Alexander Graham Bell (March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was an inventor, scientist, and engineer who received numerous honors and tributes during his life, and new awards were subsequently named for him posthumously.Dr. Bell, Inventor of Telephone, Dies: Sudden End, Due to Anemia...: Notables Pay Him Tribute, The New York Times, August 3, 1922;

Major awards and tributes

Among those tributes:

Chief George Henry Martin Johnson (Onwanonsyshon) of the aboriginal Six Nations Mohawk Reserve, near Bell's home in Brantford, Ontario, awarded him the title of Honorary Chief for his work in translating the unwritten Mohawk language into Visible Speech symbols (c. 1870);Groundwater, Jennifer (2005) Alexander Graham Bell: The Spirit of Invention, p. 35. Altitude Publishing, Calgary . Note: Bell was thrilled at his recognition by the Six Nations Reserve and throughout his life would launch into a Mohawk war dance when he was excited, as he did in Boston the day he succeeded in conducting the world's first communication by an electric telephone;

The National Association of Teachers of the Deaf elects Bell its president (1874);Grosvenor, 1997. p. 12. The United States Patent and Trademark Office awarded Bell the master telephone patent, No. 174,465, dated March 7, 1876. It becomes the foundation asset of the Bell Telephone Company, which later evolved into AT&T, at times the world's largest telephone company. The patent is considered by many to be the most valuable ever issued in history (1876); The U.S. Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in June 1876, made Bell's newly created telephone a featured headline worldwide just a few months after it had been patented. Among the exhibition's judges were the notable Emperor Dom Pedro II of the Empire of Brazil and the eminent British physicist William Thomson (later made Lord Kelvin). Upon hearing Bell's voice through the telephone's receiver, the emperor reputedly exclaimed: "My God! It talks!"Inventing the Telephone, AT&T website, retrieved 2009-04-29. Thomson described the telephone as "the greatest by far of all the marvels of the electric telegraph". Thomson and Emperor Pedro, who was equally amazed that the telephone could 'speak' in Portuguese, later recommended the device to the Committee of Electrical Awards, which voted Bell its Gold Medal for Electrical Equipment. Bell also won a second Gold Medal for his additional display of Visible Speech at the exposition, and further won an order of 100 telephones from Emperor Pedro for his country. Ironically, Bell—then occupied full-time as both a private teacher and as a professor at Boston University—hadn't planned on attending the exhibition due to his heavy work schedule, and left Boston only at the last moment to attend the exposition at the stern insistence of his then-fiance and future wife Mabel Hubbard, aged 18.Gray, Charlotte Reluctant Genius: The Passionate Life and Inventive Mind of Alexander Graham Bell, HarperCollins, Toronto, 2006, pp. 137–138, , . Note: Mabel understood Bell's reluctance to go to the exhibition, so she secretly bought his train ticket, packed his bag, and then took the unknowing Bell to the train station where she told her shocked fiancé that he was going on a trip. When Bell started protesting Mabel turned her sight away from him, thus becoming literally deaf to his utterances; she additionally threatened to cancel their marriage engagement. Note: some of Bell's honorary degrees received on p. 346;De Land, Fred (1906) Notes on the Development of the Telephone, Popular Science, November 1906, pp. 427–438. Dom Pedro's chance viewing of the invention at the fair was pivotal to the awards and world headlines Bell earned, helping the telephone gain public acceptance (1876);Sammartino McPherson, Stephanie; Butler, Tad. Alexander Graham Bell, Lerner Publications, 2007, p. 28, , . Quote: "Dom Pedro had [previously] met Alec at a school for the deaf in Boston. When the emperor greeted Alec, the [other] judges took note. They wanted to see what the emperor's friend had invented;" The American Academy of Arts and Sciences elected Bell a Fellow of the Academy (1877); Bell received the James Watt silver medal for the telephone from the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society (1877); The Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association (a.k.a. the Association of the Mechanics of Boston) awarded two gold medals to Bell, as exhibitor #626 registered to the New England Telephone Company of Boston, MA, for both the telephone and Visible Speech, twinning the results of the Centennial Exposition held in Philadelphia two years earlier (1878);Exhibition... : Volumes 12-13, Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, Boston, 1874 (sic), pp. 170–171. Note: a lengthy citation is provided on the significance of Bell's telephone, which is immediately followed by the citation for Edison's transmitter. The Society of Arts in London awards him his first Royal Albert medal, a silver, for his paper on the telephone (1878); The Third Paris World's Fair, called the Exposition Universelle, awarded Bell (along with Elisha Gray and Thomas Edison) a Grand Prize for the telephone (1878);New York Times (1878) Current Topics Abroad, N.Y. Times, October 24, 1878. Retrieved 2009-03-08. Gallaudet College, earlier chartered as the Columbia Institution Of The Deaf, and at the time called the National Deaf-Mute College, of Washington, D.C., awarded Bell an Honorary Ph.D. 'in recognition of his work for the Deaf' (1880).Interference Case in the U. S. Patent Office, THE AERIAL EXPERIMENT ASSOCIATION versus MYERS: Deposition of Alexander Graham Bell, Reprinted from The Beinn Bhreagh Recorder Vol.XVII No.10, pp. 195–221, retrieved from the U.S. Library of Congress 2009-04-05.U.S. President. Abridgement, Message And Documents, United States Government, 1880, pp. 840–841. Retrieved August 28, 2010. The French Academy, representing the French government, awarded Bell the Volta Prize with a purse of 50,000 francs (approximately $10,000) for the invention of the telephone (1880).Honors to Professor Bell, Boston Daily Evening Traveller, September 1, 1880, retrieved 2009-04-05 from Library of Congress –Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers.Volta Prize of the French Academy Awarded to Prof. Alexander Graham Bell, September 1, 1880, retrieved 2009-04-05 from Library of Congress -Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers;Telegram from Grossman to Alexander Graham Bell, August 2, 1880, retrieved 2009-04-05 from Library of Congress –Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers.Telegram from Alexander Graham Bell to Count du Moncel, 1880, retrieved 2009-04-05 from Library of Congress -Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers.Letter from Frederick T. Frelinghuysen to Alexander Graham Bell, January 7, 1882, retrieved 2009-04-05 from Library of Congress -Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers. Since Bell was becoming increasingly affluent, he used his prize money to create endowment funds (the 'Volta Fund') and institutions in and around the United States capital of Washington, D.C. They included the prestigious 'Volta Laboratory Association' (1880), also known as the 'Volta Laboratory' and as the 'Alexander Graham Bell Laboratory', as well as creating the Volta Bureau (1887) as a center for studies on deafness. The Volta Laboratory became a permanently funded experimental facility devoted to scientific discovery, and the very next year invented a wax phonograph cylinder that was later used by Thomas Edison;Letter from Mabel Hubbard Bell, February 27, 1880, retrieved 2009-04-05 from Library of Congress -Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers. N.B.: last line of the typed note refers to the future disposition of award funds: "....and thus the matter lay till the paper turned up. He intends putting the full amount into his Laboratory and Library". The President of the Third French Republic, Jules Grévy, on the recommendation of his Minister of Foreign Affairs Jules Barthélemy-Saint-Hilaire and with the presentations of the Minister of Posts and Telegraphs Louis Cochery, designated Bell with the distinction of an 'Officer Of The Legion of Honour' (Légion d'honneur) by decree on 10 November 1881, in recognition of his inventions (1881);Gore, James Howard (1920) American Legionnaires of France, W.F. Roberts Co., Washington, 1920. Retrieved 2009-03-09. Note: Bell was "Created Officier November 11, 1881..."; his then current address (presumably when the book of 1920 was published) was: 1331 Connecticut Avenue, Washington, D. C.Certificate: Ordre National de la Légion D'Honneur Library of Congress: Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers, Washington, D.C., retrieved 2009-04-05 (not the actual certificate, but a note referring to it).Decree of the French Republic, 10 November 1881, (hardcopy). Note that the same decree awarded German physicist Hermann von Helmholtz with the designation of Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor. Bell was referenced as #2190 on the decree, Helmholtz was referenced as #2173, and fellow inventor Thomas Edison, who also exhibited at the fair, was reference #1291 (sic) on p. 4 (not shown). The decree preamble cited "for services provided to the Congress and to the International Electrical Exhibition";

