We've all heard of Morse Code, which has been used by military and civilian communications professionals for over a century. It was invented by American Samuel Finley Breeze Morse in 1838.
Initially, it was used in special telegraph devices (which, by the way, were also invented by Samuel Morse) for transmitting and receiving messages via telegraph communication. At one end of the wire was a transmitter, the so-called telegraph key, and at the other end, an electromagnetic receiver, which controlled the mechanism that wrote on a paper tape.
This device existed practically unchanged from the end of the 30s of the 19th century until the middle of the 20th century. Yes, of course, it has been modernized with the development of scientific and technological progress, but the basic technology has not changed.
Morse code is a telegraph code. Each letter of the alphabet, number or sign is indicated by a series of short or long electric currents. Short inclusions are dots, long inclusions are dashes.
In telegraphy, the non-uniform Morse code was replaced by a uniform code, however, even today, amateur radio enthusiasts use Morse code for communication. Telegraphic alphabet, "Morse code" - this is the name of the invention of Samuel Morse.
Practically in any educational institution specializing in telegraph or radio communications, Morse code is studied. As the trainees say, there is no need to memorize the designation of letters with combinations of dots and dashes. In addition, teachers advise not to do this, but to memorize the “sounds” of letters and words as a whole, which allows you to quickly master both the alphabet itself and “work on the key”.
How did the idea come up to create a special code for transmitting information, and how did the history of Morse code begin? In 1791, in the small town of Charlestown, which is located in the northeastern United States, Samuel Morse was born in the family of the priest Jedid Morse.
Morse received his higher education at Yale University, which is one of the eight best universities in America. At this time, his main occupation was painting, and in this art he showed great promise. In 1811, Samuel went to Europe to Washington Alston to improve his professional skills. In 1813, his painting "The Dying Hercules" was awarded the gold medal of the London Royal Academy of Arts. However, after 2 years, the young artist returns to the New World.
At home, Morse continues to paint, and in 1825 in New York he founded the National Academy of Drawing, of which he became president.
In 1829 Morse travels to Europe again. This time the purpose of his trip is to study the works of famous artists, as well as gain experience in creating schools of fine arts. At the same time, all the leading European scientists in their laboratories conducted experiments based on the principles of electromagnetism and electromagnetic induction, described in the book of Michael Faraday. In those days, using the properties of magnetic fields was like magic.
In addition, in 1832, Morse watched the experiments of the electrical inventor Pavel Schilling to create the first electromagnetic telegraph, which played an important role in the history of the creation of Morse code. Impressed by what he saw, Samuel Morse was fascinated by the idea of the possibility of transmitting information over wires through a combination of so-called "sparks".
Returning home on the ship, Samuel made a couple of sketch drawings of the future device. Over the next three years, Morse unsuccessfully tried to create a normally working apparatus for transmitting information over wires.
Only by 1837, already a professor of painting at New York University, he managed to create an apparatus that could send a signal over wires at a distance of just under 520 meters.
Morse's experiments attracted the attention of Steve Vail, the owner of industrial enterprises in America, who, in exchange for accepting Morse's son Alfred as a partner, agreed to allocate premises for Samuel's experiments, and also invested 2 thousand dollars in the project.
A year after the invention of the apparatus in 1838, Morse developed his world-famous code. Alfred Weil also contributed, he added letter codes. Today, the international Morse code, which was adopted in 1939, is used. It is an improved Morse code, but even the original version of the code was still in use in the 60s of the twentieth century. Samuel Morse became famous thanks to his invention, and his widespread use in various fields brought a considerable income to the author.
Samuel Morse is a short biography of the American inventor and artist who created the electromagnetic writing telegraph ("Morse apparatus", 1836) and the Morse code (alphabet).
Samuel Morse biography briefly
Morse was born April 27, 1791 in Charlestown (near Boston) in a wealthy American family. Since childhood, his parents noticed his talent for drawing.
After successfully graduating from high school, Morse entered Yale College. And in 1811, although his parents opposed this hobby of their son, they sent him to England to study art at the Royal Academy of Arts and in the studio of B. West. For his first public painting, he received a gold medal.
In 1815 he returned to Boston, where he was not perceived as an artist. For ten years he had to lead the life of an itinerant painter, drawing portraits for a living.
After his marriage in 1818, he went to New York to earn a living. Morse founded the National Academy of Design in New York in 1825, of which he was president from 1826 to 1845.
But Morse was interested not only in painting, he was very interested in electricity. In 1835 Morse became professor of descriptive arts. But after he was shown a description of the telegraph model proposed by Wilhelm Weber in 1833 at the university in 1836, he devoted himself completely to invention.
