Alexander Graham Bell

Early years
Alexander Bell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on March 3, 1847.[7] The family home was at 16 South Charlotte Street, and has a stone inscription, marking it as Alexander Graham Bell's birthplace. He had two brothers: Melville James Bell (1845–70) and Edward Charles Bell (1848–67). Both of his brothers died of tuberculosis.[8] His father was Professor Alexander Melville Bell, and hismother was Eliza Grace (née Symonds).[N 3] Although he was born "Alexander", at age 10, he made a plea to his father to have a middle name like his two brothers.[9][N 4] For his 11th birthday, his father acquiesced and allowed him to adopt the middle name "Graham", chosen out of admiration for Alexander Graham, a Canadian being treated by his father and boarder who had become a family friend.[10]To close relatives and friends he remained "Aleck" which his father continued to call him into later life.[11]

First invention
From his early years, Bell showed a sensitive nature and a talent for art, poetry and music that was encouraged by his mother. With no formal training, he mastered the piano and became the family's pianist.[13] Despite being normally quiet and introspective, hereveled in mimicry and "voice tricks" akin to ventriloquism that continually entertained family guests during their occasional visits.[13] Bell was also deeply affected by his mother's gradual deafness, (she began to lose her hearing when he was 12) and learned a manual finger language so he could sit at her side and tap out silently the conversations swirling around the family parlour.[14] He alsodeveloped a technique of speaking in clear, modulated tones directly into his mother's forehead wherein she would hear him with reasonable clarity.[15] Bell's preoccupation with his mother's deafness led him to study acoustics.
Education
As a young child, Bell, like his brothers, received his early schooling at home from his father. At an early age, however, he was enrolled at the Royal High School,Edinburgh, Scotland, which he left at age 15, completing only the first four forms.[17] His school record was undistinguished, marked by absenteeism and lacklustre grades. His main interest remained in the sciences, especially biology, while he treated other school subjects with indifference, to the dismay of his demanding father.[18] Upon leaving school, Bell travelled to London to live with hisgrandfather, Alexander Bell. During the year he spent with his grandfather, a love of learning was born, with long hours spent in serious discussion and study. The elder Bell took great efforts to have his young pupil learn to speak clearly and with conviction, the attributes that his pupil would need to become a teacher himself.[19] At age 16, Bell secured a position as a "pupil-teacher" ofelocution and music, in Weston House Academy, at Elgin, Moray, Scotland. Although he was enrolled as a student in Latin and Greek, he instructed classes himself in return for board and £10 per session.[20] The following year, he attended the University of Edinburgh; joining his older brother Melville who had enrolled there the previous year. In 1868, not long before he departed for Canada with hisfamily, Aleck completed his matriculation exams and was accepted for admission to the University of London.[21]
First experiments with sound
Bell's father encouraged Aleck's interest in speech and, in 1863, took his sons to see a unique automaton, developed by Sir Charles Wheatstone based on the earlier work of Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen.[22] The rudimentary "mechanical man" simulated a humanvoice. Aleck was fascinated by the machine and after he obtained a copy of von Kempelen's book, published in German, and had laboriously translated it, he and his older brother Melville built their own automaton head. Their father, highly interested in their project, offered to pay for any supplies and spurred the boys on with the enticement of a "big prize" if they were successful.[22] While his...