Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell (3 Mairch, 1847 – 2 August, 1922) wis a Scots-born scientist, inventor,  wha bade in Canadae, an efter in the Unitit States, wis foonder o the Bell Canada, an the American Telephone an Telegraph Company (AT&T)  an wis kent as the 'faither o the telephone'. As weel as his wark in telecommunications technology, he wis responsible for sindry important advances in aviation an hydrofoil technology, an in genetics.  

Baith his mither an sister war baith profoondly deif, an male members o his faimily war warkin on speech an elocution. This micht hae influencit Bell's ain research, that led tae him gettin the first U.S. patent, oan 5 March 1876, fur the telephone, tho he widna thole haein a telephone in his ain study fur it wad interupt his ither research wark. 

He wis forby interestit in heredity an his wark on this wis cawed "the soondest, an maist uissfae study o human heredity proponed in nineteenth-century America... Bell's most notable contribution to basic science, as distinct from invention."

He becam the second preses (1898 -1903) o the National Geographic Society.

 Early life an faimily 
Born Alexander Bell  in Edinburgh on 3 Mairch 1847, his faither wis Alexander Melville Bell, a phoneticist wha developit sign leid, an his mither wis Eliza Grace Bell (née Symonds); the faimily bided in Charlotte Street.  He hid askit his faither tae gie him a middle name like his twa brithers, an sae wis named aifter a ludger, wha his faither wis treatin, Alexander Graham, sae frae the age o elelven, he wis kent as Alexander Graham Bell.  

His twa brithers Melville James Bell (1845–1870) an Edward Charles Bell (1848–1867), baith dee'd o tuberculosis. His mither (frae Bell wis anely twelve) an sister war baith deif, an he becam interessit in hou tae communicate wi thaim, an in acoustics. Bell wis musical an inventive as a bairn, an his parents hertent him in that. His faither taucht him Visible Speech method, an Bell could expoond mony leids, wi'oot kennin hoo they wis pronooncit,  sik as Laitin, Scots Gaelic an Sanskrit.  

He then bided wi his granfaither in Lunnon fir ae year afore he gaed tae be a pupil-teacher o elocution an music awtho he hissel studied Laitin an Greek at Weston House Academy, Elgin, Moray. 

Aifter went tae the Varsity o Edinburgh, an forby wis back at Elgin, an aifter tocht in Bath, Somerset. Whiles he wis ill hissel, but his younger brither Edward never rekivert an dee'd o tuberculosis (1867). Syne his elder brither, Melville de'ed anaa in 1870. His faither, mony years afore, hid convalesced in Newfoondland an acause Bell wis ill anaa (forby he wis due tae stert tae study at the Varsity o Lunnin), an haed whiles tocht deif bairns in Lunnon wi his faither, the hale faimily gaed awa tae bide in Canadae.

A decade efter, aince he hid foondit the Bell Telephone Company, he merrit Mabel Hubbard on 11 July 1877. They hid fower bairns, twa wha dee'd as littlins, an twa dochters Elsie Mabel Bell an Marion Hubbard Bell. 

 Research an teachin 
Bell's faither hertent him, an his brither Melville wha workit wi him, ti dae aa kind o experiments on soond an acoustics. He wis makin a model o the thrapple (larynx) an skult, an usin bellows tae mak it spikk, anither project wis da'en wi a dug, a Skye Tarrie, Trouve, makin it mak 'human' soounds by pressin oan its thrapple an movin its lips wi his haunds.

Baith in Canadae, an then in Boston, Bell workit wi the deif wi his faither, as a dominie in his ain shuil.  Ane o Bell's private schull bairns wis Helen Keller, baith blin an deif an nae able tae spikk. She wis tocht by Bell uising his faither's method. Mony years aifter, she wis askit tae cut the sod fur the foondin o Bell's own institute, Volta Bureau, fur "the increase an diffusion o knawledge relatin tae the deif".

In 1872, Bell becam professor o Vocal Physiology an Elocution at the Boston Varsity Schull o Oratory. He tocht private pupils an continuit tae experiment wi soond an muisic transmission. But he becam unweel forby.

 The telephone 
Bell experimentit wi soond transmission in varlous weys, includin a phonoautograph, an forby uisin electric currents tae trasmit the soonds.  In the 1870s, the telegraph wis growin across Americae an Canadae. Bell told twa walthie investors aboot his invention tae send multiple tones on a telegraph. This startit the investment ahint his invention, the telephone, in 1875 (an the necessary prertection by patent).  Another model by Elisha Gray wis bein pruived, an he wis forby applying fur a patent, at almaist the same time, an sae Gray brocht a challenge agin Bell's application. 

