Suzanne Deffree
On June, 11, 2002, the United States Congress acknowledged Italian immigrant Antonio Meucci as the true inventor of the telephone.
The declaration, approved by the House of Representatives, was made to little fanfare in the US. Meucci’s hometown of Florence, where he was recognized as the telephone inventor without such political support, is said to have celebrated the acknowledgement.
Meucci began developing the design of a “telegrafo parlante" or talking telegraph in 1849. He and his wife moved to Staten Island, NY, in 1850, where he continued his work mostly form a home lab.
In 1871, he filed a caveat for his design. However, then facing financial hardship due to his wife’s health and lacking enough English to navigate the business community, Meucci could not renew his caveat when it expired.
As most engineers know, credit often goes to the person with the patent and history recorded Alexander Graham Bell as the inventor of the telephone after Bell was awarded US Patent Number 174,465, Improvement on Telegraphy, on March 7, 1876.
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