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Interesting US History
A Website Devoted to Interesting Events in U.S. History

 

 
 

 

Myth: Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.

Fact: In 1850, more than twentyfive years before Alexander Graham Bell's invention, a german school teacher named Philip Reis created what he described as an "artificial ear". He linked this "artificial ear" (essentially a microphone), to the strings of a violin (the speaker). This device which he called the Telephone was presented to Frankfurt's Physics Association (Der Physikalische Verein) on October 26, 1861. Although he was able to make it work at distances of up to 100m, it was not good enough to meet with commercial success. It wasn't until 1876, that Bell filed the patent that earned him the title of the inventor of the telephone.

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INTERESTING BOOKS ABOUT
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL

Listen Up!: Alexander Graham Bell's Talking Machine (Step into Reading)

Time For Kids: Alexander Graham Bell

World of Inventors: Alexander Graham Bell

Did You Invent The Phone All Alone, Alexander Graham Bell? (Scholastic Science Supergiants)