Alexander Graham Bell

2 August marks the 100^th anniversary of the death of Alexander Graham Bell.

With the perfect surname for someone who invented the first practical telephone, as well as the refinement of the phonograph, Alexander Graham Bell was a Scottish-born American inventor, scientist, and teacher of the deaf. His mother was almost deaf, and his father taught elocution to the deaf, influencing Alexander’s later career choice as teacher of the deaf. Also, Alexander’s wife, Mabel, was deaf and was indeed formerly one of his pupils.

While pursuing his teaching profession, Bell also began researching methods to transmit several telegraph messages simultaneously over a single wire – a major focus of telegraph innovation at the time and one that ultimately led to Bell’s invention of the telephone.

Bell also had a growing interest in the technology of sound recording and playback; he began research on using light as a means to transmit sound; he also developed an electrical bullet probe, an early version of the metal detector, for surgical use.