Antonio Meucci

Antonio Santi Giuseppe Meucci (April 13, 1808–October 18, 1889) was an Italian inventor. He developed some form of voice communication apparatus in 1857. Antonio Meucci has long had champions, particularly in Italy, arguing he should be credited with the invention of the telephone (i.e. electrical voice communication). The Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti (Italian Encyclopedia of Science, Literature and Art) calls him the "inventore del telefono" (inventor of the telephone).^[1] Meucci set up some kind of voice communication link in his Staten Island home that connected the basement with the first floor. He demonstrated his invention in 1860 and had a description of it published in New York’s Italian language newspaper but was unable to raise sufficient funds to pay his way through the patent application. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell patented the electro-magnetic transmission of vocal sound by undulatory electric current. The United States House of Representatives in its resolutions <tt>HRES 269 IH</tt> dated October 17th 2001 and <tt>HRES 269 EH</tt> dated June 11th 2002 resolved that the life and achievements of Antonio Meucci should be recognized, and his work in the invention of the telephone should be acknowledged .