Alexander Graham Bell 's Contributions

Of all the many contributions Alexander Graham Bell made, and in spite of the fact that Alexander Graham Bell himself took most pride in his work with the deaf, Alexander Graham Bell is still known the world over for his invention of the telephone. Today there are well over 200 million telephones in the United States alone, and 92 percent of America's homes have at least one.

Alexander Graham Bell and the great telephone invention

The invention of the telephone was a long, arduous process that is testament to the determination and commitment of its inventor and his assistant. It required many years of labor, during which Alexander Graham Bell suffered anguish and frustration he could barely describe. There were nights without sleep, endless obstacles and setbacks, failed experiments, poverty, physical collapse, and opposition and ridicule from critics. Through it all, Alexander Graham Bell and Watson persevered.

Alexander Graham Bell had started out this process by working with the harmonic telegraph he'd developed for sending several telegraph messages at once. The telegraph used a group of different reeds that could transmit different vibrations. Alexander Graham Bell felt it should be possible to pick up all the sounds of the human voice on these reeds. The first breakthrough came in 1875, when he was at one end of the line and Watson was in another room working on the reeds of the other end of the line, plucking and strumming them. Alexander Graham Bell suddenly heard the sounds of a plucked reed coming over the wire into his room. He raced out into the hall, shouting: "Watson, what did you do just then? Don't change anything!"

The great invention and contributions of Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson

Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson spent the next hour or so plucking reeds and listening to the sounds that carried over the wires. Alexander Graham Bell then gave Watson instructions for improving the instrument. The new instrument could send voice sounds, but not words. All summer Alexander Graham Bell and Watson continued their experiments. Alexander Graham Bell wrote at the time: "I am now beginning to realize the cares and anxieties of being an inventor. Flesh and blood could not stand much longer such a strain as I have had upon me." Finally, in September, Alexander Graham Bell began to write out his first telephone patent. The work all summer had been so exhausting that Bell suffered a physical collapse and had to retreat to his parents' home in Canada. Alexander Graham Bell returned to Boston refreshed and full of new ideas, and got back to work.

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