Overview

The invention and patent of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) in 1876 stands as one of the world's most important innovations. The telephone grew into an indispensable part of everyday life and became instrumental in the development of the modern world. It changed the way people communicated forever and fostered the rise of big business, city life, and changed people's perceptions of community. Today, a world without the telephone is as unimaginable as one without electricity, automobiles, or television.

Background

Most children have strung a thread between two empty soda cans and "invented" their own telephones. This crude contraption proves the telephone is a relatively simple device. In hindsight, it is hard to believe it took so long for the telephone to come into existence. In fact, the two major scientific advances required for...