It took Morse years of work and study to make his telegraph work. In September 1837, he finally demonstrated his invention: by pressing a special key, short or long pulses were transmitted, which at the receiving end were recorded on a moving tape. The American capitalist Vail donated $2,000 to promote the new project and provided space for research. At this very time, Morse's wife died, and he was left with three children. He had to work and raise children.
The invented apparatus required new financial injections for continuous improvement, which there was nowhere to take from. Only in 1843, the scientist was able to receive a subsidy of $ 30,000 to establish a trial telegraph line forty miles long. However, the interest of the government and the public in the Morse telegraph disappeared, because of which Morse had to open a private joint-stock company for laying telegraph lines, which justified itself in just two years, and the brilliant inventor finally got rich.
In August 1848, the scientist married again. Samuel Morse spent the last years of his life in peace and prosperity.
Samuel Morse personal life
On September 29, 1818, Morse married Lucretia Pickering Walker. Three children were born in the marriage. After the death of his first wife, Morse remarried on 10 August 1848 to Elizabeth Griswold. The marriage produced four children.
Samuel Morse interesting facts
Morse studied at the London Royal Academy of Arts, but when he returned to America he eked out a meager existence painting portraits. For ten years he had to lead the life of an itinerant painter.
Among his friends were the politician M.-J. Lafayette, novelist J. F. Cooper, and even US President A. Lincoln.
In 1858, Morse received 400,000 francs from ten European states for his invention.
Morse became a philanthropist in his old age. He patronized schools, universities, churches, bible societies, missionaries and poor artists.
By the time of his death, his estate was valued at around $500,000, which is about $10.2 million today.
What is Morse code - everyone knows. But not many people know about the author. Meanwhile, Samuel Finley Breeze Morse is an unusual figure. The son of a priest who became an artist; artist turned inventor; an inventor who became rich; a rich man who became a benefactor - all this is about him. Meet the same Morse!
PICTURESQUE BEGINNING
Samuel Morse's father, Jejedia Morse, was very interested in geography, but served as a church minister. Reverend Morse did not live to see his son's main achievement. But Morse Jr. achieved some success during his father's lifetime. In 1807, Samuel left his native Charlestown (Massachusetts, USA) and entered Yale College. After graduating, Morse got a job as a clerk in Boston. But this work did not occupy him as much as his main hobby at that time was painting. In addition to the desire to paint, Samuel had the talent of an artist. And he decided to go to Europe to take additional painting lessons there.
We must pay tribute to Samuel Morse: he never thought and never lived as if achievements would come to him by themselves. This person set a goal for himself, and then steadily moved towards it ... And the knowledge, circumstances, people necessary to achieve the goal invariably appeared on his way. Morse's first serious successes were associated with painting. In 1813, he presented the painting "The Dying Hercules" to the London Royal Academy of Arts and was awarded a gold medal. Returning to America, Morse began to paint 4 portraits a week, receiving 60 dollars for each. Thus, he earned $3,000 in a year. Now Samuel could marry, and in 1818 he married a girl named Lucretia Walker.
A few years later, Morse's talent was appreciated by colleagues: he was recognized as the leader of young American artists. Samuel painted many portraits, among his clients were the American Revolutionary War hero Marquis Lafayette and US President Munro. In 1826, Morse founded the National Academy of Drawing in New York and became its first president.
Once, when he once again went to study painting in Europe, Morse painted the painting "Louvre" there. In the background of it, he depicted a whole gallery of world masterpieces: “Mona Lisa”, “Last Supper” ... Thus, he wanted to acquaint Americans with great works that were not yet seen in America at that time. Inspired, Samuel packed his canvas and on October 1, 1832, stepped aboard the packet ship Sally to head home. As one of Morse's biographers said, "He went on board as an artist, and landed as an inventor."
IF YOU GET IT WELL…
Here is how it was. On the ship, the famous physician Charles T. Jackson (the discoverer of anesthesia and new methods of pain relief in medicine) demonstrated to the passengers a focus experience: the compass needle, when a piece of wire connected to a galvanic element was brought to it, began to rotate. Samuel watched the experiment closely. Just at that time, M. Faraday's book was published in Europe. "Extracting sparks from a magnet" seemed like a miracle. But Samuel saw in this miracle the beginning of another, more useful miracle: what if the combination of sparks was used as a code to transmit messages over wires? The idea completely captured him. Morse was not an electrical expert. But he firmly believed that anything can be achieved, one has only to get down to business properly: God will enlighten!
