Historical Context
In the 19th century, technological innovations were beginning to widely affect the way we communicated, and the distances we were able to talk. Inventor Samuel Morse helped develop one of the single-wire electrical telegraph systems, which was the first electrical communication system that was in widespread use.
Morse wished to be credited as the sole inventor of the telegraph, but there were earlier inventions that were similar in scope to his. A more famous by-product of the telegraph itself was the Morse code, used to encode messages transmitted on the telegraph. This was adopted and used extensively in the decades after Morse's death in 1874; it would be important in most conflicts of that time, including the Second World War.
The US sent the last commercial Morse code transmission in 1999, preceded by France in 1997, though the US Air Force still trains ten people in Morse code per year.
Drawing Info
Location drawn: Morristown, New Jersey, USA
Source: Wikimedia Commons
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- 1838-01-06 Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail demonstrate their telegraph machine in New Jersey
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Inventor
Samuel Morse
