100 Entrepreneurs Who Changed The World
17. Graham Bell, Alexander 1847-1922
“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.”
Alexander Graham Bell was a Scottish-born scientist and inventor who is credited with the creation of the first practical telephone. Both Bell’s Mother and his wife were deaf, which greatly influenced his work. It was while experimenting with hearing devices that he invented the telephone, a device he would receive the US patent for in 1876. While his later life saw Bell contribute groundbreaking work in the fields of optical communication, hydrofoils, and aeronautics, the telephone remained his most famous work. Yet, he saw the invention as a nuisance and a distraction and refused to have one in his study.
