ARLINGTON, Va. - s4story -- by  Ed Lengel for David Bruce Smith's Grateful American Book Prize

The First Sound Transmission by Alexander Graham Bell, June 2, 1875

In the summer of 1874, Alexander Graham Bell, a twenty-seven-year-old professor of vocal physiology at the University of Boston, was working with deaf children, when he conceived the idea of "an instrument by which the human voice could be telegraphed." As he explained to his Canadian parents, "The vibrations of a permanent magnet will induce a vibrating current of electricity in the coils of an electromagnet." Working by day, and experimenting in the evening at some Boston workshops, Bell and his assistant, Thomas Watson, constructed a mechanism using steel reeds—like tuning forks—that were interconnected with wires to electromagnets. The vibrations of one steel reed passed through the electromagnet to another reed, via intermittent currents created by batteries.

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On June 2^nd of the following year, the device was not functioning properly, so Bell instructed Watson—from the next room–to test the wires on one of the reeds.  He was stunned when he heard the first sound. Adjustments followed, and the following month, Watson rushed into his room exclaiming 'Why, Mr. Bell, I heard your voice very distinctly and could almost understand what you said.'  Realizing the importance of his invention, Bell filed–and received–a patent for the improved device. On March 10^th, 1876, Bell spoke into the first telephone the famous words "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you."

For more information about Alexander Graham Bell and the invention of the telephone, the Grateful American Book Prize recommends Bell: Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude (1973), by Robert V. Bruce.

History Matters is a feature courtesy of the Grateful American Book Prize. For more book recommendations and information about the annual award visit https://gratefulamericanbookprize.org/.