Elisha Gray
American electrical engineer · United States · On the map · Scientists · Lived 1835 to 1901 · aged 65
Elisha Gray was an American electrical engineer who co-founded the Western Electric Manufacturing Company. Gray is best known for his development of a telephone prototype in 1876 in Highland Park, Illinois.
Elisha Gray is read about 123 times a day, in 31 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 11 November 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 113 days, one point a day.
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Photos 5
An early photo of employees of Gray and Barton. Elisha Gray is in the front row, holding his automatic telegraph printer
Elisha Gray's drawing of liquid transmitter made on February 11, 1876
Excerpts from Elisha Gray's patent caveat of February 14 and Alexander Graham Bell's lab notebook entry of March 9, demonstrating their similarity
The master telephone patent awarded to Bell, No. 174465, March 7, 1876Awards
About this person
Some recent authors have argued that Gray should be considered the true inventor of the telephone because Alexander Graham Bell allegedly stole the idea of the liquid transmitter from him. Gray had been using liquid transmitters in his telephone experiments for more than two years previously; however, Bell's patent was upheld in court.
