# edison vs. bell rivalry **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 5, 2001, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edison-vs-bell-rivalry/79842 "2001-09-05T12:49:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![curwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@curwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curwin)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edison-vs-bell-rivalry/79842/1 "2001-09-05T12:49:36Z")
I was reading a book where they mentioned that Alexander Graham Bell viewed Thomas Edison as his arch-rival. Is this really true? Did they both try to invent some of the same things? I only associate Bell with the telephone. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edison-vs-bell-rivalry/79842/2 "2001-09-05T13:30:48Z")
Alexander Graham Bell is most widely remembered for the invention and marketing of the telephone, but that was not his sole claim to fame by a long shot. His inventions and discoveries laid the groundwork for some of the most useful inventions of our lifetime. He invented the forerunner to the “Iron Lung” and the “photophone”, which used what we now call laser and fiber optic technology. He also built airplanes and hydrofoils. I’m not sure how Edison and Bell felt about each other but I do know that it was Bell and his associates who made Edison’s phonograph a commercially viable product. This may have lead to some competitive feelings but someone else will have to expound on that. For more reading about Bell, try the Library of Congress site at: [http://memory.loc.gov/learn/collections/agb/agbintro.html](http://memory.loc.gov/learn/collections/agb/agbintro.html)