ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL
Though Alexander Graham Bell was the first person to file a patent for the
telephone, inventors Elisha Gray and Antonio Meucci both claimed to have
invented the telephone first. Patent litigation involving the Bell Telephone
Company ensued, and Bell was forced to defend his patent over 600 times. The
suit was finally settled when the U.S. Supreme Court deemed Bell the sole
inventor of the telephone in 1879.
"Beinn Bhreagh" the name of Bell's estate in Baddeck, Nova Scotia is Gaelic
for "beautiful mountain."
At the time of Bell's burial, telephone service throughout North America was
stopped for one minute in a gesture of respect for Bell's life and
accomplishments.
Alexander Graham Bell met Helen Keller in 1887 in Washington, D.C. and gave
her family the name of a private speech teacher for Helen. Keller's
autobiography, The Story of My Life, is dedicated to Bell.
One of the first people to own a telephone was famed American author Mark
Twain (Tom Sawyer).
Mabel S. Hubbard's father, Gardiner Greene Hubbard, was one of the founding
members (and the first president) of the National Geographic Society. Bell
became president of the society in 1898 when Hubbard died. Believing National
Geographic was too dry and scholarly, Bell hired his daughters husband,
Gilbert Grosvenor to be the editor of the magazine. The two men worked to
make National Geographic more accessible, eventually deciding to shift its
emphasis to photos, making the magazine more like the one we see today.
In addition to the Alexander Graham Bell National Historical Site in Baddeck,
Nova Scotia, Canadians can also visit The Bell Homestead in Brantford,
Ontario. The former Bell home was declared a National Historical site in
1952. Ninety per cent of the Bell family possessions are housed on the site,
which was restored to resemble typical 1870s décor.
The word "telephone" is Greek for "far speaking."
Apparently, after inventing the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell proposed a
greeting of "Hoy! Hoy!" a variation of "Ahoy!" that never caught on. The
greeting we use today was created by Thomas Edison, who suggested the word
"hello," a variant of the British exclamation "hallo."
In his later life, Bell built many boats in his boathouse at Beinn Bhreagh. The
yacht he created for his son-in-law Gilbert Grosvenor was named The Elsie.
This boat was recently rebuilt and can still be seen sailing the waters near
Cape Breton.
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