![]() In 2001, the United States Congress took the extraordinary decision of doing justice to Meucci, passing a resolution officially according recognition to Meucci as the real inventor of the telephone, stating that “if Meucci had been able to pay the caveat after 1874, no patent could have been issued to Bell. The case looked rather promising for Meucci, but unfortunately, before any proceedings could begin, Meucci died on October 18, 1889. Meucci finally decided to sue Bell, charging him with fraud in the Supreme Court. Interestingly, another contender, Elisha Gray, had also submitted a patent for the telephone some hours before Bell, but due to a technicality, Bell was the registrant whose application won. Two years later, Bell, uncontested by Meucci, was granted ownership of the patent. Under general patent laws, then and today, Bell should have credited Meucci and agreed to share royalties with him.īeset with debt, Meucci could not afford the $10 fee for maintaining the patent caveat and temporarily gave up pursuit of Bell in 1874. Meucci duly protested, but lacking connections, was unable to convince anyone that Alexander Graham Bell had stolen his ideas. Bell made good and clever use of Meucci before coming up with his own “invention” and applying for a patent in his own name. They shared a lab together and Bell had full access to Meucci’s materials. In 1860-16 years before Bell claimed to have invented the telephone-Meucci demonstrated his teletrofono in New York, but could not afford the $250 required to register a patent.īell, who took an interest in Meucci’s invention, convinced him to share his research material. He later moved to Staten Island to follow up on his discovery. ![]() The real inventor of the telephone, Meucci (1808-1989), had been working in Cuba in the 1830s, developing methods for treating illnesses using electric shocks, when he discovered the ability of sound to travel through electrical impulses. The House of Representatives voted to recognise mechanical genius, Antonio Meucci, as the father of modern communications, following a protracted battle by historians and Italian Americans. In 2001, the US Congress finally succumbed to the nagging truth and “changed its mind” on the issue, according credit to the real inventor and declaring that the original telephone was in fact invented by Antonio Meucci, a penniless Italian who did not speak a word of English and could not afford to patent his discovery.Īs to Alexander Graham Bell? Well, he was just a successful patent applicant and, some would say, thief.Īccording to the US Congress, Bell was a cunning opportunist who took all the credit for a more brilliant scientist’s work. If you answered “Alexander Graham Bell,” then you, along with millions of people around the world have been misinformed.
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