Alexander Graham

Alexander Graham was was a Scottish-born American scientist, inventor, and teacher of the deaf, whose development of the telephone and contributions to other inventions in aeronautics had profound effects on the shaping of modern society. Bell was born on March 3, 1847, in Edinburgh and educated at the universities of Edinburgh and London. He immigrated to Canada in 1870 and to the U.S. in 1871. In the U.S. he began teaching deaf-mutes, publicizing the system called visible …

…final full-sized "hydrodrome," developed in 1917, reached speeds in excess of 113 km/hr (70 mph) and for many years was the fastest boat in the world. 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 Aug. 2, 1922, at Baddeck, where a museum containing many of his original inventions is maintained by the Canadian government.