But the telephone patent no.174,465, wis issuit to Bell on March 7, 1876, by the U.S. Patent Office.  

This pertection wis fur "the method o, an apparatus fur, transmittin vocal or other soonds telegraphically ... bi causin electrical undulations, seemilar  tae the vibrations o the air  that gaes wi the said vocal o ither soond."  Three days efter, 10 March 1876, Bell transmittit soond by varying electrical currents. But he developit a better model wi electomagnetic methods. He continuit to impruive his approach an in August 1876, Bell sent a soond transmission (ae wey) fower miles frae his haim, an then eight miles tae Paris, Ontario. His next step wis twa-wey conversation an this cam aboot oan 9 October 1876, frae Cambridge, Maryland tae Boston.

The followin year, the Bell Telephone Company wis creatit an with an decade aboot 150,000 fowk in the Unitit States awnt a telephone. Within twa mair years, Bell's demonstration o the telephone becam kintra wide then international efter a call wi Queen Victoria, oan the Isle o Wight tae Soothhampton an Lunnon an Bell offerit a set o telephones fir hir uise, alane.

 Ither projects 

 Photophone 
Bell an his assistant, Charles Sumner Tainter, developit a photophone that transmittit soond an human vyce o'er a beam o licht.  Whan it wis testit ower a distance o 700feet on 21 June 1880, it wis aboot 19 year afore the first vyce radio transmission.  Bell hissel thocht this wis his greatest invention.

 Metal detector 
Bell developit a kind o metal detector tae assist tae speir oot the murther o Preses James A. Garfield (1881) tae airt oot whaur the bullet whit kilt him haed gane. Bell scrievit an airticle publishit bi the American Association fur the Advancement o Science aboot his invention an the speirin o the murther.

 Hydrofoil an aeronautics 
Aifter ha'en seen an ridden in the Forlanini hydrofoil on Lake Maggiore, Italy in 1910-11, Bell an Frederick W. Baldwin impruived the design an then warkit wi boat-bigger, Walter Pinaud (afore an efter World War I), wi engines frae the U.S. Navy, an creatit a hydrofoil that set the warld record fur marine speed o 70.86 miles per oor (114.04 kilometres per oor) on 19 September 1919, an they held it fir ten years.  Bell wis ahint the Aerial Experiment Association, that wis pruivin an fleein 'heavier than air' machines, wi an investment frae his wife Mabel. This includit pruivin brent-new ideas sic an enclosit cockpit an a form o aerelon, fir steerin the machine.  Oan  23 February 1909, he wis thare whaun the AEA's Sliver Dart makkit ithe first flicht in Canadae.

 Heredity an genetics 
Frae thair interest in deif fowk, an in genetics ower mony years, Bell an his wife Mabel experimentit wi breeding sheep, fur tae develop anes that haed mair teats fur feeding their lamms. Frae thare an fur his ither studies in eugenics, in 1921 Bell becam the honorary preses o the Second International Congress o Eugenics in New York  whaur he wis ca'ad 'a pioneeering investigator in the field o human genetics'

 Death 
Bell dea'd o complications frae diabetes oan 2 August 1922.
Notes

 References 

Category:1847 births
Category:1922 daiths
Category:19t-century Scots fowk
Category:Alumni o the Varsity o Edinburgh
Category:Alumni o University College London
Category:American agnostics
Category:American businessfowk
Category:American inventors
Category:American fowk o Scots strynd
Category:American physicists
Category:American Unitarians
Category:Aviation pioneers
Category:Canadian emigrants tae the Unitit States
Category:Canadian inventors
Category:Canadian fowk o Scots strynd
Category:Canadian physicists
Category:Fellaes o the American Academy o Airts an Sciences
Category:History o telecommunications
Category:IEEE Edison Medal recipients
Category:Officiers o the Légion d'honneur
Category:Fowk frae Brantford
Category:Fowk frae Edinburgh
Category:Fowk eddicatit at the Royal High School, Edinburgh
Category:Fowk frae Boston
Category:Fowk frae Washington, D.C.
Category:Scots businessfowk
Category:Scots emigrants tae Canadae
Category:Scots emigrants tae the Unitit States
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Category:Members o the Unitit States Naitional Academy o Sciences
Category:Members o the American Filosofical Society