Jewish Invention Myths: The Telephone

One jewish invention myth that has more basis to it than most is the telephone, which is sometimes credited (incorrectly) the German jew Philipp Reis.

‘MNews’ claims that:

‘Philipp Reis – Telephone

Philipp Reis was the first (Bell’s predecessor) to create a telephone, a device that was capable of transmitting sound and human speech via electrical wires. The apparatus had a microphone of the original design, a power source (galvanic battery), and a speaker. Reis named it “telephone”.’ (1)

This is somewhat supported by a quote from Thomas Edison regarding Reis’ 1855 invention:

‘The first inventor of a telephone was Phillip Reis of Germany only musical not articulating. The first person to publicly exhibit a telephone for transmission of articulate speech was A. G. Bell. The first practical commercial telephone for transmission of articulate speech was invented by myself. Telephones used throughout the world are mine and Bell's. Mine is used for transmitting. Bell's is used for receiving.’ (2)

While Edison’s honesty is commendable; he does put Reis’ invention in context in that Reis didn’t (in Edison’s view) invent the telephone (despite what Edison suggests) but rather found a way to received sound and did not achieve two-way communication.

The reality is that – as Edison didn’t himself know – Reis was not first but rather the poor Italian inventor Antonio Meucci did in 1849 with his ‘telettrofono’ which he demonstrated in Havana, Cuba. (3)

As Peyton Duplechien writes:

‘Meucci began working on his design as early as 1849 and filed a caveat (an official notice that someone would be filing an official patent at a later date) in 1871. Unfortunately, due to financial hardships, Meucci was never able to afford to patent his invention, hence why we now credit Bell with the telephone’s creation.’ (4)

So, no Philipp Reis didn’t invent the telephone: Antonio Meucci laid the foundations of it in 1849 and Alexander Graham Bell created the first truly functional two-way telephone in 1876.

References

(1) https://mnews.world/en/news/the-great-jews-and-their-inventions

(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention_of_the_telephone#Johann_Philipp_Reis

(3) https://www.elon.edu/u/imagining/time-capsule/150-years/back-1870-1940/

(4) https://voicenation.com/resources/the-complete-history-of-the-telephone/