Samuel Morse Invents the Telegraph

Who is Samuel Morse?

Samuel Morse studied art as a young man. And attended Yale and studied art in London. After graduation and studying art, he tried to make money by selling his art, but unfortunately, he couldn’t make enough money.

After 4 years in London, Morse returned to the U.S., and the idea for the telegraph came to him on a steamship while talking to another passenger about electricity. Although Samuel Morse had studied art, he was also interested in electricity for a while. Which led later on to the invention of the telegraph.

Story of the Telegraph

Vintage morse telegraph machine

Morse made the first telegraph to transmit electric signals across a wire. With his first version of the telegraph, Morse could press a key that allowed an electrical pulse to be sent to a receiver.

The pulse could be interpreted like a code. The code, which was invented by Morse was made of dots and sashes that represent the letters of the alphabet.

Morse didn’t work on the telegraph alone. He was assisted by Alfred Vail and others, who helped him perfect the telegraph and the code.