The New International Encyclopædia/Reis, Philipp

REIS, ris, Philipp (1834-74). A German physicist, born at Gelnhausen. In 1858 he became a teacher in the Garnier Institute, near Homburg, and there, after two or three years of research, in 1860 he produced the first telephone. It transmitted musical tone, but not the intelligible utterances of the voice. Reis gained no benefit from his invention. In 1885 a monument was erected to him in his native town. Consult Thomson's English version of the biographical sketch by Schenk (London, 1883).