Oh alright, he’s not, he’s dead, but today is officially the birthday of Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone. In this modern age of Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and all the rest, it’s easy to forget that the telephone, in all its incarnations, mobile or otherwise, has had a very long life.
And it all started with this man!
Born on 3rd March, 1847, Bell actually started inventing at an early age, when he built a wheat-dehusking machine for a nearby farmer, and after that, his early research was into speech and elocution. You know, “the rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain” and all that. It was in 1876 that the very first EVER two-way telephone call was made, by Bell to his assistant, coincidentally a week after his birthday! (for more info, see here… and yes, we WILL be doing a birthday greeting for that, as well!)
His later work revolved more around hydrofoils and aeronautics, but there’s no doubt Alexander Graham Bell will be most remembered for the telephone. And he was Scottish.
Cheers, A.G., if you’re up there looking down on us, have a wee pint o’ heavy on me!
Leave a comment and have your say!
March 6th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Interesting blog, is this where the saying ‘give us a bell’ came from?
March 6th, 2008 at 9:50 am
B’dum Tching!
Top joke, welcome to the blog, judging by that, you should fit RIGHT in!
October 8th, 2010 at 6:42 am
I had no idea that he started with wheat dehusking. Alexander Graham Bell had a remarkable impact in so many ways. I commend to you the article “Alexander Graham Bell: Inventing the Future”: http://bit.ly/9VpXV8