During the month that Morse sailed home, he even sketched a few drawings. However, the three years of effort that Samuel spent on assembling the apparatus according to his drawings did not produce results. There was a lack of knowledge. For Samuel Morse began a difficult period in life. His wife died, three small children were left in her arms ... To top it off, the congress rejected Morse's candidacy when it was necessary to write historical paintings for the American Capitol. Morse's disappointment was so great that he put an end to his career as an artist.
And although in 1835 Morse became a professor of painting and drawing at the newly opened New York University, his attention was now increasingly occupied by a new business: the invention of the telegraph apparatus.
"GARLAND"
In 1837, Morse demonstrated his invention at New York University. The signal was sent along a wire about 518m long. One of those invited to the presentation, industrialist Steve Weil, agreed to provide Morse with a room for experiments and 2 thousand dollars. But with one condition: Morse had to take his son, Alfred Vail, as a partner. Morse agreed, and Alfred, who had a practical streak, gave him invaluable help. In 1838, Samuel Morse developed a system of signals - dots and dashes - to encode the transmission of messages - the famous Morse code.
But one problem remained unresolved: how to transmit signals over very long distances so that both coasts of America could be connected by telegraph communication? Morse went for advice to another inventor, Joseph Henry, who had designed the relay six years earlier. (Henry left to others to find a use for his invention, while he himself took up other studies). Henry advised Morse to connect many electrical circuits into one "garland", inserting a current source and relay into each circuit. "Garland" made it possible to transmit a signal over long distances according to the principle of a relay race: each battery could only transmit it over a limited distance, but connected together, they carried the message to the finish line. Now it was possible to “weave” such a “garland” from Baltimore to New York and try out the invention in practice. Good times began for Samuel. Things got off the ground, and in 1843 (after a seven-year wait) he received $30,000 from the US Congress to build an experimental telegraph line in the US.
FIRST TELEGRAM
But even in the life of the purposeful Morse there was a moment when he was ready to give up. This happened shortly before his victory. Here is how it was. When the subsidy bill was finally brought before the House of Representatives, the deputies treated Morse's idea as a funny joke. The fifty-two-year-old inventor sat in with the guest gallery of the deputies' flat witticisms. In the end, he left the hall in despair, without waiting for the vote. The session ended the next morning. Even if the bill had passed, President Tyler would not have had time to sign it ... Morse paid his hotel bill and bought a train ticket to New York. He only had thirty-seven cents left in his pocket.
But the next morning, the daughter of his friend, the government commissioner of patents, showed up with fantastic news: the bill had been pushed through, and Tyler signed it at midnight. Morse was happy! Now he has the money (that same $30,000 from Congress) to build a trial telegraph line. To celebrate, Morse promised the girl that he would transmit the world's first telegram in her honor, and invited her to come up with the content herself. The girl chose the words from the Bible: “Wonderful are Your works, Lord!”
"TALKING LIGHTNING"
On May 27, 1844, the first telegraph message was sent using the Morse code and the Morse telegraph machine. A key invented by the Russian scientist B.S. Jacobi was used to transmit the signal, and an electromagnet was used to receive the signal, the anchor of which controlled the movement of the ink pen on paper. When Morse was able to learn about the events in the capital through the telegraph on the same day they took place (an unprecedented phenomenon at that time!), His "talking lightning" made a sensation. And soon Morse met the talented businessman O'Reilly, who planned and carried out a whole campaign to equip many cities with a telegraph. "Talking Lightning" conquered America ... and then the whole world: in 1851, the German "Commission for the Telegraph Device" appreciated the advantages of the Morse apparatus over others, and it found its wide application.
Of course, there were still many difficulties in the way of Morse's idea: the first cables were imperfect and failed in bad weather; farmers, irritated by the buzz from the telegraph line, threatened to cut the wires; constantly appeared wishing to challenge the copyright for the invention of the Morse apparatus in court. But in the end, all litigation was won, and the inventor was finally able to enjoy the fruits of his hard work. He was regularly paid for the use of the patent, and he became a rich man. Samuel Morse, already during his lifetime, was able to make sure that his credo was correct: everything can be achieved if you get down to business properly. Samuel Finley Breeze Morse lived to be 81 years old. What did he do in his later years? Experimented with underwater telegraph cable. And also, like a true son of a priest, he was involved in charity: he helped colleges, churches ... and, of course, poor artists.
The telegraph alphabet in use today differs significantly from the one invented in 1838 by Samuel Morse. In the original Morse code, some characters had pauses within their codes. This made it difficult to receive radiograms. For example, the Latin letter C was then encrypted as “two dots-pause-dot”, i.e., in essence, as the letters I and E transmitted one after another. That is why various versions of the telegraph alphabet soon appeared, which did not contain codes with pauses. The modern version of the International Morse code (International Morse) appeared relatively recently - in 1939, after the final adjustment. But the original Morse code was still used on railways until the mid-1960s.
