Antonio 'Santi Giuseppe' Meucci, (born 13 April 1808, died 18 October 1896) was an Italian inventor; he is sometimes credited as the inventor of the telephone.
Biography
Meucci was born in San Frediano near Florence. He studied chemical and mechanical engineering at the Florence Academy of Fine Arts and later worked in theatres as a stage technician. He was alleged to be part of the Italian Liberation Movement and was imprisoned around 1833-1834. He married Ester Mochi on 7 August 1834; they then emigrated, to the Americas, by way of Cuba, where in 1835 Meucci accepted a job at Teatro Tacon in Havana.
Meucci constructed a form of telephone around 1854 as a way to connect his bedroom to his office, as his wife ached due to rheumatism. Before then he had constructed a kind of pipe-telephone (that transported sound through a pipe) as a way to communicate between the stage and control room at the theatre.
Though his assets had been substantial, they were quickly used up in the United States. Not only was Meucci helping his countrymen to reach America, but there was also an expensive accident in one of his laboratories. His private finances dwindled so that he soon had to live on public funds and by depending on his friends. It has also been said that his wife sold some of his inventions, including the telephone, to raise cash.
Patents
Besides electric voice transferral, he invented and patented many devices, based on chemical and mechanical processes.Recognition
Meucci was recognised as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress, in its resolution 269 dated June 15, 2002.