One of the most undoubtedly bizarre telephones in history was the skull of a living cat that Princeton researchers turned into a sound transmitter for a telephone in 1929. Ernest Wever and Charles Bray used a cat whose skull and brain had been partly removed to apply the science of converting sound waves into electrical signals. The animal’s auditory nerve, which carries sensory information to the brain, was connected to an electrode. That electrode was also attached to a wire connected to an actual telephone. When the researchers spoke into the cat’s ear, the sound could be heard through the other telephone, located in another room.
More about telephones:
- The earliest prototype of a telephone is thought to have been constructed approximately 1,200 years ago in Peru and was made out of gourd and twine.
- Alexander Graham Bell is credited with inventing the first telephone in 1876. Although he had around 600 lawsuits filed against him, he successfully defended his patent.
- In 1973, the first mobile phone was introduced at a cost of nearly $4,000 (USD).
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More Info: Harvard Magazine
Discussion Comments
In the 1980's my company made and sold an item for an exeutive's desk. It was a small custom built glass aquarium in a fancy wooden framed housing. One side held a telephone handset. The front was slanted glass so it didn't look boxy. They actually sold well in Saudi Arabia. It was named the FishPhone.
I agree.
Vivisection of a living cat, that's disturbing.
That is one of the most gross things I have heard. Second only to A. Edison's electrocuting an elephant with AC current in his attempt to destroy Nicola Tesla's promotion of AC current to light and drive the world. Someone needs to open the skulls of such despicable people to see what's inside their skulls.
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