Alexander Graham Bell 150

Image: Collage image with signature, cutout of building, sketch of product, and a black and white photo of Alexander Graham Bell
Innovation

BU and Bell: Celebrating 150 Years of the Invention of the Telephone

Alexander Graham Bell was a professor on paid leave from Boston University’s School of Oratory on March 10, 1876, when he successfully completed the first telephone call ever, to his assistant Thomas Watson. The rest is history.

In this series

  • Chapter 1 BU, Bell, and Celebrating 150 Years of the Invention of the Telephone

    In the history of inventions that have altered the course of humanity, you would be hard-pressed to name any that top the telephone. (Okay, fine, maybe the light bulb, and possibly the wheel, and, yes, penicillin’s important.) A professor at Boston University named Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone 150 years ago this year, on […]

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  • Chapter 2 Five Phone Calls That Changed History

    The most important telephone call in history was the first one, right? On March 10, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell, on paid leave from his faculty job at Boston University’s School of Oratory, successfully called his assistant, Thomas Watson. Standing in their Boston laboratory, Bell uttered these words, “Mr. Watson, come here—I want to see you.” […]

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  • Chapter 3 Alexander Graham Bell: The BU Years

    This article was originally published in B.U. Bridge, Vol. V No. 5, on September 14, 2001. It has been updated. A BU professor created a device 150 years ago that “annihilated time and space,” Thomas Edison said, “and brought the human family closer in touch.” Alexander Graham Bell, who from 1874 to 1879 was a professor […]

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