author
Thomas Augustus Watson
1854–1934
Best remembered as the man who heard the first words sent over a telephone, he was also a skilled machinist, inventor, and later a successful shipbuilder. His life traces a remarkable path from Bell's workshop to the rise of major American industry.
1 Audiobook
The Birth and Babyhood of the Telephone
by Thomas Augustus Watson
About the author
Born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1854, Thomas Augustus Watson left school young and trained as a machinist. That practical mechanical skill led him to work with Alexander Graham Bell in Boston, where he helped build and test the experimental equipment that made the telephone possible.
Watson is closely tied to one of the most famous moments in technology history: he was on the receiving end of Bell's first successful telephone message in 1876. He later became involved with the early Bell Telephone enterprise, helping turn a bold invention into a working business.
His career did not stop with telephony. After leaving that field, he went into shipbuilding and founded the Fore River Ship and Engine Building Company in Massachusetts, which grew into an important American shipyard. Watson also wrote about the early days of the telephone, leaving behind a firsthand account of a turning point in modern communication.