The Telephone

Undeniably essential to modern life, the telephone is the most important, influential, and effective communication tool ever developed. Stay on the line with The History Channel to witness this invention's unbelievably dramatic true story-one of false starts, close calls, and a bitter rivalry. All his life, Alexander Graham Bell was driven by a desire to create a machine that would make it easier for the deaf to speak and hear. Using an actual human ear from a cadaver to understand the nature of sound, Bell even enlisted a young Thomas Edison to help invent what would become the telephone. Exploring how one man's speaking device has grown into the technological web that links humankind, this thrilling program also revisits the race between Bell and rival Elisha Gray—who was building a similar design but ultimately filed the history-changing patent just two hours after Bell.