The history of the telephone is one of invention, innovation, intrigue and an insatiable desire to connect people to each other in more efficient ways. The telephone was invented in 1876 to replace the less efficient telegraph, which used a system of electrical signals running along a copper wire and printed messages in Morse code.
The problem with the telegraph was that only one signal could run along one copper wire at a time. As more and more people were using the technology, more and more wires were needing to be strung. This led to absurd amounts of telegraph wires being strung that were at best ridiculous, and at worst, dangerous. So the telegraph companies offered a large financial incentive to an inventor who could figure out how to carry multiple signals on a copper wire.
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After Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, there were many new developments allowing faster communication. Within fifty years, people could call from city to city and continent to continent. The launching of satellites in the 1960s meant that the signals no longer needed to be carried along wires and could now be bounced from ground to space. In 1973, the very first mobile phone was developed at Motorola, but it would be many more years before it would come onto the consumer market in a significant way. By 2010 the rise of smartphone had changed the way we look at our telephones. Suddenly our phones could do so much more than simply call and receive calls. They could surf the Internet, take pictures, play games, connect with friends on social media, read e-books, listen to mp3s and hundreds of other things. In fact many consumers are now abandoning traditional landlines in favour of our mobile phones. Wireless telephones seem to be the way of the future...are they?
Follow the link here to watch a short History Channel presentation about this topic.
Please watch these short videos about the invention of the telephone.
In this video, researchers have used technology to recover the sound of Alexander Graham Bell's voice from old wax disks.
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This slideshow style video takes you on a visual tour of developments in telephone and telecommunications technology from the earliest telephone up to our modern age.
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This humorous video explains the development of the telephone and the technology behind it.
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For an excellent timeline of telecommunications history you can visit the Telecommunications History Group, Inc.'s Virtual Museum. The timeline is found by following the link here: http://www.telcomhistory.org/vm/segment1.html