Alexander Graham Bell

• Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922), American inventor and teacher of the deaf, most famous for his work on the telephone.

• Bell was born on March 3, 1847, in Edinburgh, Scotland, and educated at the universities of Edinburgh and London.
• He immigrated to Canada in 1870 and to the United States in 1871. In the United States he began teaching deaf-mutes, publicizing the system called visible speech.
• The system, which was developed by his father, the Scottish educator Alexander Melville Bell, shows how the lips, tongue, and throat are used in the articulation of sound.
• In 1872 Bell founded a school to train teachers of the deaf in Boston, Massachusetts.
• The school subsequently became part of Boston University, where Bell was appointed professor of vocal physiology.
• He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1882.Since the age of 18, Bell had been working on the idea of transmitting speech.
• In 1874, while working on a multiple telegraph, he developed the basic ideas of the telephone.
• His experiments with his assistant Thomas Watson finally proved successful on March 10, 1876, when he transmitted: “Watson, come here; I want you.” Subsequent demonstrations, particularly one at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, introduced the telephone to the world and led to the organization of the Bell Telephone Company in 1877.
• In 1880 France bestowed on Bell the Volta Prize, worth 50,000 francs, for his invention.
• With this money he founded the Volta Laboratory in Washington, D.C., where, in that same year, he and his associates invented the photophone, which transmits speech by light rays.
• Other inventions include the audiometer, used to measure acuity in hearing; the induction balance, used to locate metal objects in human bodies; and the first wax recording cylinder, introduced in 1886.
• The cylinder, together with the flat wax disc, formed the basis of the modern phonograph.
• Bell's continuing studies on the causes and heredity of deafness led to experiments in eugenics, including sheep breeding, and to his book Duration of Life and Conditions Associated with Longevity (1918).
• He died on August 2, 1922, at Baddeck, where a museum containing many of his original inventions is maintained by the Canadian government.

National Inventors Hall of Fame

The National Inventors Hall of Fame is a U.S. organization founded in 1973 to honor successful inventors. Members are chosen by the selection committee of the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation, which is composed of representatives from national scientific and technical organizations.

