Today is telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell`s 165th anniversary.

Alexander Graham Bell was a Scot who invented the telephone. He was born in Edinburgh on 4 March 1847. Bell's father taught elocution and Alexander was expected to follow. He was educated at Edinburgh High School, Edinburgh University and the University of London. Afterwards he taught elocution and music. Then in 1870 Alexander moved to Canada with his family. (His health was poor and they hoped the move would help him recover).

Later Alexander Graham Bell moved to the USA and in 1872 he opened a school for training teachers of the deaf in Boston. In 1873 he became Professor of Vocal Physiology in Boston University.

Alexander Graham Bell experimented with ways of using electricity to transmit sound, helped by his assistant Thomas Watson and in 1876 he patented the telephone. He also invented a way to transmit sound using vibrations in a beam of light.

Alexander Graham Bell also carried out experiments in many other subjects and in 1898 he became President of the National Geographical Society. He was also interested in the problem of mechanical flight and experimented with kites.

Alexander Graham Bell married a deaf woman in 1877 and they had four children. Bell became a US citizen in 1882 but in 1855 he purchased a summer home in Nova Scotia. Alexander Graham Bell died in Nova Scotia on 2 August 1922. He was 75.