Blog Post #6: Telegraph Technology (The one i learned about on presentation day)

Invention And History of the Telegraph:

Before the invention of the telegraph, long-distance communication—albeit ineffective communication—was done by human carriers and smoke and flags messaging. But as the 18th century turned, the telegraph was invented, an entirely new way to communicate that would almost instantly mesh into today's telecommunication endeavors (Britannica 2024). Long-distance communication—sent and received in an instant—changed the playing field for commerce, personal relations, journalism, and war in this new digital age. The idea of sending a message through electrical impulses was not foreign to mankind. Founding thinkers like Alessandro Volta and André-Marie Ampère started the thought process (Library Of Congress 2024). 

Yet it would not be until the early 1800s that a physical development was made; for example, Claude Chappe invented an optical telegraph made up of a series of towers with a visual output. However, it was a failure—one could only receive the messages during the day—and only if one saw it. But men had their minds on it enough to acknowledge that this was not enough. In 1837, Samuel Morse—a painter turned merchant—and his business partner Alfred Vail devised the first successful electric telegraph. They sent their message over a wire using electrical pulses and used dots and dashes to symbolize letters—which they called Morse Code (Library of Congress, 2024). Then in 1844, Morse sent the first long-distance message "What hath God wrought?" from Washington D.C. to Baltimore (Smithsonian Institution, 2024). This ability to telegram allowed for instantaneous communication without two people being in the same room. 

Rapid Communication:

The telegraph was a national and global sensation. A transatlantic telegraph cable was laid by the 1860s, allowing North America and Europe to connect in minutes instead of weeks. Companies could more easily partner on projects; editors could more easily print and type out communications about breaking stories; even the Civil War was aided by the telegraph and thousand-mile-away battle plans (Smithsonian Institution). The telegraph was the first method of long-distance communication made possible instantaneously (superseded by the telephone and the World Wide Web in time). The fact that contemporary telecommunications use aspects of the telegraph demonstrates that an idea of simply transmitting electrical pulses along a wire was all that was needed to revolutionize the world.