Why Did Alexander Graham Bell Invent the Telephone

Just a week after his 29th birthday, Alexander Graham Bell changed the way we live and communicate. It was 146 years ago on March 10th, 1876 that Bell made the first phone call to Thomas Watson in the next room.

Why Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone

So why did Alexander Graham Bell invent the telephone? The answer may surprise you, I know it surprised me. He did it for his mother and his wife, so he developed the telephone to communicate with them and others that were deaf too.

Even though he invented the telephone, he considered it an intrusion on his real work as a scientist. He refused to have a telephone in his studio. Think ahead 146 years later and we have a panic attack if our phone isn't within our grasp. How many times have you driven back home to get your phone?

Alexander Graham Bell invented the metal detector

Alexander Graham Bell is credited with the invention of the metal detector. He put a device together in an attempt to find the bullet in President James Garfield. According to Biography, the metal detector was flawless in tests.

However, it couldn't find the assassin's bullet because the metal bed frame on which the president was lying disturbed the instrument. The president's surgeons were skeptical of the device and ignored Bell's request to move to a bed without metal springs.

The world knows him today as "Alexander" but to his friends and relatives, he was called "Aleck." He was known as a brilliant man and that is where the term "smart aleck" came from...FAKE NEWS but it got you thinking.

Alexander Graham Bell's first words on the telephone

I think about the humble beginning of the phone, 145 years ago when Aleck uttered "Mr. Watson...come here...I want you" because he had spilled acid on his clothes and was in a panic.

Today we use the phone for everything except to talk to each other. I gave my phone number to a new friend on Sunday and told him to text me so that I would have his number too.

In honor of the invention of the telephone, March 10th is also National Landline Telephone Day. Do you have a landline at your home? When was the last time you even used a landline?