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(2) Alexander Graham Bell was born in Scotland in 1847. His father was teacher of profoundly

(1) deaf people, and Alexander himself showed a great interest in this work.

(2) Alexander’s scientific training led him to investigate ways in which human speech could be

(0) sent by wire.

(2) Tuberculosis was an incurable disease at that time which often proved fatal. The Bell family,

(0) unfortunately, were not to escape. Two of Alexander’s brothers died as a result of tuberculosis,

(3)and Alexander also suffered from the disease. His father, hoping that a change of climate would

(0) help his son, decided in 1870 to move to Canada.

(0) One year later, Alexander’s father was invited to go to Boston, to train teachers of the deaf.

(2) He felt he was too old to accept the post, and sent his son along instead. Within two years of

(3) taking up the appointment, Alexander Graham Bell became a professor at Boston University.

(1) Here, with the help of a man named Thomas Watson, Alexander

(3) experimented with electrical transmission of telegraph messages.

(1) Their discoveries led them to explore the possibilities of

(3) transmitting human speech. JP Reis, a German scientist, had

(2) in 1861, invented a machine which could transmit music

(1) and noise. He called his invention the telephone.

(1) Alexander experimented with the vibrations of

(1) wires and how they could be used to transmit the

(1) human voice. One day while working on an

(1) experiment he knocked over some battery acid.

(1) He called out to Thomas Watson, “Mr Watson,

(1) come here. I want you!” Thomas, working

(1) in the next room, heard Alexander’s voice

(1) through the wire. The first telephone

(0) call had been made.

(1) Alexander Graham Bell donated

(0) the money he made from his

(0) invention to the deaf, in who he

(0) remained interested all his life.

(0) In 1877, he married one of his students,

(1) Mabel Hubbard, who was deaf from the age of

(0) four. Alexander Graham Bell died on the 2nd August

(1) 1922, having contributed much to the world of science.