Alexander Graham Bell

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Portrait of Alexander Graham Bell with white hair and beard, wearing a suit and patterned tie, looking directly at the camera.

Portrait of Alexander Graham Bell with an early telephone device positioned in front of him, symbolizing the first telephone call in history.

Alexander Graham Bell's 1876 sketch of an early telephone design, showing a man speaking into a large cone connected to a device, with handwritten notes below.

Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell sits at a desk speaking into an early telephone, surrounded by a crowd of men observing the event in a formal room.

Evolution of the Phone: A look at telephone technology through the decades.

How a Graphophone records and plays sound

Alexander Graham Bell

At a Glance

Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell summary

Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell Timeline

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Alexander Graham Bell’s Achievements

Alexander Graham Bell: Media

British-American inventor

Videos

Portrait of Alexander Graham Bell with an early telephone device positioned in front of him, symbolizing the first telephone call in history.

How the Telephone Was Invented

Overview of the invention of the telephone, with a focus on the work by Alexander...

Video: Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail Gary Todd; © Georgios Kollidas/Dreamstime.com

How a Graphophone records and plays sound

How a Graphophone records and plays sound

The vertical “hill-and-dale” groove, as played by a Columbia Graphophone, c. 1902....

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Portrait of Alexander Graham Bell with an early telephone device positioned in front of him, symbolizing the first telephone call in history.

telephone

Overview of the invention of the telephone, with focus on the work of Alexander Graham...

Video: Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail Gary Todd; © Georgios Kollidas/Dreamstime.com

Images

Portrait of Alexander Graham Bell with white hair and beard, wearing a suit and patterned tie, looking directly at the camera.

Alexander Graham Bell

Inventor Alexander Graham Bell.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Alexander Graham Bell's 1876 sketch of an early telephone design, showing a man speaking into a large cone connected to a device, with handwritten notes below.

telephone: Alexander Graham Bell's sketch of a telephone

Alexander Graham Bell's sketch of a telephone. He filed the patent for his telephone...

© Photos.com/Getty Images

Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell, inventor who patented the telephone in 1876, lecturing at...

© Photos.com/Jupiterimages

Alexander Graham Bell sits at a desk speaking into an early telephone, surrounded by a crowd of men observing the event in a formal room.

Alexander Graham Bell and the New York City–Chicago telephone link

Alexander Graham Bell, who patented the telephone in 1876, inaugurating the 1,520-km...

© Photos.com/Getty Images

Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell

Inventor Alexander Graham Bell.

Culver Pictures

Bell, Alexander Graham

Bell, Alexander Graham

Alexander Graham Bell.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Baddeck: Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site

Baddeck: Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site

Museum and visitor centre at Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site, Baddeck,...

Skeezix1000

A man in period clothing speaks into an early telephone device in a black-and-white dramatization of Alexander Graham Bell's first successful telephone call.

actor portraying Alexander Graham Bell

An actor portraying Alexander Graham Bell in a short film, 1930.

The Bettmann Archive

Alexander Graham Bell demonstrating the telephone

Alexander Graham Bell demonstrating the telephone

Alexander Graham Bell demonstrating the ability of the telephone to transmit sound...

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Engraving of Alexander Graham Bell seated at a table filing his telephone patent with an official; Bell's early telephone device rests on a separate table to the right.

Bell, Alexander Graham: telephone

Alexander Graham Bell filing the patent for his telephone at the United States Patent...

© Photos.com/Thinkstock

Infographic map showing the route of the first transcontinental telephone line completed in 1914, stretching from San Francisco to New York and passing through 13 states. Key facts include 130,000 telephone poles used, a 4,750-mile record call, and notable speakers for the ceremonial first call in 1915 such as Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson. Insets highlight the cost per call, the amount of copper wire used, and a historical illustration of an early telephone.

The first transcontinental telephone line

Map of the first transcontinental telephone line with details of the first transcontinental...

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc./Kenny Chmielewski

Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell.

Culver Pictures

Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell, inventor who patented the telephone in 1876, lectures at Salem,...

© Photos.com/Jupiterimages

Audio

Listen: Thomas A. Watson Describes the Invention of the Telephone

Thomas A. Watson, assistant to Alexander Graham Bell, discussing the birth of the...

Hear Alexander Graham Bell's Voice For the First Time

This 1885 clip is one of the earliest audio recordings ever made. The remastered...

Interactives

Evolution of the Phone: A look at telephone technology through the decades.

Evolution of the Phone

A look at telephone technology through the decades.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

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