Date of selection

Inventor

Invention

1973	Thomas Alva Edison	electric lamp
1974	John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, William Shockley	transistor
	Alexander Graham Bell	telegraphy and telephone
	Eli Whitney	cotton gin
1975	William Coolidge	vacuum tube
	Guglielmo Marconi	transmitting electric signals
	Samuel Morse	telegraph signals
	Nikola Tesla	electromagnetic motor
	Orville Wright, Wilbur Wright	flying machine
1976	Rudolf Diesel	internal combustion engine
	Enrico Fermi	neutronic reactor
	Charles Goodyear	improvement in India-rubber fabrics, vulcanization of rubber
	Charles Hall	manufacture of aluminum
	Cyrus McCormick	mechanical reaper
	Charles Townes	maser
1977	Lee De Forest	audio amplifier
	George Eastman	coating plates for use in photography
	Edwin Land	instant processing photography
	Charles Steinmetz	system of electrical distribution
	Vladimir Zworykin	cathode-ray tube
1978	Luis Alvarez	radio distance and direction indicator
	Leo Baekeland	synthetic resin
	Carl Djerassi	oral contraceptive
	Louis Pasteur	brewing beer and ale
1979	Jay Forrester	random access memory (RAM)
	Robert Goddard	rocket science
	Charles Plank, Edward Rosinski	improved gasoline manufacture
1980	Edwin Armstrong	frequency modulation (FM) radio broadcasting
	James Hillier	electron lens correction device
	Charles Kettering	engine starting devices and ignition system
	Lewis Sarett	synthetic cortisone
1981	Harold Black	negative feedback amplifier
	Chester Carlson	xerography
	Charles Draper	gyroscopic apparatus
	Nikolaus Otto	gas motor engine
1982	Henry Ford	transmission mechanism
	Jack Kilby	integrated circuit
	Ernest Lawrence	cyclotron
	Ottmar Mergenthaler	linotype machine
	Max Tishler	riboflavin, sulfaquinoxline
1983	Ernest Alexanderson	high-frequency alternator
	Andrew Alford	localizer antenna systems
	Herbert Dow	process of extracting bromine
	Robert Noyce	semiconductor device and lead structure
	George Stibitz	complex computer
1984	William Burton	manufacture of gasoline
	Wallace Carothers	nylon
	Philo Farnsworth	television system
	Theodore Maiman	laser
1985	Marvin Camras	magnetic recording
	Willis Carrier	air conditioning
	René Higonnet, Louis Moyroud	phototypesetter
	Willem Kolff	artificial heart
	Roy Plunkett	Teflon
1986	Luther Burbank	strain of peach
	Harold Edgerton	stroboscope
	Wilson Greatbatch	heart pacemaker
	Donalee Tabern, Ernest Volwiler	Pentothal, Nembutal
1987	Arnold Beckman	apparatus for testing acidity
	William Burroughs	calculating machine
	Andrew Moyer	method for production of penicillin
	Igor Sikorsky	helicopter controls
1988	Frank Colton	oral contraceptive
	Elisha Otis	safety elevator
	Louis Parker	television receiver
	An Wang	magnetic pulse controlling device
1989	Raymond Damadian	magnetic resonance imaging
	John Deere	steel plow
	Irving Langmuir	incandescent electric lamp
	George Westinghouse	steam-power brake device
1990	George Washington Carver	cosmetics, paint, and stain
	Graham Durant, John Emmett, C. Robin Ganellin	antiulcer compounds and compositions
	Charles Ginsburg	videotape recorder
	Herman Hollerith	punched card tabulating system
	Eugene Houdry	liquid fuels
	Percy Julian	cortisone synthesis
	Robert Ledley	diagnostic X-ray system
	Kenneth Olsen	magnetic core memory
1991	Willard Bennett	radio frequency mass spectrometer
	Gertrude Elion	antileukemia drug
	Gordon Gould	optically pumped laser amplifier
	Leonard Greene	airplane stall warning device
	William 'Butch' Hanford, Donald Holmes	polyurethane
	Elmer Sperry	gyroscopic compass
	Robert Williams	synthesis of vitamin B1
1992	Lloyd Conover	tetracycline
	Frederick Cottrell	electrostatic precipitator
	William Hewlett	audio oscillator
	Benjamin Rubin	bifurcated vaccination needle
1993	Baruch Blumberg, Irving Millman	test and vaccine for hepatitis B
	John Ericsson	propeller
	William Lear	automobile radio
	Robert Maurer, Donald Keck, Peter Schultz	fiber optics
	John Parsons	numerical control of machine tools
1994	Emile Berliner	gramophone/microphone
	Robert Hall	magnetron
	Elizabeth Hazen, Rachel Brown	nystatin
	Robert Rines	high-resolution imaging-scanning radar and sonar
	Heinrich Rohrer, Gerd Binnig	scanning tunneling microscope
