Nokia Bell Labs (formerly named AT&T Bell Laboratories, Bell Telephone Laboratories and Bell Labs) is an American research and scientific development company, owned by Finnish company Nokia. Its headquarters are located in Murray Hill, New Jersey, in addition to other laboratories around the rest of the United States and in other countries. 

The historic laboratory originated in the late 19th century as the Volta Laboratory and Bureau created by Alexander Graham Bell. Bell Labs was also at one time a division of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T Corporation), half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary. 

Researchers working at Bell Labs are credited with the development of radio astronomy, the transistor, the laser, the charge-coupled device (CCD), information theory, the operating systems Unix, Plan 9, Inferno, and the programming languages C, C++, and S. Eight Nobel Prizes have been awarded for work completed at Bell Laboratories. 

In 1880, the French government awarded Alexander Graham Bell the Volta Prize of 50,000 francs, approximately US$10,000 at that time (about $ in current dollars) for the invention of the telephone. Bell used the award to fund the Volta Laboratory ("Alexander Graham Bell Laboratory") in Washington, D.C., in collaboration with Sumner Tainter and Bell's cousin Chichester Bell. The laboratory is also variously known as the "Volta Bureau", the "Bell Carriage House", the "Bell Laboratory" and the "Volta Laboratory". The laboratory focused on the analysis, recording, and transmission of sound. Bell used his considerable profits from the laboratory for further research and education to permit the "[increased] diffusion of knowledge relating to the deaf". This resulted in the founding of the Volta Bureau c. 1887, located at Bell's father's house at 1527 35th Street in Washington, D.C., where its carriage house became their headquarters in 1889. In 1893, Bell constructed a new building, close by at 1537 35th St., specifically to house the lab. The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1972.
What did he do to earn the prize?
 invention of the telephone