Editing Photophone (section)

==Reception and adoption==
The telephone itself was still something of a novelty, and [[radio]] was decades away from commercialization. The social resistance to the photophone's futuristic form of communications could be seen in an August 1880 ''[[New York Times]]'' commentary:<ref name="NYT-18800830"/><ref>International Fiber Optics & Communication, June 1986, p. 29</ref>

{{Blockquote
|The ordinary man ... will find a little difficulty in comprehending how sunbeams are to be used. Does Prof. Bell intend to connect Boston and Cambridge ... with a line of sunbeams hung on [[utility pole|telegraph posts]], and, if so, what diameter are the sunbeams to be ....[and] will it be necessary to insulate them against the weather ... until (the public) sees a man going through the streets with a coil of No. 12 sunbeams on his shoulder, and suspending them from pole to pole, there will be a general feeling that there is something about Professor Bell's photophone which places a tremendous strain on human credulity.}}

However at the time of their February 1880 breakthrough, Bell was immensely proud of the achievement, to the point that he wanted to name his new second daughter "Photophone", which was subtly discouraged by his wife [[Mabel Gardiner Hubbard|Mabel Bell]] (they instead chose "Marian", with "Daisy" as her [[nickname]]).<ref>Carson 2007, pg.77</ref> He wrote somewhat enthusiastically:<ref name="Carson 2007, pg. 76–78"/><ref name="Bruce 1990, pg.337">Bruce 1990, pg. 337</ref>

{{Blockquote
|I have heard articulate speech by sunlight! I have heard a ray of the sun laugh and cough and sing! ...I have been able to hear a shadow and I have even perceived by ear the passage of a cloud across the sun's disk. You are the grandfather of the Photophone and I want to share my delight at my success.|[[Alexander Graham Bell]]|in a letter to his father [[Alexander Melville Bell]], dated February 26, 1880}}

Bell transferred the photophone's [[intellectual property]] rights to the [[Bell Telephone Company|American Bell Telephone Company]] in May 1880.<ref>Bruce 1990, pg. 339</ref> While Bell had hoped his new photophone could be used by ships at sea and to also displace the plethora of telephone lines that were blooming along busy city boulevards,<ref name="NS-1984.01.12"/> his design failed to protect its transmissions from [[precipitation (meteorology)|outdoor interferences]] such as clouds, fog, rain, snow and such, that could easily disrupt the transmission of light.<ref>Carson 2007, pp. 77–78</ref> Factors such as the weather and the lack of light inhibited the use of Bell's invention.<ref>Carson 2007, pg.78</ref> Not long after its invention laboratories within the [[Bell System]] continued to improve the photophone in the hope that it could supplement or replace expensive conventional [[telephone line]]s. Its earliest non-experimental use came with military communication systems during World War I and II, its key advantage being that its light-based transmissions could not be intercepted by the enemy.

Bell pondered the photophone's possible scientific use in the [[spectroscopy|spectral analysis]] of artificial light sources, [[star]]s and [[sunspot]]s. He later also speculated on its possible future applications, though he did not anticipate either the [[laser]] or [[fiber-optic communication|fiber-optic telecommunications]]:<ref name="Bruce 1990, pg.337"/>

{{Blockquote
|Can Imagination picture what the future of this invention is to be!.... We may talk by light to any visible distance without any conduction wire.... In general science, discoveries will be make by the Photophone that are undreamed of just now.}}