Famous Engineers #3 - Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell was a Scottish genius who mastered a number of sciences and established himself as a well-known inventor, scientist and engineer. His contribution to society has made tremendous impact and he will forever be known as an innovator of his time. Bell was born in Scotland, Edinburgh in 1847. Bell was very fond of his family ties and sadly lost two of his brothers to tuberculosis. It was only at the age of 10 when he asked for a middle name from his father to be like his brothers, a heartfelt request. He would later be known as Alexander “Graham” Bell after his 11th birthday.

Bell as a young child was keen to explore his curiosity of the world and carried out various experiments when he was a child. He would design and build inventions which eventually led to homemade inventions that would help run a neighbours mill. This shows that even at a young age, his brilliant mind was already building and making inventions that would impact those around him. In return for his services to his neighbour, he was given a workshop to carry out more inventing alongside his neighbour’s son, Ben Herdman.

In his early years, Bell developed a knack for ventriloquism and would entertain guests. He maintained his family ties and was deeply affected when his mother began to suffer from gradual hearing loss. He used his efforts to develop new ways of communicating with his mother and this eventually led him to study acoustics. This is a very humanising part of Bell’s personality that I really admired. He used his brilliance to solve issues in front of him and to help those around.

Bell would later go on to become one of the greatest inventors of our time. He became a teacher for the hearing impaired and provided a great service to society throughout his career. Perhaps his most well-known invention would be the invention of the telephone. Investors with the ambition to evolve the invention of the harmonic telegraph, Bell received incentive from investors to help develop this. Bell however chose to pursue a different type of invention that would allow voice transmission, the telephone. He would eventually go on to secure the patent of the telephone and successfully transmit the words “Mr. Watson, come here. I want you.”

Aside from the telephone, Bell has been recognised for a number of other inventions including a graphophone, electrical bullet probe (think medical metal detector) and even advancements in aviation. Bell was a great mind, a devoted family and his service to society will never be forgotten.