Samuel Finley Breeze Morse(English) Samuel Finley Breese Morse [mɔːrs]; April 27, Charlestown, Massachusetts - April 2, New York) - American inventor and artist. The most famous inventions are the electromagnetic writing telegraph ("Morse apparatus",) and the Morse code (alphabet).
Biography
During the War of 1812 between Great Britain and the United States, who supported Napoleon, Morse showed himself to be an ardent patriot. However, in 1813, when Morse presented the painting "The Dying Hercules" to the London Royal Academy of Arts, he was awarded a gold medal.
Upon his return home in 1815, Morse found that Americans regarded him as an English painter and had little interest in painting. Therefore, he eked out a meager existence, painting portraits. For ten years he had to lead the life of an itinerant painter. Morse was very sociable and charming, he was eagerly received in the homes of intellectuals, the rich and politicians. In addition, he had a rare gift for making acquaintances. Among his friends were the politician M.-J. Lafayette, novelist J.F. Cooper, and even US President A. Lincoln. In rapidly growing New York, he created some of the most interesting portraits ever made by American artists. In 1825, Morse founded the National Academy of Design in New York, which elected him president and sent him to Europe in 1829 to study the structure of drawing schools and outstanding works of painting.
During the second trip to Europe, Morse met L. Daguerre and became interested in the latest discoveries in the field of electricity. He was inspired to invent the telegraph by a chance conversation while returning from Europe on a steamboat in 1832. A passenger, in the course of a conversation about a newly invented electromagnet, said: "If an electric current can be made visible at both ends of a wire, then I see no reason why messages cannot be transmitted to them." Although the idea of an electric telegraph was put forward before Morse, he believed that he was the first.
Morse devoted almost all of his time to painting, teaching at New York University, and politics. In 1835 Morse became professor of descriptive arts. But after he was shown a description of the telegraph model proposed by W. Weber in 1833 at the university in 1836, he completely devoted himself to invention.
Years of work and study were required to make his telegraph work. In 1837, together with A. Vail, he developed a system for transmitting letters by dots and dashes, which became known throughout the world as Morse code. He did not find support either at home, or in England, or in France, or in Russia, meeting refusal everywhere. In another attempt to interest the US Congress in the creation of telegraph lines, he acquired a congressman as a partner, and in 1843 Morse received a subsidy of $ 30,000 to build the first telegraph line from Baltimore to Washington. In the course of the work, it turned out that at this distance of about 40 kilometers, the electrical signal was too strongly attenuated and direct communication was impossible. The situation was saved by his companion Alfred Vail, who proposed using the relay as an amplifier. Finally, on May 24, 1844, the line was completed, but Morse was immediately involved in legal feuds with both partners and competitors. He fought desperately, and the Supreme Court in 1854 recognized his copyright in the telegraph.
Newspapers, railroads and banks quickly found use for his telegraph. Telegraph lines instantly entwined the whole world, Morse's fortune and fame multiplied. In 1858, Morse received 400,000 francs from ten European states for his invention. Morse bought an estate in Ponchkif, near New York, and spent the rest of his life there with a large family among children and grandchildren. Morse became a philanthropist in his old age. He patronized schools, universities, churches, bible societies, missionaries and poor artists.
After his death in 1872, Morse's fame as an inventor faded as the telegraph was replaced by telephone, radio and television, but his reputation as an artist grew. He did not consider himself a portrait painter, but many people know his paintings, which depict Lafayette and other prominent people. His 1837 telegraph is in the National Museum of the United States, and the country house is now recognized as a historical monument.
Personal life
On September 29, 1818, Morse married Lucretia Pickering Walker. Three children were born in the marriage. After the death of his first wife, Morse remarried on 10 August 1848 to Elizabeth Griswold. The marriage produced four children.
Memory
Other
On April 27, 2009, in honor of Samuel Morse's birthday, Google changed its home page to include "Google" in Morse code.
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Notes
Literature
- Wilson M. American scientists and inventors / Per. from English. V. Ramses; ed. N. Treneva. - M .: Knowledge, 1975. - S. 27-34. - 136 p. - 100,000 copies.
Links
- // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
- A. V. Kamensky, St. Petersburg, type. Yu. N. Erlikh, 1891.
