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Alexander Bell is born
Alexander Bell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on March 3, 1847. His middle name Graham was added when he was ten years old. He was the middle child and had two brothers, his older brother was Melville, and his younger brother Edward. His father was Alexander Melville Bell and his mother was Eliza Grace Symonds. (Matthews 9) -
American Cival War
The American Civil War began in 1961 and ended in 1865. The war was fought to determine whether the Union, (states that remained loyal) or the Confederacy (Southern slave states that declared succession from the United States) would be victorious. The Northern Victory preserved the United States as one nation and slavery was abolished. The American Civil War was the largest and most destructive conflict in the Western world which led to over 600,000 soldiers losing their lives.(History.com) -
Abraham Lincoln Assinated
After Abraham Lincoln announced his support for the right of African Americans to vote, John Wilkes Booth, a voice for the Southern cause, decided to try to stop him. On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln in the back of the head while at a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. John Wilkes Booth thought murdering the president would result in the United States Government erupting in total disarray. On April 26, Booth was shot to death. (History.com) -
First Transcontinental Railroad Completed
First Transcontinental Railroad completed in US (1869). The presidents of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads meet in Promontory, Utah, and drive a ceremonial last spike into a rail line that connects their railroads. This made transcontinental railroad travel possible for the first time in U.S. history. (History.com) -
Alexander Graham Bell realizes how the telephone could work
He visited his family in Brantford, Ontario, Canada in July of 1874. While working with Watson he realized how the telephone could possibly work. He realized that the human voice could move very thin metal discs, which would alter the electric current. Bell said “If I could make a current of electricity vary in intensity precisely as the air varies in density during the production of sound, I should be able to transmit speech telegraphically.” (Macleod 12)(History.com) -
First telephone message is sent in Boston
On March 10, 1876, Bell and Watson had the first understandable complete sentence transmitted in his laboratory. History states Bell “knocked over a container of transmitting fluid and shouted”, “Mr. Watson, come here. I want you!” Watson heard Bell’s voice through the wire and this event is recorded as the first telephone call. Bell stated in his lab notebook “to my delight he came and declared that he had heard what I had said.” (Biography.com)(Matthews 27) -
Marries Mabel Hubbard
On July 11, 1877 Alexander Graham Bell married Mabel Hubbard, who had become deaf at the age five. Both parents opposed the marriage due to fear that the couple would have deaf children and that Bell couldn’t support Mabel on a teacher’s pay. Bell refused to be discouraged and visited and wrote to her constantly. Finally more than a year later she accepted his proposal on Thanksgiving Day, 1876 which happened to be her 18th birthday. (Matthews 28)(MacLeod 16) -
Awarded Volta prize by France
In September of 1880 France awarded Alexander Graham Bell the Volta Prize and $10,000 for the invention of the telephone. The $10,000 was used to fund the creation of the Volta Laboratory, which worked to improve Thomas Edison’s phonograph. The Volta Lab produced the floating stylus, better known as the needle, the record. Due to the sale of patents on these inventions Alexander Graham Bell earned $200,000 which allowed him to start the Volta Bureau in 1887. (Matthews 44) -
Develops a vacuum jacket
In September of 1881 Alexander Graham Bell develops the vacuum jacket in response to his premature son being unable to breathe by himself. The vacuum jacket wrapped around the chest of somebody who could not breathe, it used a pump to force air into and out of the lungs. It was later improved and renamed the iron lung which saved the lives of thousands of polio victims. (Matthews 42, 43)(MacLeod 24) -
Promotes teaching of speech to the deaf
In 1890 Alexander Graham Bell founded the American Association for the Promotion of the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf (AAPTSD) it is now known as the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf. Prior to this, in October of 1883 he opened a school for deaf children in Washington, D.C. He later had to close the school due to his lack of time from the telephone court cases. (Macleod 28)(Matthews 44) -
The aerial expiriment association is formed
The aerial experiment association’s (AEA) first experiment was the Cygnet. The Cygnet was made up of 3400 red silk cells looking like a gigantic honeycomb wedge, and it stayed in flight at a height of 168 feet for 7 minutes. Their 1st attempt to construct an airplane was the Red Wing. On March 12, 1908 it flew at a height of ten feet for 100 yards. Their 2nd attempt was called the White Wing. During the week of May 18, 1908 it reached an altitude of 1000 feet. (Bruce 477-453) -
Ford Introduces Model T
In October of 1908 Henry Ford introduced the Model T (Tin Lizzie) into the Ford Motor Company. The Model T was conceived as a practical and affordable transportation for the common man. In Detroit, MI more than fifteen million Model T automobiles were constructed. The Model T sold for $850 in 1908 and dropped to $300 in 1925. (History.com) -
Titanic Sinks
On April 15, 1912, the RMS Titanic, a British passenger liner, sank icy cold waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. Titanic was on its maiden voyage from Southampton, UK to NY City when the ship hit an iceberg. Over 1.500 passengers and crew lost lives. History states that the Titanic was not equipped with enough lifeboats for every person on the ship. The sinking of the Titanic is one of the most famous oceanic disasters in history. (History.com) -
World War I Began
World War I, began on July 28, 1914. It was a global war centered in Europe that lasted until November 1, 1918. It was Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy and Japan. (Central Powers versus the Allied Powers). In 1917, the United States joined the Allied Powers. With the defeat of the Central Powers, the death rate totaled more than sixteen million people, 9 million members of the military and 7 million civilians. (History.com) -
HD-4 sets a world marine speed record
Alexander Graham Bell experimented with hydrofoil technology in 1910. His first successful hydrofoil boat was called the hydrodrome 1 (HD-1). From July to October in 1912 the HD-1 reached a top speed 50mph In December 1912 the HD-2 (Jonah) and the HD-3 in March 1913 were both disappointments, not reaching 50mph. On September 9, 1919 the HD-4 set a marine speed record of 70.86 miles per hour, and this record lasted for ten years. (Bruce 466-468) -
Alexander Graham Bell died
Alexander Graham Bell died on August 2, 1922 in at his home in Beinn Bhreagh, with his wife Mabel by his side. His death was the result of complications from diabetes, and was buried on a hill overlooking Bras d’Or Lake. As a tribute to Alexander Graham Bell’s life achievements AT&T silenced all telephones for one whole minute. (Matthews 61)(MacLeod 28)
