The Birth of Telecommunications (4:11)
Alexander Graham Bell thought he was on to something, but no one wanted his new invention. Hear the first messages to travel by wire and through the air.
Videos (2)
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The Birth of Telecommunications
The Birth of TelecommunicationsVideo Clip (4:11)
Video Clip (4:11)
Alexander Graham Bell thought he was on to something, but no one wanted his new invention. Hear the first messages to travel by wire and through the air.
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Videophone of the Future
Videophone of the FutureVideo Clip (1:13)
Video Clip (1:13)
What Were They Thinking gives us the phone of the futureThe Video Phone! See it here in this hilarious video clip on a phone that shows a gigantic picture of you on a screen. This very corny idea has never been established to this extent.
Photo Galleries (2)
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Inventions: Communication
Inventions: Communication(14 Photos)
14 Photos
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Inventions: Inventors
Inventions: Inventors(8 Photos)
8 Photos
Speeches & Audio (2)
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First Telephone Call Sent Around the World
First Telephone Call Sent Around the WorldAudio Clip (2:33)
Audio Clip (2:33)
On April 15, 1935, in the Long Lines Building at 32 Sixth Avenue in New York City, W.S. Gifford and T.G. Miller of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company take part in a historic phone call. While they are speaking on the phone from offices just 50 feet apart, the call is transmitted over a telephone circuit that stretches approximately 23,000 miles around the world.
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Alexander Graham Bell's Early Recordings
Alexander Graham Bell's Early RecordingsAudio Clip (0:10)
Audio Clip (0:10)
In the early 1880s, in an effort to secure a patent of his own after Thomas Edison's invention of the phonograph, Alexander Graham Bell made a number of experimental recordings using a variety of methods. New audio technology has allowed some of Bell's earliest recordings to be played without damaging the originals. In one recently recovered recording, Bell himself recites a line from "Mary Had a Little Lamb."
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Read More about Telephone
Allowing for direct conversation over long distances, the telephone quickly became an indispensable method of communication.
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