Life and Education
Alexander Graham Bell, the teacher of the deaf, inventor, scientist, and engineer was born March 3, 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland the second son to parents Professor Alexander Melville Bell and Eliza Grace Symonds Bell. Alexander Graham Bell was named for his paternal father. Bell had two brothers, Melville James Bell (1845–70) and Edward Charles Bell (1848–67), both who later die from tuberculosis.
During his youth, Alexander Graham Bell had strong influences in his early life which later shaped his inventions, research and life. Bell’s hometown of Edinburg, Scotland, was known as the “Athens of the North”, for its rich culture of arts and science. His grandfather and father were experts in the mechanics of voice and elocution, his mother although nearly deaf, was an accomplished pianist and inspired him to take on life’s challenges.[3]
Alexander Graham Bell as well as his two other brothers where mostly home schooled by their father and mother. But he received a year of formal education in a private school and two years at Edinburgh’s Royal High School (he left at age 15 without graduating)[2]. Even though he did not flourish in school and was a mediocre student he was curious and showed talent in poetry, art, and music that lead him to gathering botanical. During his education his main interest where in sciences, especially biology, treating other subjects with irrelevance. At age 12, his best friend Ben Herdman, a neighbor whose family operated a flour mill, he noticed the laborous process of dehusking the wheat. So he planned to create a device to relieve the labours work of dehusking the wheat, with rotating paddles and nail brushes that easily removed the husks from the grain.[3]
In 1865, Bell’s family moved to London, he returned to Weston House as an assistant master and continued experiments in his spare time relevant to sound. Bell constantly experimented with electricity to convey sound and later installed a telegraph wire from his room in Somerset College to that of his friend. Through 1867, his health was faulting because of exhaustion. His younger brother, Edward was suffering from tuberculosis while Alexander next year served at the Somerset College in Bath, England. As a result of his brothers’ death, Bell returned home in 1867. His older brother had Melvile had married and moved out. The following year he prepared for examinations to obtain a University College London degree. Alexander Graham Bell passes the entrance exam for University College London in June 1868 and was there enrolled in the autumn.[2] In his spare time Bell helped his father lecture at his father’s private school for deaf in South Kensington, London. His brother also prospered and had great accomplishments until he died in May of 1870 from complications due to tuberculosis. His family soon decided to move to Newfoundland because they realised that Alexander was also becoming sickly, since earlier in life his father had been restored to health in Newfoundland. The family sold everything in England and moved to the New World. Bell also had to end a relationship with Marie Eccleston, since she was not prepared to leave England. [1]
In 1870, at age 23, Bell, his brother’s widow, and his parents travelled to Canada on the SS Nestorian. In Canada he continued his interest in the study of human voice and his discovery of the Six Nations Reserve across the Onondaga River, he quickly learned the Mohawk language and translated its unwritten vocabulary into Visible Speech symbols. He also continued his experiments with electricity and sound based on Helmholtz’s work. [4][1]
Due to innovations and experiments which cost high amount of funds, Bell waited until he was more financially secure before marrying. Bell married Mabel Hubbard, they had four children (2 died at birth); the family lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, until 1880 when they moved to Washington D.C. and Beinn Nhreagh, Nova Scotia (summer home) where they would spend the rest of their life. [1]
Over the years other innovations and experiments followed but on August 2, 1922, at his private estate, Beinn Nhreagh, Nova Scotia, at the age 75 Alexander Graham Bell died of complications arising from diabetes. [1]
During his youth, Alexander Graham Bell had strong influences in his early life which later shaped his inventions, research and life. Bell’s hometown of Edinburg, Scotland, was known as the “Athens of the North”, for its rich culture of arts and science. His grandfather and father were experts in the mechanics of voice and elocution, his mother although nearly deaf, was an accomplished pianist and inspired him to take on life’s challenges.[3]
Alexander Graham Bell as well as his two other brothers where mostly home schooled by their father and mother. But he received a year of formal education in a private school and two years at Edinburgh’s Royal High School (he left at age 15 without graduating)[2]. Even though he did not flourish in school and was a mediocre student he was curious and showed talent in poetry, art, and music that lead him to gathering botanical. During his education his main interest where in sciences, especially biology, treating other subjects with irrelevance. At age 12, his best friend Ben Herdman, a neighbor whose family operated a flour mill, he noticed the laborous process of dehusking the wheat. So he planned to create a device to relieve the labours work of dehusking the wheat, with rotating paddles and nail brushes that easily removed the husks from the grain.[3]
In 1865, Bell’s family moved to London, he returned to Weston House as an assistant master and continued experiments in his spare time relevant to sound. Bell constantly experimented with electricity to convey sound and later installed a telegraph wire from his room in Somerset College to that of his friend. Through 1867, his health was faulting because of exhaustion. His younger brother, Edward was suffering from tuberculosis while Alexander next year served at the Somerset College in Bath, England. As a result of his brothers’ death, Bell returned home in 1867. His older brother had Melvile had married and moved out. The following year he prepared for examinations to obtain a University College London degree. Alexander Graham Bell passes the entrance exam for University College London in June 1868 and was there enrolled in the autumn.[2] In his spare time Bell helped his father lecture at his father’s private school for deaf in South Kensington, London. His brother also prospered and had great accomplishments until he died in May of 1870 from complications due to tuberculosis. His family soon decided to move to Newfoundland because they realised that Alexander was also becoming sickly, since earlier in life his father had been restored to health in Newfoundland. The family sold everything in England and moved to the New World. Bell also had to end a relationship with Marie Eccleston, since she was not prepared to leave England. [1]
In 1870, at age 23, Bell, his brother’s widow, and his parents travelled to Canada on the SS Nestorian. In Canada he continued his interest in the study of human voice and his discovery of the Six Nations Reserve across the Onondaga River, he quickly learned the Mohawk language and translated its unwritten vocabulary into Visible Speech symbols. He also continued his experiments with electricity and sound based on Helmholtz’s work. [4][1]
Due to innovations and experiments which cost high amount of funds, Bell waited until he was more financially secure before marrying. Bell married Mabel Hubbard, they had four children (2 died at birth); the family lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, until 1880 when they moved to Washington D.C. and Beinn Nhreagh, Nova Scotia (summer home) where they would spend the rest of their life. [1]
Over the years other innovations and experiments followed but on August 2, 1922, at his private estate, Beinn Nhreagh, Nova Scotia, at the age 75 Alexander Graham Bell died of complications arising from diabetes. [1]