Alexander Graham Bell son of Alexander Melville Bell and Eliza Grace Symonds Bell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. As a child he experimented alot with sound.It all began when Alexander was lost in a corn field and he wanted to see the corn grow,but he could only hear his father calling him, from that point further he became very interested in sound waves. Bell was a very good piano player.He could listen to a song once and play it perfectly the second time. Many people thought he was slow because he would lower his head and sing into the piano for hours. All those people were wrong he was not slow at all he was just listening to the sound waves. Alexander could immagine what his dog said by moving the dogs voice box around to cause vibrations, which made the speaking-like sound with the movement of the jaw. At the age of elven Bell finally decided to take Graham as his second name after he had met a family friend from Cuba named Alexander Graham. As a child Alexander was interested in many things he always kept wondering. One thing Alexander was interested in was sounds and tones because of his interest in speech. Alexander had a special love for science he would briong home animals to study and dissect

As a young child Bell, like his brothers, received his first years of school at home from his father. At an early age, however, he joined at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, Scotland, which he left at age 15 ; completing only the first four forms. His school record was not successful, marked by being away from school a lot of the time and not very good grades. His main interest was on sciences, especially biology, he treated other school subjects with indifference, to the sadness of his father. Upon leaving school, Bell travelled to London with his grand father, Alexander Bell. During the year he spent with his grandfather, a love for learning was born, with long hours spent in serious discussions and studies. Bell’s grandfather took great efforts to have his nephew to speak clearly and with conviction, the attributes that his pupil would need to become a teacher himself. At age 16, Bell secured a position as a “ pupil teacher “ of elocution (lesson were people are taught how to speak clearly,) and music. In Weston House Academy, at Elgin, Moray Scotland. Although he was a student in Latin and Greek, he instructed classes himself in return for board and £10 per session. The following year eight he attended the University of Edinburgh ; joining his elder brother Melville who had entered there the previous year. In 1868 not long before he departed in Canada with his family, Alexander completed the exams and was accepted to the University of London where he graduated

Until the 19th century there was no way of speaking to someone unless you stood face to face. The only means of communicating over long distances was through the use of the electric telegraph which had been invented, the message would have to be sent in code. In 1874 while working that summer in Brantford, Alexander Graham Bell experimented a new mechanism called "phonautograph", a pen-like machine that could draw shapes out of sound waves on smoked glass by tracing their vibrations. Bell thought it might be possible to generate waving electrical currents that are the same as sound waves. Alexander Graham Bell also thought that multiple metal reeds (small pieces of cane or metal which if inserted into the mouth piece of the wood- wind instrument create sound out of vibrations.) Tuned to different sound levels would be able to convert the undulating currents back into sound. In March 1875 Bell and Pollok visited the famous scientist Joseph Henry. They asked Henry’s advice on the instrument that Bell had invented, hoping to transmit human voice by telegraph. Henry replied” Bell you have the gem of invention,”and when Bell said that he did not have the necessary knowledge, Henry responded “Get it!” That encouragement changed Bell’s life,it was a fundamental part of the telephone invention. In 1876 after alot of hard work,Bell finally invented the telephone!!!.

They soon left for England where Bell was able to demonstrate the telephone to Queen Victoria.On the 11th July 1877 he married Mabel Hubbard( ) at the Hubbard estate in Cambridge,Massachussets.After that they embarked on a one year long honeymoon around Europe. Together they had four children, Elsie May Bell ( ) who married Gilbert Grovsenor of National Geographic fame, Marian Hubbard Bell ( ) who they called Daisy. In 1881 Alexander Graham Bell lost an infant son named Edward. One year later Bell’s family bought a house in same city as Alexander’s so that they could stay together. That same year He lost another son named Robert. The summer of 1885 Bell had a vacation on cape Breton island in Scotland spending most of his time at the small village named Baddeck. Returning in 1886 he started to build a property on a point across from Baddeck overlooking Bras D’Or lake. A few years later in 1889 Alexander Graham Bell met a six year old Hellen Keller blind and deaf in Washington D.C. He helped her family find a private teacher. During 1901 Bell invented the tetrahedal kite it had a shape of four triangular sides which made it very light strong and rigid. Fourteen years later he characterized his status as:” I am not one of those hypheneted Americans who claim allegiance to two countries.” Despite this Bell has been proudly claimed as a “ native son" by all three countries he resided in: the United States, Canada and Scotland. Until the end of his life, Bell and his family would alternate between the two homes, but Beinn Bhreagh would, over the next 30 years, become more than a summer home as Bell became so absorbed in his experiment. Alexander Graham Bell died on August 2nd, 1922 from complications from diabetes. He was buried at Beinn Bhreagh, on Cape Breton Island in Scotland.

I believe that Alexander Graham Bell changed our life by introducing electronical devices into the world. He made people enjoy life playing with his electronic objects. Now people can speak from distances. He helped death people communicate with the world. In early life he instructed death mute peole.I think he is a genius and without him life wouldn’t be this good he has made this world a better place to live he is an impotant piece in human life.This person has sacrificed himself to make his mother and wife communicate with the world without him there wouldn’t be such care for ill people.

k Click on the link below to watch a video on Alexander’s Graham Bell telephone invention

This presentation was made by …………………………… ….Manfredi Alfano