mr Watson—Come here—I want to see you" were
the first words uttered through a telephone.
1876 Age 29 Yrs.
On 14th
of February, Alexander Bell got to the patent office first. He was the fifth
entry of that day, while Elisha Gray, a professor at Oberlin College, was 39th.
Therefore, the U.S. Patent Office awarded Bell with the first patent for a
telephone,
1677 Age 30Yrs.
He married Mabel, the daughter of
Garrdiner one sposor of the company, , who also happened to be deaf. They
had four children...
Comments.
It has been reported that
Alexander Greham Bell never tolerated a
telephone in his study as that would distract him.
