Every year on March 7, Alexander Graham Bell Day is celebrated in honor of Sir Graham Bell who invented the telephone. The invention of the telephone brought a new horizon in the world of communications!
Patent date
Alexander Graham Bell was granted a patent for “transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically” on March 7, 1876. However, it took him three days to transmit his voice. On March 10, Graham Bell uttered the famous words – “Mr. Watson, come here, I eat to see you” into a transmitter. Thomas Watson who was an assistant to Graham Bell heard the words clearly while sitting in the next room. Thus, the world’s first telephone came into being. In commemoration of the day when Bell was granted the patent, March 7 is observed as Alexander Graham Bell Day worldwide. It is a day recognized by the official act of the legislature in Nova Scotia, Canada.
In addition to the invention of the telephone, Bell is also recognized for the invention of the metal detector. He is also known for developing the Hydrodome, a watercraft that set a world marine speed record in 1919.
Some lesser known facts about Graham Bell
- Bell was an Immigrant! He was born in Scotland but immigrated to Canada with his parents at 23 years old. After a year of moving to Canada, Bell shifted to America to teach at a school for the deaf. After Bell invented the telephone and got famous, he was granted citizenship in the United States.
- Alexander Graham Bell was baptized as Alexander Bell. But, Bell always yearned for a middle name to distinguish himself from his father and grandfather, who were both named Alexander. Finally, on his 11th birthday, Bell was gifted the middle name “Graham” by his father.
- Bell’s mother and his wife were hearing impaired!
- Even after Bell received recognition and fame for his invention of telephone, he dedicated himself to help the hearing impaired. In 1887, Captain Arthur Keller traveled from Alabama to meet with Bell in order to seek help for his 6-year-old daughter, Helen, who had become blind and mute at the age of 19 months. Bell introduced them to Boston’s Perkins School for the Blind. There Helen Keller met the miraculous tutor Anne Sullivan who taught her to read, write and speak Braille. Helen Keller dedicated her autobiography to Bell, whom she credited with opening the “door through which I should pass from darkness into light,” and the two remained close friends.
- North American telephones were silenced in Bell’s honor when he died.
- The standard unit for the intensity of sound waves – ‘decibel’ was named after Bell.
We all are eternally grateful to this legend for developing the telephone. Whenever you pick up your smartphone to call or text someone, remember this man’s name who made it possible to connect to people across miles. Otherwise, we would still be sending letters tied to pigeon’s feet!
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