Electronic Television

The first man to envision an electronic television system was a British electrical engineer named A. Cambell Swinton. In a speech he gave in 1911, Swinton described a design using cathode-ray tubes to both capture the light and display an image. A cathode-ray tube was a glass bottle with a long neck on one end and a flattened screen on the other. The bottle was pumped clear of air so that an "electron gun" in the neck could shoot a stream of electrons toward the flattened end of the tube which was covered with a coating of phosphor material. When the electrons hit the material it would glow. By sweeping the electron stream back and forth in rows from top to bottom and varying the intensity of the stream, Swinton reasoned, an image could be drawn in the same manner that Nipkow's disks did.

A modified version of the tube could also be used as a camera. If the flattened end could be given a sandwich of metal, a non-conducting material and a photoelectric material, light focused on the flattened end with a lens would produce a positive charge on the inside of the surface. By sweeping the electron stream across the flattened end, again in rows, the charges could be read and the image could be turned into a signal that could be sent to the display screen to be seen.

Swinton's idea almost exactly describes the way modern electronic television works. While his forevision was near perfect, Swinton, nor anyone else at the time, knew how to actually engineer such a system and make it work. An electronic system, if it could be made to work, however, would operate at much faster speeds than any mechanical system could and would allow the picture to be composed of more rows, therefore increasing the quality of the image.

It was eleven years after Swinton's lecture that a teenager from Utah became interested in electronic television. Philo T. Farnsworth had read about Nipkow's disc system and decided it would never produce a high quality picture. After experimenting with electricity, he declared to one of his high school teachers that he thought he could devise a better system. He proceeded to lay it out for the surprised man on the classroom blackboard. The teacher encouraged Farnsworth and Farnsworth set out to California to build a laboratory where he could experiment with his ideas. Working in darkened rooms in Los Angeles and later San Francisco, Farnsworth kept his work so secret that his laboratory was once the subject of a raid by police, who thought that he was using a still to produce illegal alcoholic beverages.

By September of 1927 Farnsworth was transmitting a sixty line picture from camera to screen using an entirely electronic system. It was at this point in time his work drew the attention of David Sarnoff. Sarnoff was chief of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA): the leader in supplying radios and radio parts to the United States.

Many of RCA's radio patents would soon expire, so Sarnoff was searching for another market he could corner and television was the obvious choice. After hiring Vladimir Zworykin, a Russian immigrant who had been experimenting with mechanical television for a decade, Sarnoff sent him to California to look at Farnsworth's work. Later Sarnoff would visit Farnsworth's laboratory himself.

Sarnoff and Zworykin quickly realized the value of Farnsworth's invention and Sarnoff tried to buy the young man out for $100,000. Farnsworth, thinking he could make more in collecting patent royalties from RCA than selling his invention to them, refused. Sarnoff, miffed, said, "Then there's nothing here we'll need" and sent Zworykin off to build their own version of the technology.

Farnsworth's designs kept showing up in Zworykin's work and lawsuits between the two companies followed. Eventually RCA was forced to pay Farnsworth $1,000,000 in licensing fees, but the onset of WW II delayed the introduction of television to most of the United States and the market for electronic television did not really take off until after the war. By then many of Farnsworth's key patents had expired and he never made the money he probably really deserved for his contributions to electronic television.

SIR JAGADISH CHANDRA BOSE the unsung hero of radio communication

Sir J.C. Bose did his original scientific work in the area of Microwaves. He made his own equipment by employing an illiterate tin-smith whom he trained up to do the job for him. He produced extremely short waves and done considerable improvement upon Hertz's detector of electric waves. He produced a compact appratus for generating electromagnetic waves of wavelengths 25 to 5 mm and studying their quasioptical properties, such as refraction, polarization and double refraction. These could be demonstrated by his compact apparatus mounted on an ordinary spectrometer table. The most satisfactory polarizers and analyzers were made out of pressed jute fibres or books with laminated pages. He could even produce rotation of plane of polarization by transmission of electric rays through bundle of twisted jute fibres. The originality and simplicity of his apparatus were its remarkable features. Bose's research on response in living and non-living led to some significant findings: in some animal tissues like muscles, stimulation produces change in form as well as electrical excitation, while in other tissues (nerves or retina), stimulation by light produces electric changes only but no change of form. He showed that not only animal but vegetable tissues under different kinds of stimuli-mechanical, application of heat, electric shock, chemicals, drugs- produce similar electric responses.

