For the first 23 years of his life, Bell lived in Edinburgh, Scotland. Bell was originally christened Alexander Bell, but on his eleventh birthday, he took the name Alexander Graham Bell, to distinguish himself from his father (Alexander Melville Bell) and his grandfather (Alexander Bell). This photograph shows Bell as a teenager in Scotland.
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Throughout his life, Bell always listed his profession as "Teacher of the Deaf."This photograph shows Bell with some of his students at the Boston School for the Deaf in Massachusetts.
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This photograph was taken 10 years after Bell received the patent for the telephone.
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According to some stories Bell spoke the historic words "Watson-come here-I want you!"after spilling acid on himself. However, there is no mention of spilt acid in Bell's notebooks. Instead, he describes himself as saying, "Watson-come here-I want to see you."
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Bell married his former student Mabel Hubbard on July 11, 1877. They had two daughters, Elsie and Marian (called Daisy). This photograph shows the Bell family in 1885.
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In January of 1875, Bell began working with a young machinist named Thomas Watson. Watson's first job for Bell was to make a brass cylinder for Bell to use in one of his induced-current experiments. Watson was soon later hired as Bell's assistant. This photograph shows Watson around 1872.
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Bell lived in this house in Boston, Massachusetts, before he invented the telephone.
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This photograph was taken the year that Bell invented the telephone. He was 29.
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Bell's photophone received a great deal of public attention. This drawing shows how the transmitter was used.
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This drawing shows how the photophone receiver was used.
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In 1877 Bell gave a celebrated demonstration of how the telephone could be used over long distances. While giving a lecture in Salem, Massachusetts, Bell called his assistant Watson, who was in Bell's laboratory in Boston. This newspaper illustration shows Bell in Salem.
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This newspaper illustration shows one of Bell's assistants demonstrating for reporters how music could be reproduced faithfully over a telephone wire. The illustration was published by the New York Daily Graphic in March of 1877.
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This newspaper illustration shows Bell demonstrating his telephone to a room full of newspaper reporters in 1877.
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Helen Keller (on the left) noted that Alexander Graham Bell "makes you feel that if only you had a little more time, you, too, might be an inventor."Her teacher Anne Sullivan (on the right) shared Helen's views about Bell.
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Bell's induction balance was the first metal detector. Bell later adapted the induction balance to create a land-mine detector.
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This newspaper illustration shows Bell unsuccessfully trying to locate an assassin's bullet in President James Garfield's abdomen.
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The White Wing, was built by Bell and fellow members of the Aerial Experiment Association, was the first plane to include Bell's ailerons. On May 21, 1908, White Wing flew 1,017 feet in 19 seconds.
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This photograph, taken in August of 1907, shows Bell working with his assistants at his laboratory in Nova Scotia. At the time, they were trying out different designs of tetrahedral kites.
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This photograph of Bell and his wife Mabel was taken in Baddeck in 1903. At this time Bell was still experimenting with tetrahedral kite frames.
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Bell first visited the town of Baddeck on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia in the summer of 1885. Bell ended up purchasing land in the area, and building a house, which was called Beinn Bhreagh. This photograph shows the main house at Beinn Bhreagh.
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Bell continued inventing throughout his life. When this photograph was taken, Bell was working on diverse projects such as aeronautics, sheep breeding, and water purification.
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Bell and his wife, Mabel, vacationed in the Caribbean about six months before Bell's death. This photo shows Bell emerging from an underwater observation tube.
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This photo shows Bell with Melville Bell Grosvenor, his grandson. The day Melville was born, Bell showed the child to a group of dinner guest, and then shouted "baaa!" into Melville's ear. When the boy started to cry, Bell announced proudly, "He has perfect hearing!"
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In March of 1908, Bell worked on his first true airplane-Red Wing. (It had red silk fabric on the wings.) However, the Red Wing did not have any devices for lateral control, and it was wrecked in a crash five days after its first trial flight.
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Bell spent a number of years working on his hydrofoil boats. He used what he learned from his early successes and failures when he built the HD-4. This photograph, taken in 1919, shows a test run of this hydrofoil.
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This photograph shows Bell with his assistant Hector McNeil. They are holding models of Bell's hydrofoils.
