He was born on 27th April 1791 in Charlestown, Mass. To this day everyone thinks he was a scientist but he was an artist by profession. He got his early education from the Philip academy in Andover and in 1810 graduated from Yale University.
From 1811 till 1815 he lived in England where he exhibited his paintings at the Royal Academy. The next decade he spent as a traveling artist with having a special interest in portraiture. In 1832 he came back to America and worked in the University of New York as a Painting and Sculpture professor.It was here in his home country that he heard a discussion on a ship about electromagnets.
This was the starting point out of which grew the electric telegraph. Samuel Morse if famously remembered for his Morse codes which are still used in modern day times and a bit less for the creation which allowed it to be used, possibly as landline telegraphy ultimately made way for a new technology which was wireless telegraphy.The electric telegraph: Since 1837, Samuel Morse gave his full attention towards the telegraph after setting it up in collaboration with Congressman FOJ Smith, Alfred Vail and Professor Leonard Gail. All the facilities and funds were provided by Alfred Vail and the legal expertise by Leonard Gail.
There is a paradox however that certain difference with Alfred Vail led to lawsuits. The telegraph was finally in the name of Morse alone, after in 1854 it was granted by the Supreme Court of United States of America.The decision of Samuel Morse to leave painting was because of the fact that he failed to paint the Rotunda of Capitol building which he had expected to paint in 1836. Although he did not leave painting as from 1826 till 1845 he was the National Academy of Design’s President.
The very first electric telegraphic message was sent on May 14th 1844 and it turned out to be “What Hath God wrought” (David Seidman, pg 25) which was sent from the Room of the Supreme Court to the Baltimore railway department. These words were selected by Annie Ellsworth.Samuel Morse purchased the Locust Grove in 1847 where he built an Italian Mansion. Nowadays that serves as the Samuel Morse museum and every year on Morse day it hosts the Poughkeepsie Amateur Radio society.
Morse also became generous at that time. In 1871, on his eightieth birthday, on June 10th a statue was revealed in the Central Park where around 2000 telegraphers were present. Many people nowadays think that Morse codes are to be used for a longer distance telegraphy, the land line was common until early 1880’s for communicating at a shorter distance.When communicating at a longer distance, the telegraph was following the railways lines as there was no complexity over the right way.
The lines were typically overhead as the troubles of shielding line which were underground seemed to be impossible for many years to come. The progress of the original line was hindered due to this difficulty. The real test came of the telegraph when it was used by the Military. In 1854 it was used in the Crimean War in Verna.
The telegraph was used in the US civil War where fast methods of deployment for land line were urbanized.In 1898 the correspondents of Newspaper used the telegraphy technology in the Spanish American War. The use of radio telegraphy in the military was first used in the Japanese Russia war in 1904. The telegraphers were a unique class, one of the first to suffer from a strain problem which is Brass pounding which mean telegraphing on an up and down key and gave the growing up of the grass arm of a telegrapher, and this forced the creating of a bug or side swiper and the most well known maker is Vibroplex.
