Telephone | History, Definition, Invention, Uses, & Facts

The first transmission of speech with a telephone occurred on March 10, 1876, from Alexander Graham Bell to Thomas Watson, which Bell transcribed in his lab notes as “Mr. Watson—come here—I want to see you.”

Alexander Graham Bell is credited with developing the telephone because he received the first patent.

One of the earliest demonstrations of the telephone occurred in June 1876 at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.

On February 14, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell applied for a U.S. patent for the telephone. On March 7, 1876, Bell was awarded U.S. patent 174,465. This patent is often referred to as the most valuable ever issued by the U.S. Patent Office, as it described not only the telephone instrument but also the concept of a telephone system.

A telephone is an instrument designed for the simultaneous transmission and reception of the human voice. Telephones are inexpensive and simple to operate, and they offer an immediate, personal type of communication. Billions of telephones are in use around the world.

Learn how Alexander Graham Bell went to revolutionize telegraphy but instead invented the telephone

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telephone, an instrument designed for the simultaneous transmission and reception of the human voice. The telephone is inexpensive, is simple to operate, and offers its users an immediate, personal type of communication that cannot be obtained through any other medium. As a result, it has become the most widely used telecommunications device in the world. Billions of telephones are in use around the world.

This article describes the functional components of the modern telephone and traces the historical development of the telephone instrument. In addition it describes the development of what is known as the public switched telephone network (PSTN). For discussion of broader technologies, see the articles telecommunications system and telecommunications media. For technologies related to the telephone, see the articles mobile telephone, videophone, fax and modem.