Wednesday, March 3, 2010

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Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Biography: Have you ever heard of the man who invented the telephone?


He was simply the most amazing man to the world, and also probably the most intelligent to anyone since he did invent the telephone of course. The guy who invented the telephone was Alexander Graham Bell. Bell was born to a family of speech educators. Bell was born on March 3, 1847, in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father's name was Alexander Melville Bell. Melville invented visible speech, which is a code of symbols for all spoken sounds that was used in teaching deaf people to speak. Graham also invented the graphophone, which is for recording sound on wax cylinders or disks; he also invented the photophone, for transmitting speech on a beam of light; an audio meter, which is an aid for the deaf; a telephone probe, used in surgery until the discovery of the x-ray; an induction balance, for detecting metal within the human body. Bell also worked on the transmission of the human voice, experimenting with vibrating membranes and an actual human ear.
After Bell’s 2 brothers died of tuberculosis, his father moved his family to the healthier climate of Canada in 1870. "From 1868 to 1870 Bell assisted his father at the University College in London. Soon after that Bell became interested in the study of sound and the mechanics of speech, inspired in part by the acoustic experiments of German physicist Hermann Von Helmholtz, which gave him the idea of telegraphing speech." In 1871 Bell went to Sarah Fuller’s school for the deaf, it was the first such school in the world. In 1872, he opened his own school in Boston for training teachers of the deaf; by 1873 he had become a professor of vocal physiology at Boston University and was also tutoring private pupils. He was backed financially in his investigations by Gardiner Hubbard and Thomas Sanders; they were fathers of 2 of his deaf pupils. After Bell got married to the daughter of Gardiner Hubbard, (Mabel Hubbard); Bell sailed to England to promote the telephone.
On June 2, 1875, the critical break through on the telephone ACCIDENTLY came about while they were working on the telegraph. Bell sketched a design for an electric telephone and Watson built it. Hubbard finally filed for the patent on February 14, 1876, just hours before Gray. Their greatest competitor, Gray, appeared at the same patent office to file an intent to patent his own telephone design. Bell’s patent was granted on March 7, 1876. Three days later (March 10, 1876) Bell tested a new transmitter (Watson was in the other room). Watson heard Bell clearly say “Mr. Watson, come here, I want you!” It was the first message transmitted by telephone. Later on they took the telephone design to Dom-Pedro. He was astonished and said “My God-it talks!” Together with financial backers, Hubbard and Sanders, formed the Bell Telephone Company(which is now AT&T) in 1877. Countering with improved transmitters, invented by German born American inventor Emile Berliner and Francis Blake; The Bell Company sued Western Union for patent infringement. The suit was settled—in Bells favor in 1879. In 1880, the French Government awarded Bell the Volta prize for his achievement in sound technology. Bell experimented with development of the harmonic telegraph—a device that could send multiple messages over a single wire.
Do you think it's true that Bell really didn't invent the telephone? A Scottish-born immigrant says he conducted the first telephone conversation in Boston, even though people still give credit to Alexander Graham Bell. U.S. writer Seth Shulman argues that the Canadian hero stole the phones key technology break through from American inventor Elisha Gray. Later on everyone found out that the first long distance telephone call (Brantford to Paris, Ontario) occurred in Canada.
Bell helped establish Science Magazine and the National Geographic Society. Bell also invented the tetrahedral kite, which is capable of carrying a human being. He also designed a hydrofoil boat that set the world water speed record in 1918. In Baddeck, Bell built a second house for his wife and him to use as a summer/vacation home. He called it “Beinn Bhreagh.” Much of his inventing was done here. On August 2, 1922, Bell died in his summer/vacation home on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.

Influential #1, inventing

Alexander Graham Bell was influential because he invented many things. Some of the things he invented were the graphophone, the photophone, the audio meter, a telephone probe, an induction and many more things. He was a prolific inventor of other devices. Bell also worked on the transmission of the human voice using vibrating membranes and an actual human ear. In 1880, the French Government awarded Bell the Volta prize in sound technology. Toward the end of Bell’s life he invented the tetrahedral kite. This is a kite that is capable of holding a human being. Also toward the end of his life he invented the hydrofoil boat that set the world speed record in 1918. He tried inventing with a development of the harmonic telegraph. This is a device that could send multiple messages over a single wire. Three days after he had gone to the patent office Bell tested a new transmitter. Watson was in the other room and clearly heard Bell summon him “Mr. Watson come here, I want you.” It was on June 2, 1875, that the critical break through happened through the phone.