the microwave transmitter developed by bose

The Wright brothers

Wilbur and Orville Wright invented the airplane in 1903. When they invented the first motor driven aircraft, the glider had already been in use.

Their first flight was in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. When they were there they built gliders and experimented with them again and again. They also learned how the glider works and in two years they were geniuses on the glider.

Every time the Wright Brothers made a flight, they tried to figure out why it worked. For example, they studied the air conditions.

After they had been studying the glider for a while, they decided to add a gasoline engine. The gasoline engines then were big and heavy, so their goal was to build a lighter and smaller one.

The Wright Brothers had a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio, where they grew up, and whenever they needed to build something, they returned to the shop and built it there. So they went to the shop and started working on the engine.

When they finally built the engine, they went back to Kitty Hawk and tried it out. On December 17, 1903, they chose a few people to watch them fly the plane. The watchers were both so excited, for the Wright Brothers had flown for fifty-nine seconds.

They continued to work on new airplane designs and made a record on November 9, 1904, when Wilbur circled the prairie 4 times in 5 minutes. They used their Flyer. It weighed 700 pounds.

When they flew their 1905 Flyer, it lasted in the air for 39 minutes. After that flight, they decided that they should rest for a while, so for the next two years they did not fly or let anyone see their 1905 Flyer which used a motor and two propellers. The propellers turned different ways.

I hope you learned a lot about The Wright Brothers!

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak

Two Great Minds
Working Together

Two great minds, one interest. Two important men, one invention. Two close friends, one story. The story of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

Steven was born On February 4, 1955. He was then adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs. His father had many "jobs," (Ha ha! Get it? Jobs, has many jobs!), so his family moved a lot. As a young man, Steven put his interests to work in many ways, including working for Hewlett-Packard.

He learned a lot from his neighbor. His neighbor made a microphone. Steve was so interested he cornered this neighbor and asked him questions until he understood. His neighbor was so fascinated with such a young mind being interested in electronics, he taught Steven all he knew.

Stephen Wozniak, or "Woz", was five years older than Steve. He loved to make crazy gadgets. He showed Steve many of his gadgets.

When Steve and Woz were a little older, and more advanced in electronics, they would play practical jokes. Here's their most famous one. There was something called a "blue box." Crooks used to get free phone calls by breaking into the phone company's system. After long hard hours, Steve and Woz had invented their own blue box, which they sold to many people.

They weren't famous for inventing the blue box, but they invented a computer called the ready-made PC. PC stands for personal computer. They called their first computer the Apple I.

There were two main reasons it was invented. It was invented to "wow" or shock Steve and Woz's friends. The other reason was just plain fun. It was invented for computer games, especially an arcade game called "Breakout." In the game you used a paddle and ball to knock out bricks. This computer was made with speakers and a color code.

Their system made it cheaper and easier for people, other than computer specialists, to have a computer. Their company, Apple Computer, became successful and they created a new computer called the Apple II. Soon businesses, families, and schools were using the Apple II.

Apple was extremely successful in sales, until IBM made things very difficult for them. IBM made their own PC. Apple sales dropped tremendously. Apple needed a new plan. That's when Apple made the Macintosh computer. That brought another big success!

To Steven and Stephen, we say,

"Great Job!"

Benjamin Franklin(1706-1790)

Ben Franklin was most famous for the invention of the Franklin stove and also famous for his discoveries about lightning and electricity.

