Britain Unlimited covers 250 Great British people and what made them famous

Who was Alexander Graham Bell? Telephone and Aeronautics Engineer and Inventor of Aids for Teaching the Deaf. Date and Place of Birth: 3rd March 1847, Edinburgh, Scotland. Family Background: Second of three sons of Alexander Melville Bell and Elise Grace Symonds Bell noted elocutionists. His mother was deaf. Education: Royal High School, Edinburgh. Edinburgh University. University College, London. Chronology: Bell first took up teaching and then went on to medical studies. 1871: Emigrats to the United States of America where he studied sound waves with Hermann von Helmholtz. He set up a training school for the deaf in Boston, Massachusetts. 1873: Became Professor of Vocal Physiology at Boston University. 1875: (2nd June) First transmission of sound heard by Bell and his assistant Thomas Watson. 1876: (7th March) Patent No 174,465 for the telephone is granted. (10th March) "Mr Watson, come here I want you" are the first words heard over copper wires. (June 25th) Demonstrates his one way voice transmission system at the Philadelphia Centennial exposition. (9th October) First two way telephone conversation between Bell and Watson. 1877: (9th July) Forms the Bell telephone Company. 1878: Birth of Daughter Elsie May. 1879: invents the audiometer which tested schoolchildren for deafness. 1880: Birth of Daughter Marion (Known as Daisy). The bell Telephone Company is restructured to become American Telephone and Telegraph (ATandT). Establishes the Volta Laboratory. Invents the photophone. 1883: Opens a school in Washington ostensibly for deaf children although any child is accepted. Founds the Journal "Science" 1885: School closes due to shortage of money due to patents claims ranged against him. 1887: Is introduced to the blind girl Helen Keller. Invents the Graphophone. 1888: Is a Founder member of the National Geographic Society. 1890: Conducts the first nationwide survey of deafness. 1891: Begins experiments in flight at Cape Breton, Canada. 1894: Develops wings and propellers. 1898: Experiments with kites. Becomes President of the National Geographic Society of America. 1901: First flight of his box kite. 1906: Begins to work on the hydrofoil instead of the aeroplane. 1907: Thomas Selfridge unsuccessfully pilots one of his kites Cygnet 1. 1915: (25th January ) First transcontinental telephone conversation between Bell in New York and Watson in San Francisco. 1919: Sets world speed record of 70 mph with the HD4 hydrofoil. Marriage: 1877 to Mabel Hubbard. (Mabel was also deaf) (died 1923). Places of Interest: Edinburgh: Royal High School. Date and Place of Death: 2nd August 1922, Beinn Bhreag, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. Age at Death: 75. Site of Grave: Beinn Bhreag Estate, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.