Influential #2, Schooling and teaching

Bell was an outstanding teacher of the deaf. Bell was also born to a family of speech educators. Bell assisted his father, Alexander Melville Bell, at the University College; London in 1868-1870.IN 1871 Bell went to teach with Sarah Fuller, who was teaching at the first such school in the world. In 1872 Bell opened his own school for the deaf, by 1873 he had became a professor of vocal physiology at Boston University and was tutoring a few private pupils.

Fun fact #1 fun Inventing


Alexander is known as the inventor of the telephone, but is also an outstanding teacher of the deaf, a prolific inventor of other devices, and a leading figure in the scientific community. Bell built many new devices. Among them were the graphophone, which is for recording sound on wax cylinders or disks; a photophone, which is for transmitting speech on a beam of light; an audiometer, which is an aid for the deaf; a telephone probe, which was used in surgery until the discovery of the x-ray; and induction, which is a balance for detecting metal inside the human body.
Bell worked on the transmission of the human voice experimenting with vibrating membranes and an actual human ear. In 1880, the French Government awarded Bell the Volta prize for his achievement in sound technology. Countering with improved transmitters invented by German born American inventor Emile Berliner and Francis Blake; the Bell Company sued Western Union for infringement. The suit was settled in Bell’s favor in 1879.
Bell helped establish the Science magazine and the National Geographic Society. He also invented the tetrahedral kite, which is capable of carrying a human being, Bell also designed a hydrofoil boat that set the world water speed in 1918. Bell built his vacation home for Mabel and him in Baddeck and called it “Beinn Bhreagh” most of his inventing was done here.

Fun fact #2: Accidentally invented the telephone


On June 2, 1875 the critical breakthrough of the telephone accidentally came about while they were working on the telegraph. After the critical breakthrough Bell Sketched a design for an electric telephone and Watson built it. Hubbard finally filed for the patent on February 14, 1876, just hours before Gray, their greatest competitor, appeared at the same patent office to file intent to patent his own telephone design. Bell’s patent was granted on March 7, 1876. Three days later, Bell tested a new transmitter, (Watson was in the other room), clearly heard in the other room, Bell’s summons “Mr. Watson, come here, I want you.” It was the first message transmitted by telephone. Dom-Pedro was astonished “My God- It talks.” He experimented with development of the harmonic telegraph- a device that could send multiple messages at the same time over a single wire.
Do you really think Bell invented the telephone? Well a Scottish-born immigrant conducted the first telephone conversation in Boston. The first long distance telephone call (Brantford to Paris, Ontario) occurred in Canada. U.S. writer Seth Shulman argues that the Canadian hero stole the phone’s key technology break through from American inventor Elisha Gray.

Source Citations

Works Cited
"Alexander Graham Bell." Biography Resource Center. 2006. Web. 24 Feb. 2010.
"Alexander Graham Bell." Biography Resource Center. Gale, 2006. Web. 25 Feb. 2010.
"Alexander Graham Bell." Biography Resource Center. MacMillan Reference USA, 2002. Web. 25 Feb. 2010.
Bethane, Brian. "Did Bell Steal the Idea for The Phone? An Author says he has Damning Evidence that Settles an Old Question." Student Resource Center-Gold. Gale, 4 Feb. 2008. Web. 1 Mar. 2010.
Foster, Abram. "Bell, Alexander Graham." Student Resource Center-Gold. Gale, 1998. Web. 25 Feb. 2010.
Shulman, Seth. "Today Is Alexander Graham Bell's Birthday. Did He Steal Plans That Made His Telephone Work?" Google, 3 Mar. 2008. Web. 2 Mar. 2010. .
"Telephone Research Must Stop. Full Stop." 2008. Web. 2 Mar. 2010. .
Blogger, Guest. "How to Invent Excuses for Inventing." Google. Web. 2 Mar. 2010. .