The history books pick and choose "who invented it" based on who won a specific patent battle.

When asked who invented the telephone the name Alexander Graham Bell is often offered as the correct answer. Alexander Graham Bell patented his telephone first, the U.S. Patent Office awarded Alexander Bell, United States Patent No. 174,465 in 1876.

Who invented the Telephone?

An argument could be made for the answer to who invented the telephone could be Alexander Graham Bell, Elisha Gray, or Antonio Meucci. In the 1870s all three of these individuals worked on the technology to transmit speech electrically that would become our telephone system.

In the "who invented it" mythology everyone is looking for that one "eureka" moment when something appears out of thin air, a totally new idea. In the real world of technology, inventions are part of an evolution of ideas.

Early development of the telegraph and telephone

The telephone was an extension of the work done by Samuel Morse in developing the telegraph in the 1830s. Samuel Morse independently developed and patented a recording electric telegraph in 1837. The first telegram in the United States was sent by Morse January 1838, across two miles of wire at near Morristown, New Jersey.

History books tell us Samuel Morse invented the telegraph based on a 1837 patent, but another inventor, Dr. David Alter, invented his own version of the telegraph in 1836.