Alexander Graham Bell

Essay by flotown_2006University, Bachelor'sA+, March 2006

download word file, 1 pages 3.0

Alexander Graham Bell is a name of great significance in American history today. A skillful inventor and generous philanthropist, he astounded the world with his great ideas that proved to be both innovative and extremely practical in the later half of the 19th century. Most notable, of course, are Bell's work in developing the telephone and his venerable life-long endeavor to educate the deaf. Originally, his only wish was to help deaf people overcome their difficulty in learning verbal communication, and later was pushed into researching the possibility of a device that could transmit the human voice electronically over a distance.

After building his first working telephone model, Bell's fame spread quickly as people in America and around the world began to realize the great potential this new device held in store for society . His telephone an instant success was already a growing industry for the people all across the globe.

Alexander Graham Bell decided to turn his attention back to assisting the deaf and following other creative ideas including the development of a metal detector, an electric probe which was used by many surgeons before the X ray was invented, a device having the same purpose as today's iron lung, and also a method of locating icebergs by detecting echoes from them.

With his many inventions including the telephone, he wanted to educate the deaf, and the founding and financing of the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf now called the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf, Alexander Graham Bell has become a very important historical figure.

A key factor in Bell's successful life was his invigorating background. His family and his education definitely had a deep influence on his career. Born in Scotland in 1847 to his parents Melville and Eliza...