His father was a famous teacher who taught people how to speak well. When Alexander Graham Bell was 21, he became a speech teacher, just like his father. He taught many deaf children how to speak.
He emigrated to Canada in 1870 and the following year to the United States.
Because of his background and upbringing, Alexander Graham Bell has a better understanding of sound, speech production and hearing.
Bell’s deep understanding enabled him to develop the first ‘electric speaking telephone’ as it was then called. In January 1915. Bell made the first telephone call across the United States. He was in New York and he called Thomas Watson in San Francisco.
Many other inventions marked Bells later life including groundbreaking work in hydrofoils and aeronautics,
He invented an electric probe that helped doctors find bullets in the human body. The machine was used in surgery before the X-ray was introduced.
In 1888, Alexander Graham Bell was one of the founding members of the National Geographic Society.
In honor of Bell’s contributions to the science of sound, the standard unit for the intensity of sound is now called the bel. The decibel (dB), or one tenth of a bel, is the unit normally used in sound and communications circuits.
He died in Nova Scotia, Canada in August 2, 1922.
Alexander Graham Bell
