Bell, Alexander Graham

—Born 1847. An American inventor and experimenter, distinguished for his invention of the telephone. Though born in Scotland, he came to America, in 1870, becoming profe or of voeal physiology in Boston University in 1872. His experiments on sound transmi ion led to the invention of the speaking telephone for which he obtained a patent Feb. 14, 1876. His claims being disputed by other inventors, notably Elisha Gray, he carried the matter to the Supreme Court of the U. S. which sustained his rights to the invention, and he is now given credit for being the first to put the principles of telephony into practical application. He also invented the photophone (1880) and the gramophone, and has been Hage in scientific investigations in various other elds.