Alexander Graham Bell  was an eminent Scottish-born UK/ Canada /USA scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone.

Bell's father, grandfather, and brother had all been associated with work on elocutionand speech, and both his mother and wife were deaf, profoundly influencing Bell's life's work.

 His research on hearing and speech further led him to experiment with hearing devices which eventually culminated in Bell being awarded the first U.S. patent for the telephone in 1876.

Bell considered his most famous invention an intrusion on his real work as a scientist and refused to have a telephone in his study.

Many other inventions marked Bell's later life, including groundbreaking work in optical telecommunications, hydrofoils andaeronautics. In 1888, Bell became one of the founding members of the National Geographic Society.

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Alexander Graham Bell, who could not complete the university program of his youth, received at least a dozen honorary degrees from academic institutions, including eight honorary LL.D.s(Doctorate of Laws), two Ph.D.s, a D.Sc. and an M.D.:

• Gallaudet College (then named National Deaf-Mute College) in Washington, D.C. (Ph.D.) in 1880
• University of Würzburg in Würzburg, Bavaria (Ph.D.) in 1882
• Heidelberg University in Heidelberg, Germany (M.D.) in 1886
• Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts (LL.D.) in 1896
• Illinois College, in Jacksonville, Illinois (LL.D.) in 1896, possibly 1881
• Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts (LL.D.) in 1901
• St. Andrew's University in St Andrews, Scotland (LL.D) in 1902
• University of Oxford in Oxford, England (D.Sc.) in 1902
• University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland (LL.D.) in 1906
• George Washington University in Washington, D.C. (LL.D.) in 1913
• Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada (LL.D.) in 1908
• Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire (LL.D.) in 1913, possibly 1914