Bell Memorial invention of the telephone in Brantford and to name Bell as its inventor. What was highly unusual in this instance was the building of an important monument to a living person, an event usually conducted only for imperial leaders. The duality of the monument with its dedication to both the inventor and to his invention, with its emphasis on the latter, likely persuaded Alexander Graham Bell, normally modest, to accept the invitation to its public unveiling. The association was organized with the support of George, Prince of Wales (later King George V), Viceroy of India and former Governor-General of Canada
Bell Labs of American Telephone & Telegraph Company and Western Electric. Researchers working at Bell Labs are credited with the development of radio astronomy, the transistor, the laser, the charge-coupled device (CCD), information theory, the Unix operating system, and the programming languages C, C++, and S. Nine Nobel Prizes have been awarded for work completed at Bell Laboratories. In 1880, the French government awarded Alexander Graham Bell the Volta Prize of 50,000 francs, approximately US$10,000 at that time (about $ in current dollars) for the invention of the telephone. Bell used the award to fund the Volta Laboratory ("Alexander Graham Bell Laboratory")