Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born inventor and telephone pioneer, 1910

Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born inventor and telephone pioneer, 1910. Etching by A Delzers from a photograph by Harris & Ewing of Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922). After experimenting with various acoustic devices, Bell produced the first intelligible telephone transmission with a message to his assistant on 5 June 1875. He patented this device as the telephone in 1876, a patent he had to defend against Elisha Gray. Bell, who became a naturalised American in 1874, also invented the phonograph (1880) and the gramophone (1887). Among Bell's other achievements was the photophone which transmitted sound on a beam of light - a precursor of today's optical fibre systems, and the invention of techniques for teaching speech to the deaf. Published by the International Telecommunication Union, (1955-1964). ©SSPL/Science Museum