Graham Bell’s Inventions and Life Story
Alexander Graham Bell
Today, if we have to name one thing that we cannot live without, it is bound to
be our cell phone. Almost like an extended body part, cell phone has got total control
of our lives. Before cell phones, landline phones enjoyed this status and had it
not been for Alexander Graham Bell, the world
could have come to a standstill for want of timely communication.
Biography of Alexander Graham Bell gives you brief
history of his life. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on March 3, 1847 Alexander
displayed a natural curiosity about his world as a young child, resulting in gathering
botanical specimens as well as experimenting even at an early age. At the age of
12, Bell built a homemade device that combined rotating paddles with sets of nail
brushes, creating a simple dehusking machine that was put into operation and used
steadily for a number of years. From his early years, Bell showed a sensitive nature
and a talent for art, poetry and music that was encouraged by his mother. With no
formal training, he mastered the piano and became the family's pianist.
He received his early schooling at home from his father. At an early age, however,
he was enrolled at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, Scotland, which he left at
age 15, completing only the first four forms. Upon leaving school, he travelled
to London to live with his grandfather, Alexander Bell. During the year he spent
with his grandfather, a love of learning was born, with long hours spent in serious
discussion and study. Bell's father, grandfather and brother had all been associated
with work on elocution and speech and both his mother and wife were deaf, profoundly
influencing Bell's life's work. His research on hearing and speech further led him
to experiment with hearing devices which eventually culminated in Bell being awarded
the first U.S. patent for the telephone in 1876. In retrospect, Bell considered
his most famous invention an intrusion on his real work as a scientist and refused
to have a telephone in his study. Many other inventions marked Bell's later life,
including groundbreaking work in optical telecommunications, hydrofoils and aeronautics.
In 1888, Alexander Graham Bell became one of the founding members of the National
Geographic Society.
Although Bell is often associated with the invention of the
telephone, his interests were extremely varied. Bell worked extensively
in medical research and invented techniques for teaching speech to the deaf. Bell
and his associates once considered impressing a magnetic field on a record as a
means of reproducing sound. Although the trio briefly experimented with the concept,
they were unable to develop a workable prototype. They abandoned the idea, never
realizing they had glimpsed a basic principle which would one day find its application
in the tape recorder, the hard disc and floppy disc drive and other magnetic media.
Bell's own home used a primitive form of air conditioning, in which fans blew currents
of air across great blocks of ice. He also anticipated modern concerns with fuel
shortages and industrial pollution. Methane gas, he reasoned, could be produced
from the waste of farms and factories. At his Canadian estate in Nova Scotia, he
experimented with composting toilets and devices to capture water from the atmosphere.
In a magazine interview published shortly before his death, he reflected on the
possibility of using solar panels to heat houses. Bell is also credited with the
invention of the metal detector in 1881.
Honors and tributes flowed to Bell in increasing numbers as his most famous invention
became ubiquitous and his personal fame grew. Bell received numerous honorary degrees
from colleges and universities, to the point that the requests almost became burdensome.
During his life he also received dozens of major awards, medals and other tributes.
The Bell Telephone Memorial was erected in his honor in Brantford, Ontario's ‘Alexander
Graham Bell Gardens’ in 1917.
Bell died of complications arising from diabetes on August 2, 1922, at his private
estate, Beinn Bhreagh, Nova Scotia, at the age of 75.
