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I. Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) Melville, Alexander's father, interests in speech pathologies were given a push when he fel in love with Eliza Grace Symonds, a deaf woman. Alexander, known as Aleck, was born on March 3, 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He had been named after his grandfather, Alexander Graham. As a young boy Aleck learned to read and write a young age. It is said he insisted upon writing a family freind before he had any understanding of the alphabet. As he got older, he inherited the family "trademark," a flexible and expressive speaking voice. With Aleck's mother being deaf, it was hard to comunicate with her but Aleck's vocal ability enabled him and his mother to comunicate. He would Talk in low tones very close to her forehead. She was able to "hear"because of the sound waves he was making. This discovery helped Aleck in two ways first by creating a bond between him and his mother and secondly by giving him insight to the sound waves. II. The language barrier Aleck had become interested in the writtings of a German physicist by the name of Hermann Von Helmholtz. He had stated that vowel sounds could be produced by a combination of electrical tuning forks and resonators. Even though this was