Who is credited with inventing the telephone

In , the U. In addition to the telephone, Bell worked on hundreds of projects throughout his career and received patents in various fields. Some of his other notable inventions were:. In , Bell was awarded the French Volta Prize, and with the money, he founded a facility devoted to scientific discovery, the Volta Laboratory in Washington, D.

Bell invented numerous techniques to help teach speech to the deaf and even worked with well-known author and activist Helen Keller. He also helped launch Science magazine , and from to served as president of the National Geographic Society.

In , Bell was given the controversial title of honorary president at the Second International Congress of Eugenics. Later in his life, Bell focused on aviation and hydrofoil inventions. Some famous quotes attributed to Bell include:. Bell died on August 2, , at the age of 75 in Nova Scotia, Canada. The cause of his death was complications from diabetes.

He was survived by his wife and two daughters. Today, the famous scientist is remembered for his groundbreaking work in sound technology and improving education for the deaf.

His best-known invention, the telephone, forever changed the way humans communicate with each other. Alexander Graham Bell. History: Alexander Graham Bell. Famous Scientists. List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email. Mary Bellis. Inventions Expert. Mary Bellis covered inventions and inventors for ThoughtCo for 18 years. She is known for her independent films and documentaries, including one about Alexander Graham Bell.

Featured Video. Cite this Article Format. Bellis, Mary. Antonio Meucci. Elisha Gray and the Race to Patent the Telephone. History's 15 Most Popular Inventors. September Calendar of Famous Inventions and Birthdays. How to Apply for a Patent for Your Invention. Today in History: Inventions, Patents, and Copyrights.

January Calendar of Famous Inventions and Birthdays. Emile Berliner and the History of the Gramophone. The very word priority cheats all but one person of credit. In fact, we must thank Bourseul, Reis, Gray, Bell -- all of them. For great inventions are always the gift of many people, not just one. I'm John Lienhard, at the University of Houston, where we're interested in the way inventive minds work.

For more on the invention of the telephone, see Episode Lienhard Click here for audio of Episode He wrote: Speak against one diaphragm and let each vibration "make or break" the electric contact. The electric pulsations thereby produced will set the other diaphragm working, and [it then reproduces] the transmitted sound. Theme music Coe, L. Note added, Nov. Benjamin Brown has done an exhaustive study of the matter.

It reveals a great respect between Bell and Gray. Historians and Italian-Americans won their battle to persuade Washington to recognise a little-known mechanical genius, Antonio Meucci, as a father of modern communications, years after his death. The vote by the House of Representatives prompted joyous claims in Meucci's homeland that finally Bell had been outed as a perfidious Scot who found fortune and fame by stealing another man's work.

Calling the Italian's career extraordinary and tragic, the resolution said his "teletrofono", demonstrated in New York in , made him the inventor of the telephone in the place of Bell, who had access to Meucci's materials and who took out a patent 16 years later. Bell's immortalisation in books and films has rankled with generations of Italians who know Meucci's story. Born in , he studied design and mechanical engineering at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, and as a stage technician at the city's Teatro della Pergola developed a primitive system to help colleagues communicate.