Antonio Meucci

For the 1940 film, see Antonio Meucci (film).

Antonio Meucci
Meucci in 1878
Born(1808-04-13)13 April 1808
Florence, First French Empire (present-day Italy)
Died18 October 1889(1889-10-18) (aged 81)
Staten Island, New York, U.S.
Alma materAccademia di Belle Arti
Known forInventing a telephone-like device, innovator, businessman, supporter of Italian unification
Scientific career
FieldsCommunication devices, manufacturing, chemical and mechanical engineering, chemical and food patents

Antonio Santi Giuseppe Meucci (/meɪˈuːtʃi/ may-OO-chee,[1] Italian: [anˈtɔːnjo meˈuttʃi]; 13 April 1808 – 18 October 1889) was an Italian inventor and an associate of Giuseppe Garibaldi, a major political figure in the history of Italy.[2][3] Meucci is best known for developing a voice-communication apparatus that several sources credit as the first telephone.[4][5]

Meucci set up a form of voice-communication link in his Staten Island, New York, home that connected the second-floor bedroom to his laboratory.[6] He submitted a patent caveat for his telephonic device to the U.S. Patent Office in 1871, but there was no mention of electromagnetic transmission of vocal sound in his caveat. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was granted a patent for the electromagnetic transmission of vocal sound by undulatory electric current.[6] Despite the longstanding general crediting of Bell with the accomplishment, the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities supported celebrations of Meucci's 200th birthday in 2008 using the title "Inventore del telefono" (Inventor of the telephone).[7] The U.S. House of Representatives in a resolution in 2002 also acknowledged Meucci's work in the invention of the telephone,[8] although the U.S. Senate did not join the resolution and the interpretation of the resolution is disputed.

  1. ^ "Meucci, Antonio". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 16 April 2022.
  2. ^ "Antonio Meucci's Illness". The New York Times, 9 March 1889; accessed 25 February 2009.
  3. ^ Nese & Nicotra 1989, pp. 35–52.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference guardian.co.uk was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Several Italian encyclopedias claim Meucci as the inventor of the telephone, including: – the "Treccani" – the Italian version of Microsoft digital encyclopedia, Encarta – Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti (Italian Encyclopedia of Science, Literature and Arts).
  6. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference smeucci was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Manifestazioni per il bicentenario della nascita di Antonio Meucci, archive date 22 July 2011.
  8. ^ H.Res.269 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives to honor the life and achievements of 19th Century Italian-American inventor Antonio Meucci, and his work in the invention of the telephone. 11 June 2002, retrieved 14 February 2022