Ben conducted an experiment with electricity and proved that lightning is electricity. The experiment used a key, a kite, a wire, and jar full of water. The electricity hit the kite and it traveled to the key that was touching the wire which was in the jars.

Ben experimented with the electricity and sent a letter to a friend in London telling him about the night with the jars. The letter didn't get there and was picked up by a man and the word spread that Ben had found out how to catch electricity. Countries all over the world were using Ben's experiment.

Ben was very cold one morning and asked his wife, "Why is it so cold in here? Isn't our fireplace on?" She answered, "Yes it is on but it's just not powerful enough to make the whole room warm." Ben had an idea to make the whole house warm. It would be called the Franklin stove. It gave more heat and used less fuel than any other stove. As he built it with helpers and workers, one of them said, "You know Ben you can make a lot of money off of this invention." In return Ben said that he did not want the money. He just wanted to help citizens. Later a man changed the stove and improved it, making him very rich.

Benjamin Franklin(1706-1790)

Ben Franklin was most famous for the invention of the Franklin stove and also famous for his discoveries about lightning and electricity.

Ben conducted an experiment with electricity and proved that lightning is electricity. The experiment used a key, a kite, a wire, and jar full of water. The electricity hit the kite and it traveled to the key that was touching the wire which was in the jars.

Ben experimented with the electricity and sent a letter to a friend in London telling him about the night with the jars. The letter didn't get there and was picked up by a man and the word spread that Ben had found out how to catch electricity. Countries all over the world were using Ben's experiment.

Ben was very cold one morning and asked his wife, "Why is it so cold in here? Isn't our fireplace on?" She answered, "Yes it is on but it's just not powerful enough to make the whole room warm." Ben had an idea to make the whole house warm. It would be called the Franklin stove. It gave more heat and used less fuel than any other stove. As he built it with helpers and workers, one of them said, "You know Ben you can make a lot of money off of this invention." In return Ben said that he did not want the money. He just wanted to help citizens. Later a man changed the stove and improved it, making him very rich.

Henry Ford(July 30, 1863 - April 7, 1947)

Have you ever heard of a car called the Ford? I bet you know someone who has one like the Explorer, Windstar, Expedition, Contour, Mustang, or Tempo. Those are some of the cars that Henry Ford's company created. Have you ever wanted to know how it all started or who invented it or some other interesting facts?

Henry Ford was born in Dearborn, Michigan on July 30, 1863. His mom died at an early age. His dad's name was William Ford. Henry Ford had been raised on a farm and disliked farm life!

When Henry was 15 he went to Detroit and trained as a machinist. After that in 1888 he married Clara Bryant. They had one son named Edsel who was born November 6, 1893. Henry began to experiment with carriages without horses. In 1890 he invented the "Quadricycle." He wanted to invent affordable cars so that not only rich people could buy them, but also average people could. He tried to build cars so they would not cost too much. He was able to do it by inventing the assembly line. The assembly line helped Henry produce more cars faster which made them cheaper.

In 1903 Ford helped establish the Ford Motor Company, and from 1906-1919 he served as president as well as in 1943-1945. His whole family worked for the company and the development of the automotive industry. Henry named his cars with letters from the alphabet. They were called the Model A or Model T, but the Model T was the most famous. It was often called "Tin Lizzie" or the "Flivver." The Model T was developed in 1908. It was a four cylinder 20-hourspower car. The demand was high, but the supply was low. The car was really popular! The higher the demand got the more they made, and the price for the car decreased. In 1908 the Model T cost about $850 and by 1925 it was only $290. The Model T finally succumbed to a shift in public taste for more sophisticated and attractively styled cars. Production creased on May 31, 1927 when # 15,007,003, the last Model T was ever built. In September of 1917

Henry Ford II was born. He became president of the company right after his dad in 1945. Unlike his father, Henry the II went to college at Yale University. Henry the II retired between 1979-1980.

