Reluctant Genius: Alexander Graham Bell and the Passion for Invention

"Famous while still young for inventing the telephone, which eventually secured his fortune as well as the admiration of the world, he ended his career in the chase to develop the airplane and as the inventor of a hydrofoil. When President Garfield was shot, Bell created a sonar probe to locate the assassin's bullet. He devised a precursor to the iron lung and worked on electric heating, sound communication with beams of light (the idea behind fiber optics), sheep breeding, and tetrahedral construction, now used in bridges and stadium roofs. A prominent figure in deaf education, he became a cherished mentor to Helen Keller, who dedicated her memoir to him. A celebrity in the glittering society of Gilded Age Washington, D.C., who preferred to hobnob with scientists, he also helped found and popularize National Geographic magazine."--BOOK JACKET.