Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell was born in 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 1870 Bell and his parents moved to Canada, where he began his experiments with the human voice. Bell, who lived at various times in four different countries, eventually became a naturalized United States citizen in 1882. Both his mother and the woman he eventually married, a former student, were deaf, and Bell's early experiments were dedicated to finding more effective methods for education of the deaf. Around 1872 he moved to Boston, MA, and continued his work with education and accoustic experimentation. His interest lead to the invention of the microphone and, in 1876, Bell received a patent for what is now known as the telephone. Bell's patent beat out a very similar caveat filed earlier the same day by Elisha Gray, an American electrical engineer and inventor. The question of who first invented the telephone became the focus of years of litigation and dispute. Bell was ultimately declared the legal inventor.

The history of the Bell telephone companies is complex, and includes organizations in different locations. In 1877 The Bell Telephone Company was created and in 1878 Bell organized the first telephone exchange in New Haven, Connecticut. A related company, New England Telephone and Telegraph (formed in Connecticut by investors from Massachusetts and Rhode Island), was created the same year, 1878. The two companies merged 1879, becoming the National Bell Telephone Company. That same year, the Bell company bought Thomas Edison's patents for the carbon microphone from Western Union.

In 1880, the National Bell Telephone Company merged again and formed two companies: the American Bell Telephone Company (based in Boston) and the International Bell Telephone Company (based in Brussels, Belgium). International Bell began to compete with American and European companies in the telephone business in Europe. American Bell Telephone Company later evolved into American Telegraph & Telephone Company (AT&T).