Until this day the Ford company still manufactures cars in Detroit. It expanded to own Jaguar and Volvo. Members of the Ford family still work in the automotive industry.

Enrico Fermi(1901-1954)

Have you ever heard of Enrico Fermi? My guess is you probably haven't. Well, Enrico Fermi was the man who first controlled nuclear fission, allowing the atomic bomb to be built.

Enrico Fermi was born in Rome, Italy. Fermi's family was a farming family. In 1915, Enrico's brother, Guilio, died. The two boys were very close. Fermi became depressed.

Like some other famous inventors, Fermi was not a good student. However, when he was in his teens, he began to study physics outside of school. A friend of Enrico's father, Ingegner Alimidei, began to see Enrico's gift for physics. He began to give him problems, making them harder and harder. Soon, Enrico, a now promising student, got a scholarship to Reale Scuola Normale Superior.

Fermi discovered that with all the problems he received, he was ahead of the rest of the class. By the end of the school year, Fermi was learning Einstein's, Theory of Relativity.

When Fermi reached the age of twenty, he got a degree as Doctor of Physics. In 1926 Fermi settled down as full Professor of Physics at University of Rome. He began to write papers about the atom.

In Rome, Fermi joined two of his friends, Emilio Segre and Franco Rasetti, and developed a research and teaching group that was amazing. While he was in this group, he invented tiddlywinks.

The three friends worked very hard to create artificial radiation. They tried many methods. Many of the elements produced artificial radiation. After many experiments Fermi discovered the 93rd element, Neptunium.

Fermi didn't realize that he was actually witnessing nuclear fission. Every time Fermi did an experiment, he put aluminum foil in place. This kept him from noticing the nuclear fission. Many scientists began using Fermi's experiment, but since they put the foil in place, as Fermi did, they never knew what they were doing. Finally two Swiss scientists forgot to put the foil in place. They noticed something was wrong and that led to the discovery of nuclear fission.

Fermi's work on the experiment led him to win the Nobel prize in 1938. Because of World War II, Fermi moved to the U. S. on January 2, 1939. He began to work at Columbia University. He formed a partnership with Niels Bohr. Fermi had to admit that the Germans were ahead in research on the atom.

At first, the U.S. government couldn't supply Fermi with the right materials to continue his experiment. But in 1942, the government decided to continue research on the atomic bomb and so he was able to continue his experiments at the University of Chicago.

While Fermi was experimenting, he discovered another element, plutonium. Finally, on December 2, 1942, in a secret laboratory under the football field at the University of Chicago, Fermi witnessed and controlled nuclear fission which led to the creation of the atomic bomb.

On August 6, 1945, a lone B-29 dropped a single atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. This single bomb brought a quick end to World War II. An estimated 100,000 people died from the bomb.

For more information on Fermi, go to the site Enrico Fermi: Physicist.

Thomas Alva Edison(February 11, 1847- October 18, 1931)

In Milan, Ohio on February 11, 1847, someone was born, who was not just an ordinary person. This someone was named Thomas Alva Edison. He would just do anything to invent something. Whatever it took he did it. When he got an idea he would not give up. The phonograph, the light bulb, the movie camera, and sewing machine are just some of his many inventions that helped change the world.

Thomas did not go to school although he was a great reader. His mom tutored him at home. When he was twelve he got his first job at the train station as a train boy selling candy and newspapers. Books were so important to him that he spent all his money on them. One day while trying to catch a train a trainman reached and grabbed him by the ears. While pulling Edison up, something cracked in his ears and right after that he began to go deaf.

In 1871, Thomas Edison married Mary Stilwell. Thomas and Mary had a couple of kids together. Thirteen years later she died, and in 1886 he married Mina Miller.

When Thomas had made enough money he wanted to buy a laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. He paid a group of scientist to think of inventions and see if the inventions would work. That setup worked so well other companies did this too. Now today every company and university in the whole world has a research department, and it all began with Edison's group in Menlo Park.

