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Did you know who really invented the telephone that revolutionized global communication?
It was not Alexander Graham Bell. In fact, the true 'father' of the telephone is Antonio Meucci. Born on April 13, 1808 in Florence, Italy, Meucci invented a device he called the "telettrofono" in 1860, five years before Bell filed his patent in 1871. He could not afford the $250 for the patent, only managing to scrape together enough for a $10 'caveat', a precursor to a patent. When Meucci fell into financial hardship and was unable to renew the caveat, Bell swooped in. Bell filed his patent on February 14, 1876, just hours before another inventor, Elisha Gray, registered his design for a similar device. Known as the 'telephone controversy', it fueled a nineteenth-century version of a patent war. In 2002, the US Congress officially recognized Meucci's contribution to the invention of the telephone. So the next time you pick up a telephone, remember Antonio Meucci, the unsung hero behind this ubiquitous device.

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