INVENTOR

Elisha Gray

1835 - 1901

Photo of Elisha Gray

Icon of person Elisha Gray

Elisha Gray (August 2, 1835 – January 21, 1901) was an American electrical engineer who co-founded the Western Electric Manufacturing Company. Gray is best known for his development of a telephone prototype in 1876 in Highland Park, Illinois. Some recent authors have argued that Gray should be considered the true inventor of the telephone because Alexander Graham Bell allegedly stole the idea of the liquid transmitter from him. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Elisha Gray has received more than 702,017 page views. His biography is available in 30 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 29 in 2019). Elisha Gray is the 130th most popular inventor (down from 127th in 2019), the 1,642nd most popular biography from United States (down from 1,628th in 2019) and the 32nd most popular American Inventor.

Elisha Gray is most famous for inventing the telephone.

Memorability Metrics

  • 700k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 59.43

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 30

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 6.55

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 2.84

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among INVENTORS

Among inventors, Elisha Gray ranks 130 out of 426. Before him are Taiichi Ohno, Nikolai Kardashev, Hugo Schmeisser, Samuel Crompton, Mary Anderson, and Robert Adler. After him are Richard Jordan Gatling, Gunther von Hagens, W. O. Bentley, Robert Moog, Zénobe Gramme, and Paul Baran.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1835, Elisha Gray ranks 28. Before him are Sai Baba of Shirdi, Iwasaki Yatarō, Adolph Wagner, Hijikata Toshizō, Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Shoqan Walikhanov. After him are Mendele Mocher Sforim, Alexander Agassiz, Simon Newcomb, Maria Alexandrovna Ulyanova, Matsukata Masayoshi, and Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. Among people deceased in 1901, Elisha Gray ranks 17. Before him are Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, Chlodwig, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, Li Hongzhang, Fukuzawa Yukichi, Abdur Rahman Khan, and Gaetano Bresci. After him are Francesco Crispi, Josef Rheinberger, Adolf Eugen Fick, Paul Rée, Zénobe Gramme, and Nikolaos Gyzis.

Others Born in 1835

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Others Deceased in 1901

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Elisha Gray ranks 1,642 out of 20,380. Before him are Caroline Kennedy (1957), Jackie Coogan (1914), Kyle MacLachlan (1959), Eddie Cochran (1938), Cleveland Abbe (1838), and Samuel C. C. Ting (1936). After him are Art Tatum (1909), Wes Studi (1947), Larry Holmes (1949), Annie Leibovitz (1949), Jack Black (1969), and Diane Arbus (1923).

Others born in United States

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Among INVENTORS In United States

Among inventors born in United States, Elisha Gray ranks 32. Before him are Jacque Fresco (1916), Lee de Forest (1873), Josiah Warren (1798), Hiram Maxim (1840), Percy Spencer (1894), and Mary Anderson (1862). After him are Richard Jordan Gatling (1818), Robert Moog (1934), Sequoyah (1770), Elias Howe (1819), Edwin Howard Armstrong (1890), and Bob Kahn (1938).

American born Inventors

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