ANTONIO MEUCCI (1808-1889): Born in Florence; Died in New York.

This chapter profiles Antonio Meucci, who was recognized as the inventor of the telephone in Italy. He was born in Florence in 1808 and died in New York in 1889. The Italians, to cinch this claim, state that the U.S. Supreme Court decided thus, in favor of Meucci and against Alexander Graham Bell. Research, however, reveals no such court case, and no such decision. Yet Meucci does seem to be the first and legitimate inventor of the telephone. Having left Florence as a young man, Meucci landed in Cuba, where he worked as an electrician at the Tacon Opera in Havana. When the Opera House burned down in 1850, Meucci came to the U.S. and settled in Clifton, New Jersey, where he established a prosperous candle factory.