What effect has Tony Soprano had on inventors?
In an early episode of the HBO television series The Sopranos*, Tony Soprano (played by James Gandolfini) rants at the dinner table that Antonio Meucci is a prime example of how Italian-Americans “get no respect.” Tony’s claim? That Meucci, an Italian-American, invented the telephone long before Alexander Graham Bell. The humorous scene turned prophetic on September 25, 2001, when the 107th Congress of the United States of America passed House Resolution 269 stating: “Whereas if Meucci had been able to pay the $10 fee to maintain the caveat after 1874, no patent could have been issued to Bell: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the life and achievements of Antonio Meucci should be recognized, and his work in the invention of the telephone should be acknowledged.
