# Alexander Graham Bell Scottish-born American inventor and scientist credited with patenting the first practical telephone in 1876. Bell's patent empire evolved into the [[wiki/AT&T|AT&T]] corporation, whose research division became [[wiki/Bell Labs|Bell Labs]] — the institution that would produce the [[wiki/Transistor|transistor]], [[wiki/Information Theory|information theory]], [[wiki/Unix|Unix]], and nine [[wiki/Nobel Prize|Nobel Prizes]]. Bell's legacy as progenitor of the Bell System is foundational to [[articles/Bell Labs and the Distributed Architecture of American Power|Bell Labs and the Distributed Architecture of American Power]].