ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL

His desire to help his deaf mother communicate led to one of the most important inventions in history. However, the telephone was only one of many notable contributions he made to modern technology. Alexander Graham Bell left his mark on the world with the invention of the telephone. Nevertheless he might have been a footnote in history if not for his lawyer, who filed for the patent a mere two hours before his rival Elisha Gray. From his childhood in Scotland and his long struggle to get out from under his father’s shadow, to the invention of the precursors to the X-ray machine and Iron Lung, to how he saved National Geographic from financial ruin, to why Helen Keller dedicated her autobiography to him, this program traces the life of the famed inventor.