March 7, 1876 – Alexander Graham Bell receives patent for the telephone.

On March 7, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for the telephone. Bell, who was Scottish-born, was 29-years-old at the time. He was a scientist, engineer, innovator and inventor. Graham was the son of Melville Bell and worked with him in London. Melville Bell developed Visible Speech, a written system used to teach speaking to the deaf. However, his family later moved to Boston. Bell’s work was greatly influenced by his wife and mother who were deaf. He did pioneering research on hearing and speech which led him to experiment with hearing devices. This experimentation finally culminated in him being awarded the first U.S. patent for the telephone in 1876.