The inspiring love story between Alexander and Mabel Bell
Video Transcript
A love story that rings a Bell … This is a love story about a boy named Alec and a girl named Mabel.
Alec and his family had moved from Edinborough Scotland to Cambridge in 1873. He and his father taught speech for the deaf at Boston University.
Mabel came from a wealthy family, but at the age of five she endured Scarlet fever which caused her to lose her hearing.
As you might have guessed, Mabel eventually attended the same school for the deaf, where she met Alec. Over the years, their relationship blossomed into love.
This is where the story gets interesting. Alec wasn’t only a teacher, he was also an inventor with an idea to solve a common problem of the day. The modern telegraph had limitations, where the wire could only transmit one conversation at a time by Morse code.
Alec’s idea was to allow multiple conversations by Morse to occur through different tones on the same wire. He used his knowledge of human vocal chords to build a system that could reproduce tones electronically.
Alec had spent his life teaching and communicating with his deaf mother, his students and his future wife Mabel. Then it occurred to him, instead of creating tones for faster Morse code and telegrams, why not duplicate the human voice over a wire?
Mabel was supportive of Alec and spent time with him as he worked toward an invention that would eventually change the world. She and Alec wanted to marry but her father Mr. Hubbard insisted Alec patent his invention first.
And so, in true love story fashion, on Valentine’s Day in 1876, Alec, known formally as Alexander Graham Bell, patented his design for the Improvement in Telegraphy. Commonly known today as the telephone.
Alec and Mabel were married the following year, and went on to have a family and create more inventions in their lifetime.
Graphics, AI Narration, Script and Video Editing: Jef Gray
Production: International Peace and Film Festival
