Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell was a Scottish-American inventor credited with patenting the first practical telephone in 1876, revolutionizing long-distance communication.
Bell's interest in communication technology stemmed partly from his family's work with deaf education; his mother and wife were both deaf, which influenced his lifelong interest in sound and hearing.
He patented the telephone on March 7, 1876, narrowly ahead of a competing claim by inventor Elisha Gray, and famously made the first telephone call to his assistant, saying 'Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.'
Bell co-founded the Bell Telephone Company, which eventually grew into AT&T, and continued working on innovations in aeronautics, hydrofoils, and optical communication until his death in 1922.