Can the voice truly run along the wire?

The people of Kraków learned the answer less than two years after Alexander Graham Bell had produced his invention. Poland’s first telephone call was held in Kraków on 12th December 1877.

The inaugural telephone talks were conducted during a charity evening with a raffle. The telephone machine was one of the winning prizes. They say that these were the ladies – known for their proclivity of exchanging lively views on different subjects – who were present around the “machine” in especially large numbers. Soon, the directors of the telegraph facility and gasworks ordered the installation of telephones. Newspapers described not only the investment, but also the mind-boggling distance of 74 m (242 feet) between the two telephones. That might sound somewhat ridiculous today, in these days when mobile phones keep ringing in our pockets, yet let us try to imagine life without the telephone...