On March 10, 1876 – the first speech was transmitted across a telephone wire.
All together now: “Mr. Watson, come here …”
So if you make a phone call today (or – I should say – WHEN you make a phone call today) – take a second to think of Mr. Alexander Graham Bell.
I Googled the dude – and came across the relevant pages in his notebook for March 10, 1876. See them below – pretty damn cool.
DO-YOU-UN-DER-STAND-WHAT-I-SAY
Was he the first american trying to be understood by a foreigner?
hahaha, gosh, those notes are very very cool!
hahahahahahahahah That part cracked me up too!! You can kinda feel his own excitement behind the words, can’t you?
Yeah, there’s a child-like excitement to what he writes, none of this ‘how will this look when reviewed by my peers’ crap. The guy was making discoveries and completely thrilled. It’s very refreshing to see.
And He Came!
Sheila reminds us that on this day the fateful words “Watson, come here” were spoken 130 years ago. The cool thing is she’s got pics of Bell’s diary and notes of the event. Go read them!…
His work is also a tribute to serendipity in science. He was trying to come up with a hearing aid.
David Bodanis’ Electric Universe has a great chapter on Aleck and Mabel, the love of his life, daughter of a wealthy Boston family[Hubbard], and who happened to be deaf – hence the hearing aid.
And there’s a quote from Aleck, remembering when he took an very early version of his invention to Joseph Henry, at the time, in March 1875, a retired Princeton professor.
There was another Bell-Watson telephone conversation on Jan 25, 1915–with Bell in New York and Watson in San Francisco–in celebration of the first transcontinental telephone circuit.
From teenage-aged girls everywhere, thank you, Alexander Graham Bell!
Lisa – hahahaha Totally!
I love how with the whole “can you hear me now” phenomenon because of cell phones and roaming service, we’re kind of back to the original vibe that Watson and Bell had.
“DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME NOW? CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW??”
peteb – awesome awesome quote. Thank you!!
It’s also significant that he went to see Joseph Henry, Sheila.. Henry began experimenting with electro-magnets around 1826/7, after a surveying expedition in northern America, when he got a job teaching in a small school in Albany.. he used to lift heavy pieces of metal with electromagnets, then disconnect the battery and let them crash to the ground – direct quote from Joseph Henry, “This never fails to produce a great sensation”.
And Henry went on to invent the telegraph.. at which point Samuel Morse met him.. and patented the invention for himself..
ANYway.. at the time that Aleck met Henry, Bodanis describes the early version of what became the telephone as “an electric wire stretching out from a battery and connected to a single tuning fork. By switching the battery on and off, he could make the tuning fork hum in various ways.”
A year later he was asking Mr Watson to come here..
American Idol would be a lot tougher if we had to use telegrams.
nightfly – bwahahahahahahahahaha
that actually would be a really funny SNL sketch.
The Sound Heard Round The World
…is remembered in cybernetic form. As a commentator states on Sheila’s post – “From teenage-aged girls everywhere, thank you, Alexander Graham Bell!”
Coalition of the …
Of course Marconi borrowed heavily from Nikola Tesla. (no, I’m not being snarky Sheila)
Sheila, delete that comment. I must be off my meds again.
David N – wait – what? If you want me to delete I will, but I don’t get why??
Speaking of Nikola Tesla – I have a freak memory, and I just remembered this awesome post by my friend CW about him – so here it is, for anyone who is interested.
Shit – that didn’t work –
Here’s the link:
http://nosuchblog.blog-city.com/the_genius_of_nikola_tesla.htm
Ermmm.. sheila?
That link did work.. or.. rather.. it does work here..
btw.. I may have mentioned this previously, waaaay back on a distant thread.. but Electric Universe is worth reading for the chapter on Heinrich Hertz alone.. consisting, almost entirely, of his diary entries as he experimented with what became known as Hertzian waves – radio.
Others took those experiments further.. including the son of the Irish-born heiress to the Jameson whisky fortune, who married and settled in Italy.. a certain Mrs Marconi..
Well because for some reason you were talking about Bell and my brain received Marconi. An obvious brain disconnect and/or senior moment. Which made my post a non sequitur. Which is a nice way of saying that I’m loopy. Or perhaps going bald is allowing any intelligence I once had to leak out.
So… That’s why.
David N – Oh! I love loopy!! :)
peteb – I know – weird. The link didn’t show up the first time I posted. But now it’s there.
I believe I am caught in some kind of a Tesla coil right at this very moment.
Or you’ve been taking linking lessons from me…
Did I see you at lunch today? :)
Bingley – sadly, no, I did not. Looked like I missed a good one.
Although I am having a MARTINI right now. I am so decadent.
Here’s my Friday night: took a long run. Came home. Made dinner. Made a MARTINI. Importing CDs into iTunes. AND – I am FINALLY reading the Hamilton biography that you were reading when I first met you. It is unbeLIEVable!!!
I’m just about to open a nice bottle of zinfandel. Daughter is having a friend sleep over, and I really need the help…
Oh, man. You are the father in a Judy Blume book RIGHT AT THIS VERY MOMENT!!
I’d rather be Mr. Bennet and retire to my library, for leisure and tranquility.
Oh God. That sounds so awesome. I YEARN for a library. A library of one’s own.
Tesla girls… tesla girls…
Uhmm.. just me then?.. okaaaayy..
*re-corking a cabernet merlot*