Research and Career
During his life most of Bell's research revolved around the education of deaf people and the phenome of sound waves. His work in the field of hearing and speech led him to his achievement in the telephone in 1876. During his life Bell worked with his father in schools that taught the deaf, and he spent most of his time and work developing many apparatuses as the "harmonic telegraph". The basic concept behind his device was to transmit messages through a single wire. Soon after his graduation from the university he continued teaching the Deaf, but most of his concepts revolved around his father's system, until he opened his own school for the Deaf, in 1872. [1] His school was the "School of Vocal Physiology and Mechanics of Speech" where he utilized the "oral" method of teaching the Deaf, rather then the more known practices as sign language, teaching also Helen Keller at a very young age. Later he attempted to take on new concepts as experimenting with electricity to send sound across the wires. This led him to understand that if electricity was generated at different intensities as sound waves that the current would be shaped and thus being able to be transmitted over large distances. Because of these concepts many ideas were created for the development of the telegraph and invention of the telephone. [6] Bell was said to be the first person to develop the telephone, but there has been many disputes and claims over the invention as by Antonio Meucci and Elisha Gray. It is known that many of Bell's telephone experiments where conducted in Canada, as well as the long-distance lines. The telephone made Bell a wealthy man, which allowed him to pursue other fields in science as the hydrofoils and aerodromes, as well his interests in genetics and sheep breading. In Canada, Bell also researched and worked on animal husbandry, designed an x-ray machine and was also an author of children's books. [7] As well, Bell never had patience with traditional methods of teaching. When he heard a newspaper report by Dr. Maria Montessori descusing, 'The system of giving out certain amount of work which must be carried through in a given space of time, and putting the children into orderly rows of desks and compelling them to absorb just as much intellectual nourishment, whether they are ready for it or not, when children are able to teach themselves...' he immediately with his wife and daughters decided to open a Montessori school. He soon the following summer opened a Montessori in his summer house in Nova Scotia, which did not only serve as an educational purpose for his children but also Bell's grandchildren. [8]