When we arrived in Baddeck, we drove straight to the Alexander Graham Bell Museum. I remembered Nida and the Thomas Mann House or Museum there. Thomas Mann: “I would like to refer here to Wilhelm von Humboldt, who was there and was so impressed by Nida [now Nida] in particular that he declared that one must have seen this area, just as one must have seen Italy or Spain (“if one does not want to miss an image in one’s soul”).” I had the feeling that something similar had happened in both places: that Bell and Mann fell in love with these respective landscapes, which on the one hand are Nordic in character, but on the other hand still retain some of the flair of the Mediterranean. I have already reported on Thomas Mann and the museum in Nida [1]. I now want to write about Graham Bell and the museum in Baddeck. Baddeck is a place in Nova Scotia, specifically on Cape Breton Island, which was formerly and now again called Unama'ki. The museum features Bell's involvement in the innovative works of the telephone, the airplane, the hydrofoil, and others. [2] Have a look at the architecture of the museum!
Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) was a British (or more accurately, Scottish), later American, audiologist, inventor, entrepreneur, and proponent of eugenics—yes, that too—who died in Baddeck [3]. Here is a sore point that is nowhere to be found in the museum or in the French Wikipedia article, which is uncritically, discussed in the English Wikipedia article [4], but which has a clearly critical profile in the Spanish and German articles. Deafness had prompted Bell to study audiology and develop the telephone. He believed that marriage among people with congenital deafness should be prevented so that a deaf race would not develop. Alexander Graham Bell: “Those who believe, as I do, that the production of a defective race of human beings would be a great calamity to the world, will carefully examine the causes that lead to the intermarriage of the deaf with the object of applying a remedy.” [5] This might stir some people and surely needs to be discussed, but I don't think is ould be appropriate to do so within a travelogue.
In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell succeeded, building on the ideas of others, in developing the telephone to market maturity and establishing a nationwide telephone network in North America, which was monopolized by his American Telephone and Telegraph Company. However, this also required 18 years of legal proceedings.
I really liked the museum, and also Bell's inventions and innovtive ideas, which you can follow in the exhibition. He had a chaise longue on which he would rest and also reflect, something that was also common among Irish bards in the past, and which I also know from a Swiss author friend who, by the way, also likes to work at a standing desk (lectern).
In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell succeeded, building on the ideas of others, in developing the telephone to market maturity and establishing a nationwide telephone network in North America, which was monopolized by his American Telephone and Telegraph Company. However, this also required 18 years of legal proceedings.
I really liked the museum, and also Bell's inventions and innovtive ideas, which you can follow in the exhibition. He had a chaise longue on which he would rest and also reflect, something that was also common among Irish bards in the past, and which I also know from a Swiss author friend who, by the way, also likes to work at a standing desk (lectern).
I got interested in two pictures there, which can also be viewed online [6]. The first (which is No. 7!) is labeled: "Pulling a rope attached to an experimental tetrahedral kite, along with his grandson Melville Bell Grosvenor and a group of others in Baddeck, Nova Scotia. Photograph, 21 August 1908." It shows Bell in a similar way to how I remember photos of Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) [7].
The other one shows a kite looking like Sierpiński triangles [8].
It's a nice museum showing the achievements of Alexander Graham Bell. The surroundings are wonderful and both merit the visit.
The other one shows a kite looking like Sierpiński triangles [8].
It's a nice museum showing the achievements of Alexander Graham Bell. The surroundings are wonderful and both merit the visit.
Links and Annotations:
[1] Thomas Mann House in Nida, Curonian Spit
https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2024/08/thomas-mann-house-in-nida-curonian-spit.html
Here's also the reference for "My Summer House".
[2] https://parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/ns/grahambell
[3] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Graham_Bell
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Graham_Bell
[5] https://gallaudet.edu/museum/exhibits/history-through-deaf-eyes/language-and-identity/a-deaf-variety-of-the-human-race/
[6] https://flashbak.com/alexander-grahm-bells-space-age-tetrahedral-kites-388869/ Pictures 7 and 24, but please also look for the others.
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Tolstoy
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierpi%C5%84ski_triangle
.
[1] Thomas Mann House in Nida, Curonian Spit
https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2024/08/thomas-mann-house-in-nida-curonian-spit.html
Here's also the reference for "My Summer House".
[2] https://parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/ns/grahambell
[3] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Graham_Bell
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Graham_Bell
[5] https://gallaudet.edu/museum/exhibits/history-through-deaf-eyes/language-and-identity/a-deaf-variety-of-the-human-race/
[6] https://flashbak.com/alexander-grahm-bells-space-age-tetrahedral-kites-388869/ Pictures 7 and 24, but please also look for the others.
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Tolstoy
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierpi%C5%84ski_triangle
.
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