He is most famous for the invention of the electric light bulb also known as the incandescent lamp {in-kandes'-ent}. He had burned himself with candles so many times, he wanted a way to see without a candle. In 1878 he began experimenting and it took him just over a year to invent a practical light bulb. Edison founded the Electric Light Company in 1878.

In his 70's he still worked sixteen hours a day, and was one of the most famous men in America. By the time he died at West Orange, New Jersey on October 18, 1931 he had created over 1000 inventions.

George Eastman (1854-1932)

Can you imagine not having a camera? Well, kids in George Eastman's time couldn't imagine having a camera! George Eastman made it possible for kids to have a camera to put in their pocket.

George was born in Waterville, New York. He came from a poor family. George's father died when he was very young. George worked for his family when he was thirteen. In 1874, George got a job as a junior bookkeeper at the Rochester Savings Bank.

When George had been working at the bank for a while he decided he needed a vacation. He decided to travel to Santo Domingo. George's friends told him to buy a camera to take on his trip.

George discovered that buying a camera was a big project. There was no such thing as film in the 1870's. Photographers took pictures with glass plates. The plates were coated with a chemical mixture named collodion. The picture had to be developed immediately after the photo was taken. George paid $5.00 for photography lessons.

Instead of going to Santo Domingo, George went to Mackinac Island, Michigan. In Michigan, George began to tire of lugging all his camera equipment around.

Soon George read that English photographers were using dry plates. The plates were coated with gelatine emulsion. George began to work on his own gelatine emulsion. He worked and worked until he finally created his own gelatine emulsion.

In 1880 George announced he was leaving the bank. He went into the dry plate business. The Eastman dry plate company officially opened January 1, 1881. By November 1881, the company was making 4000 dry plates a month.

One day, photographers were complaining the plates weren't working. George began making a new gelatine emulsion. He did 469 experiments, but the plates still didn't work.

George Eastman then had the idea to make a camera with no plates. George took a long thin roll of paper, coated it with collodion, and named it film. In March, 1885, George's new invention was ready to be shipped. However the other photographers didn't like the idea. They liked to keep their customer there while developing the picture, keeping the customer mesmerized, waiting to see what the picture would look like.

In 1888, George produced a small, 22 ounce camera. The photographer would take pictures, then ship the camera back to the Eastman company. George realized his camera didn't have a name. George simply chose his favorite letters and made the name Kodak. Soon George made a slogan, "You press the button, we do the rest."

In December, 1889, The Eastman Kodak company was founded. Thomas Edison ordered a camera that summer. He used Eastman's camera to help develop his motion picture camera.

In 1891 The Eastman Kodak company produced spooled film. The photographer could load the film in their camera by themselves. George's company began to mass-produce cameras. George's cameras had names such as Brownie which was a camera designed for children. The Falcon and Bulls Eye were cameras designed for adults.

George became a millionaire. He liked to give money to help other people. George's first project was a dentist clinic in Rochester. Soon kids could have their teeth checked for a nickel.

Lots of George's chemists came from M.I.T. George made a large donation to the school. Another school that got a donation from Eastman was Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. George Washington Carver was doing great things there.

George Eastman was a great man. His main invention was film. He donated a lot of his money to schools and charity. Thanks to his invention, we have handheld cameras.

John Deere

Did you ever take the time to really think about where things come from and who invented them? Well in this report I am going to tell you who invented something amazing. That thing is the steel plow and John Deere invented it.

In the year of 1804 in Rutland , Vermont a boy named John Deere was born. Deere had a couple of early jobs, but he was always interested in the blacksmiths in his neighborhood. In the year 1821 Deere was hired as a blacksmith. After his first year people began to notice his work. Deere was always making little things out of leftover metals. In 1829 Deere built his own business in Leicester.

