In the 1870s, Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell independently designed devices that could transmit speech electrically. Both men rushed their respective designs for these prototype telephones to the patent office within hours of each other. Bell patented his telephone first and later emerged the victor in a legal dispute with Gray.
Today, Bell's name is synonymous with the telephone, while Gray is largely forgotten.
But the story of who invented the telephone goes beyond these two men.
Bell's Biography
Alexander Graham Bell was born on March 3, 1847, in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was immersed in the study of sound from the beginning. His father, uncle, and grandfather were authorities on elocution and speech therapy for the deaf. It was understood that Bell would follow in the family footsteps after finishing college. However, after Bell's two other brothers died of tuberculosis, Bell and his parents decided to immigrate to Canada in 1870.
