Bell demonstrating his experimental telephone, which had a connection between Salem and Boston, Massachusetts. Bell had given previous demonstrations in February 1877 at the same Lyceum Hall, and an overflow crowd appears in this print for the March 15th presentation. Alexander Graham Bell (March 3, 1847, August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-American speech therapist and inventor of the telephone. Bell followed his father and grandfather into the speech therapy profession, but also studied sound waves and the mechanics of speech. By 1871, he had moved to the United States, becoming professor of vocal physiology in Boston. There he performed his experiments in converting sound waves into electrical impulses for transmission down wires. In 1876, he patented the telephone and founded what has become the AT&T company. In later years he made many improvements to the telephone, worked with Langley and Curtis on flying machines, and founded the journal Science. |