As a young child, Bell,
like his brothers, received his early schooling at home from his father.
The family home was at 16 South Charlotte
Street, and now has a commemorative marker at the doorstep, marking it as
Alexander Graham Bell's birthplace. He had two brothers: Melville James Bell
(1845–1870) and Edward Charles Bell (1848–1867). Both of his brothers died
of
tuberculosis.
His father was Professor
Alexander Melville Bell,
and his mother was Eliza Grace (née Symonds). Although he was
born "Alexander", at age 10, he made a plea to his father to have a
middle name
like his two brothers. For his 11th birthday, his father
acquiesced and allowed him to adopt the middle name "Graham", chosen out of
admiration for Alexander Graham, a Canadian being treated by his father and
boarder who had become a family friend. To close relatives and
friends he remained "Aleck" which his father continued to call him into
later life.
At the age of 11, he was enrolled at the
Royal High School,
Edinburgh, Scotland, which he left at age 15, completing only the
first four forms. His school record was undistinguished,
marked by
absenteeism
and lacklustre grades. His main
interest remained in the sciences, especially biology, while he treated
other school subjects with indifference, to the dismay of his demanding
father. Upon leaving school, Bell travelled to London to live
with his grandfather, Alexander Bell. During the year he spent with his
grandfather, a love of learning was born, with long hours spent in serious
discussion and study. The elder Bell took great efforts to have his young
pupil learn to speak clearly and with conviction, the attributes that his
pupil would need to become a teacher himself. At age 16, Bell
secured a position as a "pupil-teacher" of
elocution
and music, in Weston House Academy, at
Elgin, Moray,
Scotland. Although he was enrolled as a student in Latin
and Greek, he instructed classes himself in return for board and £10 per
session. The following year, he attended the
University of Edinburgh;
joining his older brother Melville who had enrolled there the
previous year.
In 1870, Bell emigrated with his family to
Canada, and the following year he moved to the United States to teach. There
he pioneered a system called visible speech, developed by his father, to
teach deaf-mute children. In 1872 Bell founded a school in Boston to train
teachers of the deaf. The school subsequently became part of Boston
University, where Bell was appointed professor of vocal physiology in 1873.
He became a naturalised U.S. citizen in 1882.
Bell
had long been fascinated by the idea of transmitting speech, and by 1875 had
come up with a simple receiver that could turn electricity into sound.
Others were working along the same lines, including an Italian-American
Antonio Meucci, and debate continues as to who should be credited with
inventing the telephone. However, Bell was granted a patent for the
telephone on 7 March 1876 and it developed quickly. Within a year the first
telephone exchange was built in Connecticut and the Bell Telephone Company
was created in 1877, with Bell the owner of a third of the shares, quickly
making him a wealthy man.
In 1880, Bell was awarded the French Volta
Prize for his invention and with the money, founded the Volta Laboratory in
Washington, where he continued experiments in communication, in medical
research, and in techniques for teaching speech to the deaf, working with
Helen Keller among others. In 1885 he acquired land in Nova Scotia and
established a summer home there where he continued experiments, particularly
in the field of aviation.
In 1888, Bell was one of the founding members
of the National Geographic Society, and served as its president from 1896 to
1904, also helping to establish its journal.
Bell died on 2 August 1922 at his home in Nova Scotia.
The Royal High
School Club
