Who made a major advancement in communication technology with the invention of the telephone?

The invention of the telephone is primarily credited to Alexander Graham Bell, who was granted the first US patent for the device in 1876. Bell's work focused on improving the technology for transmitting vocal sounds electrically, and he demonstrated the first successful call when he famously spoke to his assistant, "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you." This innovation revolutionized communication by allowing people to speak to one another over long distances in real-time, which was a significant leap compared to earlier methods like the telegraph, which was limited to sending coded messages. Bell's invention laid the groundwork for the telecommunications industry as we know it today.