In 1837, after many years of studying, Deere invented the first steel plow that turned American prairie sod. Deere became one of the worlds greatest plow makers. In 1837 he opened a blacksmith shop in Grand Detour, ILL. He learned that the farmers were not happy with their plows because the sod got stuck. Deere built a hard moldboard out of saw material in 1837 which worked better. He worked with his partner Leonard Andruss. Within 10 years Deere and Andruss were producing 1000 plows yearly.

In 1846 Deere started a new company in Moline, ILL. In 1857 he was making 10,000 plows yearly. In 1868 the company was incorporated as Deere and Company. His company ranks one of the largest industrial corporation companies in the United States. In 1886 John Deere died.

Even though we don't use the plow in our own homes it is still a very important invention to some people. We were lucky enough to have a wonderful person like John Deere to have made the plow a lot easier to use.

Marie Curie a Radiant Discovery

Marie Curie had a radiant life in her discovery of radium. She brought forth an important discovery.

Manya Sklodowska was born in 1867 in Poland. She, being the youngest of six, had a hard childhood when her mother died of tuberculosis. Manya and her sister Bronya grew up together. With a little help, Bronya and Manya finished their education.

She married a French scientist named Pierre Curie and changed her name to Marie Curie. Together the two scientists made a great discovery before tragedy happened.

Marie and Pierre, in their little wooden shed in France, isolated something called pitch blend. They found one element that would be the key to their success. This element is called radium. Now they wanted to try to take a bit of radium out of the pitch blend to study on its own. To complete the task of isolation, Marie stirred pitch blend in a large pot while Pierre analyzed the element.

In 1902 Marie and Pierre decided to go to the shed, not to work but just to check to see if the isolation was going okay. They reached the shed at the perfect time. On arrival they saw a beautiful blue light shining through the door...

RADIUM!

Radium was used some years ago and now. It was used for a variety of purposes; treating cancer, an ingredient for fluorescent paint used for dials on things like watches, now radium has been replaced for better, safer medical uses.

That goes to show you that two people, such as yourself and a friend, could work for a few years, and discover something amazing. Try your luck!

Marie Curie a Radiant Discovery

Marie Curie had a radiant life in her discovery of radium. She brought forth an important discovery.

Manya Sklodowska was born in 1867 in Poland. She, being the youngest of six, had a hard childhood when her mother died of tuberculosis. Manya and her sister Bronya grew up together. With a little help, Bronya and Manya finished their education.

She married a French scientist named Pierre Curie and changed her name to Marie Curie. Together the two scientists made a great discovery before tragedy happened.

Marie and Pierre, in their little wooden shed in France, isolated something called pitch blend. They found one element that would be the key to their success. This element is called radium. Now they wanted to try to take a bit of radium out of the pitch blend to study on its own. To complete the task of isolation, Marie stirred pitch blend in a large pot while Pierre analyzed the element.

In 1902 Marie and Pierre decided to go to the shed, not to work but just to check to see if the isolation was going okay. They reached the shed at the perfect time. On arrival they saw a beautiful blue light shining through the door...

RADIUM!

Radium was used some years ago and now. It was used for a variety of purposes; treating cancer, an ingredient for fluorescent paint used for dials on things like watches, now radium has been replaced for better, safer medical uses.

That goes to show you that two people, such as yourself and a friend, could work for a few years, and discover something amazing. Try your luck!

George Washington Carver

Have you ever wondered where we got all this peanut stuff from? No, peanut butter ice cream didn't just appear in the stores one day. It was created by a wonderful man! Well, maybe you don't think he is wonderful, but without this man we wouldn't have many of the peanut products that we have today. He even made soap out of peanut items! He made a big impact on the world.

George Washington Carver was born on a slave farm near Diamond, Missouri. In 1864, after his birth his father died in an accident and he and his mother were kidnapped. The kidnappers took him and his mother to Arkansas. Carver's mother was never seen again, but Carver was brought back to his house. Carver was brought up by the people that owned his parents. Carver would wander outside when he had extra time and examine the plants. Carver soon learned that blacks were not allowed to go to some schools. At the age of ten Carver asked his parent's permission to go to a black school in Neosha which was 8 miles away. That was the start of George Washington Carver's education.