1995	Joseph H. Burckhalter, Robert J. Seiwald	dyes for diagnosing infectious disease
	Stephanie L. Kwolek	Kevlar polymers and fibers
	Waldo L. Semon	polyvinyl chloride plastisols
	John Sheehan	semisynthetic penicillin
	William Stanley	electric transformer
	Forrest M. Bird	fluid control device, respirator, pediatric ventilator
1996	H. M. Edmund Germer	discharge device, high-pressure vapor lamp
	Ted Hoff, Stanley Mazor, Federico Faggin	microprocessor concept and architecture
	Julius Arthur Nieuwland	vinyl derivatives of acetylene and methods of preparation
	Arthur Leonard Schawlow	masers and maser communications system
	Leo Szilard	neutronic reactor
1997	Edward Goodrich Acheson	carborundum
	Robert W. Bower	field-effect device with insulated gate (MOSFET)
	George H. Babcock, Stephen Wilcox, Jr.	water-tube steam boiler
	Seymour Cray	supercomputer
	Mark Dean, Dennis Moeller	improvements in computer architecture allowing computer components to communicate with each other in a high-speed and efficient manner
	Robert H. Dennard	dynamic random access memory (DRAM)
1998	Henry Timken	tapered roller bearing
	Alfred Nobel	dynamite
	Joseph Begun	magnetic recording
	Douglas Engelbart	computer mouse and development of modern computer environment
	James Fergason	liquid-crystal display
	Kary Mullis	polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
1999	Percy LeBaron Spencer	microwave oven
	Donald L. Campbell, Homer Z. Martin, Eger V. Murphree, Charles W. Tyson	fluid catalytic cracking
	George de Mestral	Velcro
	Gerhard Sessler, James Edward West	foil electret microphone
	Bryan B. Molloy, Klaus K. Schmiegel	Prozac
2000	Walt Disney	multiplane camera
	Reginald Fessenden	radiotelephony
	Alfred Free, Helen Free	glucose detection for diabetes
	J. Franklin Hyde	method of making a transparent article of silica
	William Kroll	method for manufacturing titanium and related alloys
	Stephen Wozniak	microcomputer for use with video display
2001	Robert Banks, Paul Hogan	polymers
	Herbert Boyer, Stanley Cohen	genetic engineering
	Oliver Evans	high-pressure steam engine
	Thomas Fogarty	embolectomy catheter
	Elijah McCoy	automatic engine lubricator
	Patsy Sherman, Sam Smith	Scotchgard
	Christopher Sholes	typewriter
2002	Raymond Kurzweil	Kurzweil reading machine
	Nils Bohlin	3-point safety belt
	Rangaswamy Srinivasan, James Wynne, Samuel Blum	excimer laser surgery
	Drs. M. Stephen Heilman, Alois Langer, Morton Mower, Michel Mirowski	implantable defibrillator
	Dr. Rodney Bagley, Dr. Irwin Lachman, Ronald Lewis	ceramic substrate for catalytic converters
	Felix Hoffmann	aspirin
	Dr. John Presper Eckert, Jr., John Mauchly	electronic numerical integrator and computer (ENIAC) data translating device
	Henry Bessemer	Bessemer steel process
2003	George Carruthers	far electrograph ultraviolet camera
	Frank Cepollina	satellite servicing techniques
	Glenn Curtiss	hydroaeroplane
	Maxime Faget	space capsule design
	Leroy Grumman	retractable landing gear; folding wing
	Charles H. Kaman	rotor control mechanism for rotary aircraft
	Paul Kollsman	altimeter
	Edwin A. Link	link trainer/simulator
	Thomas Midgley, Jr.	ethyl gasoline
	John Northrop	flying wing plane; all-metal high-wing monocoque airplane (Vega)
	John Pierce	communications satellite
	Harold Rosen	spin stabilized synchronous communications satellite
	Theodore von Kármán	turbo jet
	Hans J. P. von Ohain	jet engine
	Richard Whitcomb	supercritical wing
	Sir Frank Whittle	jet engine
	Sam Williams	small fan-jet engine
2004	Frederick Banting, Charles Best, James Collip	Insulin for diabetics
	Vannevar Bush	Differential Analyzer
	Harry Coover	superglue
	Wallace Coulter	blood counter
	Ray Dolby	noise reduction systems
	Edith Flanigen	molecular filters for petroleum processing
	Robert Gallo, Luc Montagnier	HIV isolation and diagnosis
	Ivan Getting, Bradford Parkinson	Global Positioning System (GPS)
	John Gibbon	heart-lung machine
	Lloyd Hall	food preservation techniques
	Elias Howe	sewing machine
	Charles Kelman	cataract eye surgery
	Bernard Oliver, Claude Shannon	Pulse Code Modulation
	Norbert Rillieux	modern sugar refining
	John Roebling	modern suspension bridge
Source: National Inventors Hall of Fame.