Vol. 15 No. 1 (2026)
Historical Pills

From the telectrophone to the smartphone: rediscover Antonio Meucci’s forgotten contribution

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  • Riccardo Meucci
Riccardo Meucci
Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Largo E. Fermi 6, 50125 Firenze, Italy
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/cdg-17246

Published 2026-03-30

Keywords

  • Antonio Meucci,
  • history of telephony,
  • telecommunications,
  • innovation,
  • historiography,
  • cultural memory
    • ...More
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How to Cite

Meucci, R. (2026). From the telectrophone to the smartphone: rediscover Antonio Meucci’s forgotten contribution. Il Colle Di Galileo, 15(1), 41–55. https://doi.org/10.36253/cdg-17246

Copyright (c) 2026 Riccardo Meucci

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Antonio Meucci, the Florentine inventor of the telectrophone, is a key figure in the history of telecommunications who has been forgotten for way too long. Starting from his cultural and technical roots in Florence, Meucci’s contribution preceded the principles at the basis of long-distance voice transmission by decades. This article traces the stages of his life and work, comparing them with the evolution of modern communication, all the way through to the smartphone. Taking a historical and scientific approach, it aims to restore Meucci to his rightful place in the memory of science and technology.

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References

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