In 1880 Carver entered Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. At first Carver was interested in art, but he then decided to focus on agriculture. After researching a lot about agriculture Carver went to Iowa State College. His teachers were very impressed with his work. They were so impressed that they appointed him to the faculty when he completed his undergraduate work in 1894. He was Iowa State's first black faculty member.

Carver moved to Alabama to join the faculty at Tuskegee Institute. Tuskegee was an industry and agriculture school for blacks. Carver became director of a state agriculture station. He began to study ways of improving crop products. He taught more productive agriculture to black farmers.

After 1914 Carver started to research peanuts. Carver wondered why people were just planting certain products like cotton or corn? Carver showed many people that peanuts were good farming products by making speeches and presentations. Carver wanted to encourage farmers to plant different products. He showed people that peanuts were nutritious and would be a great thing to grow. Many farmers in southern states started to grow peanuts. George Washington Carver made over 300 peanut products out of plants including ink, milk, and soap. Carver was called, " the Peanut Man". Carver also made 118 sweet potato products!

In 1940 Carver gave his life savings of $33,000 to Tuskegee Institute. Carver got many awards including, the Spingarn Medal, the Theodore Roosevelt Medal, and he was named a fellow of Royal Society of Arts of London.

So next time you eat some bread with peanut butter or wash your hands in peanut soap just remember George Washington Carver.

Alexander Graham bell the inventor of telephone

Alexander Graham Bell was born in 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland. This is someone's description of him: tall, slender, quick-motioned, pale face, droopy mustache, and big nose with a high sloping forehead crowned with bushy jet-black hair.

Bell had a background of learning about sound and was a teacher for the deaf. He used Visible Speech to help him teach the kids how to speak. Visible Speech, which his father invented to help Eliza, his deaf wife, consists of pictures of a mouth moving in different ways. Since the deaf can't hear what they're saying, they at least can know how their mouth is supposed to move when they're saying a word.

In 1875 Alexander Graham Bell moved to Boston and hired Mr. Watson to help him on the harmonic telegraph (the telephone). Mr. Watson was very smart, and he was a good person to have around. Mr. Watson worked on the transmitter day and night, and was very good at it. Alexander Graham Bell worked on the receiver and about every other day they would check it together. His first sentence was, "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you."

If you want to see a web site that has a copy of his notebook, click here.

It took forty weeks to get the telephone to carry the sound of human talk. The telephone used a transmitter, receiver, and wires. Alexander Graham Bell wanted to invent it so that people could talk to one another without having to stand right next to them. Or if you have family or friends that don't live near you, you can keep in touch with them by calling. Or if you have an emergency you will always have a phone to call a doctor, hospital, fire department, or ambulance. The computer or a fax machine is just the same idea as the telephone. The computer transmits data and a fax machine transmits written information.

When they finally made a successful telephone in 1875, Bell wanted to show it to the public. He brought it to the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition where the judges thought it was a silly instrument, and only gave him a little corner of the building. When the judges finally came to him, they were very tired from their long day of work. They said that they were too tired to check his telephone and they thought it was stupid, anyway.

Then a fortunate thing happened. Dom Pedro, the Emperor of Brazil who had once visited Alexander Graham Bell's class for the deaf stepped forward. He recognized Bell, and said that he was a very smart man. The judges were very tired, but they said O.K. When they looked at it they exclaimed that it had to be put in a higher place in the building and that he had won!

Alexander Graham Bell is most known for the telephone, and it is very useful to people now. He was a very thoughtful person and he thought about whatever he did. You should be thankful for him.

Here are some links that I found and I think you will enjoy them:

The Alexander Graham Bell Family of Papers at the Library of Congress

Alexander Graham Bell's Path to the Telephone

Alexander Graham Bell - The Inventor