Alexander Graham Bell is best known for his invention of the telephone, for which

he received his first patent in 1876. Despite the hundreds of lawsuits that would
challenge his claim to the invention, none would prove successful. Born in Scotland
and later becoming a U.S. citizen, Bell spent his life in pursuit of scientific
discovery, and despite his myriad accomplishments as a scientist and inventor, he
saw himself first and foremost as a teacher of the deaf, dedicating the majority of
his work to that field.

Alexander Graham Bell’s Early Years

Bell was born on March 3, 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland, the second born son of
Alexander Melville Bell, a teacher of elocution, and Eliza Grace Symonds, a
hearing-impaired pianist.

While not the best student, Bell had an uncanny talent for problem solving. At 12
years old, he invented a farming device for his friend’s father that quickly and
efficiently removed the husks from wheat grain.

After being homeschooled and attending private school for a year, Bell went on to
the Royal High School at Edinburgh but eventually dropped out because he didn’t
enjoy the mandatory curriculum.

Although Bell had a tense relationship with his own father, he was heavily
influenced by him and his grandfather, both of whom devoted their careers to voice
mechanics and elocution. Bell followed in their footsteps and became a teacher for
the deaf.

After the deaths of his older brother Melville James and younger brother Edward
Charles from tuberculosis, Bell and his family moved to Ontario, Canada, in 1870,
seeking a healthier climate. A year later, Bell found his way to the U.S. and began
teaching at the Boston School for Deaf Mutes and similar facilities in the area.

While a teacher, Bell met 15-year-old Mabel Hubbard, one of his deaf students.
Despite a 10-year age gap, the two fell in love and were married in 1877. The
couple would go on to have four children: daughters Elsie and Marian, as well as
two sons who died as infants.

Inventing the Telephone

While a teacher for the hearing impaired, Bell was asked by a group of investors —
one of whom was his father-in-law Gardiner Hubbard — to help perfect the harmonic
telegraph. The device was one of the most exciting innovations of the day, allowing
for multiple messages to be sent over wire simultaneously.

But Bell was more keen on developing a voice transmitting device, which he would
later call the telephone. After some negotiation, the investors allowed for Bell to
work on both technologies, with more focus on the popular harmonic telegraph.

However, in the end, the telephone won out. As Bell would later explain, “If I
could make a current of electricity vary in intensity precisely as the air varies
in density during the production of sound, I should be able to transmit speech
telegraphically.”

On March 7, 1876, Bell was awarded a patent on the device, and three days later, he
made his first successful telephone call to his assistant, electrician Thomas
Watson, who would hear Bell’s famous words transmitted through the wire: “Mr.
Watson, come here. I want you.”