The phone was created by the American scientist of Scottish origin Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922).
It was he who registered the first patent for invention in March 1876, hours before another scholar, Elisha Gray. The registration started one of the longest patent court battles in history.
Illustration of phones showing the evolution of the device
Origin and history of the phone
The invention of the telephone would have happened accidentally to improve the transmissions of the telegraph, which has very similar structural concepts.
With the telegraph, however, it was possible to transmit only one message at a time. Having good knowledge of music, Graham Bell saw the possibility of transmitting more than one message along the same wire at once in the concept of "multiple telegraph".
This was not a new concept. Others tried, but it was the American who made this progress and used electricity to drive the human voice.
The experiences were supported by an assistant, Thomas Watson, the first to hear a human voice through a device called a telephone in June 1875.
Subsequent research was aimed at developing a membrane to transform sound into current and reproduce it again on the other side.
Success was marked on March 10, 1876. The first words conveyed by Graham Bell were: "Mr Watson, come here. I need to talk to you", after an accident in the laboratory.
The following year, Graham Bell founded the Bell Telephone Company which later became the American Telephone & Telegraph, the largest telephone company in the world.
There was, however, a response to the US Court of at least 600 actions filed by Gray claiming the invention. However, Bell won them all.
Phone Evolution
In the figure above, we can see the evolution of the telephone since its creation in the late nineteenth century. Almost 20 years after Graham Bell's invention, Landell de Moura performed the first wireless voice transmission.
In 1978 in Japan, mobile phone telephony was activated. In Brazil, 20 years later, in 1998, the first cell phones were activated in São Paulo. Nowadays, mobile phones are indispensable objects in the life of the modern man
Photo shows the evolution of cell phones since the 90's
Telephone History in Brazil
The first telephone line installed in Brazil was implemented by order of Emperor Dom Pedro II in 1877.
The line connected the Quinta da Boa Vista Palace to the ministerial houses. The company responsible for the work was Western at Brazilian Telegraph.
Who was Graham Bell?
Alexander Graham Bell was born on March 3, 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
He devoted much of his life to finding a way to turn sound into energy and transmit it over a wire.
Graham Bell's life was marked by the presence of deaf people. That's because his mother and wife suffered from hearing impairment. Since his mother was deaf, he learned sign language very early.
Graham had two brothers, although they died of tuberculosis. After the death of his siblings, his parents emigrated to Canada in 1870.
The knowledge made him a teacher at a school for the deaf in Boston, where he arrived in 1871. It was at the establishment that he met the woman, Mabel Hubbard, with whom he had four children.
The scientist died on August 2, 1922.
Did you know?
March 10th is called Telephone Day. The date refers to the registration of the first patent held by Graham Bell.
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- Media
- History of Radio
- History of Television