FAYE MOSS: Hello, everyone! Welcome to Superstars in History, the talk show featuring interviews with famous people from the past. I'm your host, Faye Moss, and today's guest was a fabulous scientist and inventor whose best-known invention is something that I personally could never live without. Please welcome the father of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell!
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL: Thank you for calling, Faye.
FAYE MOSS: And thank you for inventing the telephone, Alexander! You were always interested in sound and communication, even as a child, right?
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL: Yes, that's correct. I was born in Scotland in 1847. My father was a speech teacher, so I grew up learning about all the sounds the human voice can make. And I loved to apply my knowledge in amusing ways—I was quite a good mimic, and I taught our terrier to speak.
FAYE MOSS: Excuse me? You taught your dog to say actual words?
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL: While he growled, I moved his throat and mouth around to make it sound as if he were speaking. He could "say" things like, "How are you, Grandmama?" Visitors adored this trick!
But on a much more serious note, my interest in sound also arose from my mother's situation. She was a gifted pianist, so I was greatly distressed when she started to lose her hearing. I was always dreaming of ways to improve her hearing.
FAYE MOSS: It sounds like you were an imaginative, sensitive kid. Did you invent anything in childhood?
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL: At age 12 I invented a de-husking machine for a neighbor who owned a flour mill. It quickly removed the husk from the wheat, saving a great amount of time. And my brother and I created a talking machine that was shaped like a human skull. It had rubber cheeks and lips and a tin voice box. To make the machine talk, we pumped air through a tube that served as its windpipe. It was clever, but I'm afraid it wasn't particularly useful!
FAYE MOSS: You attended university in Scotland, and in 1868, you began teaching the deaf in London while doing experiments with sound in your spare time. But then in 1870, you suddenly moved to Canada. Why?
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL: Sadly, my two brothers died from tuberculosis. I was ill too, so my parents wanted me to move to Canada for fresh country air. While I recovered, I continued my sound experiments and study of the human voice. By 1871, I was well enough to move to Boston, to train teachers in Visible Speech. This was a writing system invented by my father to help the deaf and mute learn to speak. I also began teaching deaf students. Oh, and I fell in love and got married. My wife, Mabel, also happened to be deaf.
FAYE MOSS: Your work on sound and speech was so personal; it probably influenced your ideas for your inventions. When did you start working on the telephone?
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL: Like other inventors in the 1870s, I was particularly fascinated with the idea of improving the telegraph. It was a popular device for sending messages, but only one message could be transmitted across the wire at a time. This made the service slow, yet demand for faster telegraphs was growing rapidly. Inventors realized this was a tremendous opportunity!
FAYE MOSS: How did you think you could improve the telegraph?
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL: I had hoped to invent a harmonic telegraph that could transmit sounds of different pitches across a single wire, to send multiple messages at once. But I didn't know enough about electricity to make my ideas work. So I found an assistant, an electrician and mechanic named Thomas Watson.
FAYE MOSS: How did your telegraph turn into the telephone?
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL: That was a lucky accident. One day in 1875, while we were working on the telegraph, a transmitter jammed. When Watson tried to fix it, a part vibrated, making a twang that traveled along the wire. This made me wonder about the possibility of transmitting the human voice across a wire.
Intrigued, we experimented further. At last, in March of 1876, I spoke into the mouthpiece of our electric speaking device: "Mr. Watson, come here—I want to see you!" And he heard me! My voice had traveled across the wire and through a speaker at the other end!
FAYE MOSS: Your telephone patent is one of most valuable ones in history—but there's some controversy over who really invented the telephone.
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL: Ah, yes. Electronic devices were a very new technology, and several inventors, like Antonio Meucci and Elisha Gray, were also working on communication devices. We each had patents for similar technologies. The question of who invented what and when is complicated. In fact, hundreds of court cases were brought against my company, the Bell Telephone Company. In the end, though, my patents were upheld.
FAYE MOSS: Let's get back to your achievements. In 1880 the French government awarded you the Volta Prize. What did you do next?
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL: I set up Volta Laboratory, an institution for experiments and research to improve the lives of the deaf. I also invented the photophone, a communication device that transmits speech messages using light beams instead of wires. People always made a fuss about the telephone, but I suspected the photophone would be recognized one day as a rather important invention too.
FAYE MOSS: I think your photophone paved the way for fiber optics, a technology we use today for all kinds of communication.
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL: Aha! I was correct then! Now I must tell you about my other inventions. Did you know I invented a telephonic probe, or metal detector? I invented it when President Garfield was shot in 1881 and doctors couldn't locate the bullet in his body. Sadly, I couldn't find the bullet, and poor Garfield died.
Oh, I also designed kites and glides. Perhaps you've heard of the hydrofoil—a boat with airfoils? My final patent was for a very fast one!
FAYE MOSS: You were interested in a lot of different things! Before you go, would you like to see my modern telephone? It's pretty amazing!
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL: This might surprise you, Faye, but I lost some interest in the telephone over time. In fact, I refused to keep one in my study—too distracting for a busy scientist! So no, thank you.
FAYE MOSS: No problem! We'll let you get back to history now.
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL: Good-bye!
FAYE MOSS: Alexander Graham Bell never considered his inventions to be his most important achievements. Instead he believed teaching the deaf was the most meaningful job he ever had. He died at the age of 75 in 1922. On the day of his burial, every phone in America stayed silent for one minute to honor him.
I hope you enjoyed today's interview. You've been watching Faye Moss on Superstars in History!