The Society of Arts issues their second Royal Albert silver medal to him for his paper on his proudest achievement, the Photophone, invented a year earlier (1881);

The University of Würzburg, Bavaria granted Bell an honorary (Ph.D.) (1882). The American Philosophical Society elected Bell as a member (1882). The National Academy of Sciences elected Bell as a member (1883);The Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers: Time Line of Alexander Graham Bell, 1880–1889, retrieved 2009-04-30 from The Library of Congress Manuscript Division, Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers.Osborne, Harold S. (1943) BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL , National Academy of Sciences: Biographical Memoirs, Vol. XXIII, 1847–1922, presented to the Academy at its 1943 annual meeting. The American Institute of Electrical Engineers, predecessor of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers elected Bell as one of its founding vice presidents, and later elevated him to its president (1884, and president 1891–1892);Hochheiser, Sheldon.Engineering Hall Of Fame: Alexander Graham Bell, IEEE History Center website, April 2010. The Rupert Charles University of Heidelberg, Germany awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Medicine degree, for Bell's invention of an ultrasound metal detector, used in a bid to save the life of President James Abram Garfield (1886).Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online: BELL, ALEXANDER GRAHAM, 1921–1930 (Volume XV), retrieved March 6, 2009. The American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) appointed Bell its president (1891–1892); Harvard University granted him an honorary Doctor of Laws degrees (LL.D.) (1896); Illinois College awarded him an LL.D. degree (1896): N.B.: there are two different years cited for this degree –the college's data is shown. The National Geographic Society appointed him President (1898–1903). The United States Senate granted him several appointments as a regent of the world famous Smithsonian Institution (1898–1924);Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers: Biographical Notes, Library of Congress, retrieved 2009-04-05.Smithsonian Institution, Board of Regents: Resolution to Alexander Graham Bell, February 7, 1916, Library of Congress Manuscript Division: Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers, retrieved 2009-04-05, N.B. in 1916 Bell was reappointed under S. J. Res 197.