Absolutely by accident, I fell through a kind of historical trap door into a vexing intrigue” surrounding the invention of the telephone, writes science journalist Shulman (Undermining Science: Suppression and Distortion in the Bush Administration
). The result is a dramatic probe into a shocking intellectual theft. In 2004, studying Alexander Graham Bell's laboratory notebook, he found a 12-day gap followed by a March 7, 1876, note, “Returned from Washington,” and a striking shift in Bell's ideas that resulted in his famous “telephone” call to Mr. Watson on March 10. The suspenseful details of “Bell's life-altering visit” emerge as Shulman learns that electrical researcher Elisha Gray had filed a claim on a device to send “vocal sounds telegraphically” on the same day Bell filed his patent application, February 14, nearly a month before Bell's notebook recorded his success. Bell, Shulman realized, had “drawn an almost perfect replica of his competitor's invention in his own notebook.” The reader follows Shulman as he contacts curators, explores archives and unravels the mystery, leading to a remarkable re-creation of the 1876 Centennial Exposition, where a nervous Bell attempted to avoid demonstrating his telephone because he knew Elisha Gray would be present. Although much of this book involves comparisons of correspondence, documents and journals, the skillful, polished writing makes century-old events spring to life. 20 illus. (Jan. 7)