- by Samuel F. B. Morse, 1819 (White House Collection) - Broken Link
- - Link does not work
- Dmitry Bykov "Izvestia" 04/27/11
Excerpt characterizing Morse, Samuel
Prince Vasily fulfilled the promise given at the evening at Anna Pavlovna's to Princess Drubetskaya, who asked him about her only son Boris. He was reported to the sovereign, and, unlike others, he was transferred to the guards of the Semenovsky regiment as an ensign. But Boris was never appointed adjutant or under Kutuzov, despite all the troubles and intrigues of Anna Mikhailovna. Shortly after Anna Pavlovna's evening, Anna Mikhailovna returned to Moscow, directly to her wealthy relatives, the Rostovs, with whom she stayed in Moscow and with whom her adored Borenka, who had just been promoted to the army and immediately transferred to the guards warrant officers, was brought up and lived for years. The guards had already left Petersburg on August 10, and the son, who had remained in Moscow for uniforms, was supposed to catch up with her on the road to Radzivilov.
The Rostovs had Natalia's birthday girl, mother and younger daughter. In the morning, without ceasing, trains drove up and drove off, bringing congratulators to the large, well-known house of Countess Rostova on Povarskaya, all over Moscow. The countess with her beautiful eldest daughter and the guests, who did not cease to replace one another, were sitting in the drawing room.
The countess was a woman with an oriental type of thin face, about forty-five years old, apparently exhausted by her children, of whom she had twelve people. The slowness of her movements and speech, which came from the weakness of her strength, gave her a significant air that inspired respect. Princess Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya, like a domestic person, was sitting right there, helping in the matter of receiving and engaging in conversation with the guests. The youth were in the back rooms, not finding it necessary to participate in receiving visits. The count met and saw off the guests, inviting everyone to dinner.
“I am very, very grateful to you, ma chere or mon cher [my dear or my dear] (ma chere or mon cher he spoke to everyone without exception, without the slightest nuance, both above and below him to people standing) for himself and for dear birthday girls . Look, come and have dinner. You offend me, mon cher. I sincerely ask you on behalf of the whole family, ma chere. These words, with the same expression on his full, cheerful and clean-shaven face, and with the same firm handshake and repeated short bows, he spoke to everyone without exception or change. After seeing off one guest, the count returned to the one or the other who were still in the drawing room; pulling up an armchair and with the air of a man who loves and knows how to live, his legs valiantly spread and his hands on his knees, he swayed significantly, offered guesses about the weather, consulted about health, sometimes in Russian, sometimes in very bad, but self-confident French, and again with the air of a tired but firm man in the performance of his duties, he went to see him off, straightening his sparse gray hair on his bald head, and again called for dinner. Sometimes, returning from the hall, he would go through the flower room and the waiter's room into a large marble hall, where a table was set for eighty couverts, and, looking at the waiters, who wore silver and porcelain, arranged tables and unfolded damask tablecloths, called Dmitry Vasilyevich, a nobleman, to him, engaged in all his affairs, and said: “Well, well, Mitenka, see that everything is fine. So, so, - he said, looking with pleasure at the huge spreading table. - The main thing is serving. That's it ... ”And he left, sighing smugly, again into the living room.
- Marya Lvovna Karagina with her daughter! the huge countess, the outgoing footman, reported in a bass voice as he entered the drawing-room door.
The Countess thought for a moment and sniffed from a golden snuffbox with a portrait of her husband.
“These visits tortured me,” she said. - Well, I'll take her last. Very stiff. Ask, - she said to the footman in a sad voice, as if saying: "well, finish it off!"
A tall, stout, proud-looking lady with a chubby, smiling daughter, rustling her dresses, entered the living room.
“Chere comtesse, il y a si longtemps… elle a ete alitee la pauvre enfant… au bal des Razoumowsky… et la comtesse Apraksine… j"ai ete si heureuse…” [Dear Countess, how long ago… she should have been in bed, poor a child... at the Razumovskys' ball... and Countess Apraksina... was so happy...] animated female voices were heard, interrupting one another and merging with the noise of dresses and moving chairs. , say: "Je suis bien charmee; la sante de maman ... et la comtesse Apraksine" [I am in awe; mother's health ... and Countess Apraksina] and, again making noise with dresses, go into the hall, put on a fur coat or cloak and leave. The conversation turned about the main city news of that time - about the illness of the famous rich man and handsome man of Catherine's time, the old Count Bezukhy and about his illegitimate son Pierre, who behaved so indecently at the evening at Anna Pavlovna Scherer.
“I am very sorry for the poor count,” said the guest, “his health is already so bad, and now this chagrin from his son, this will kill him!”
- What's happened? the countess asked, as if not knowing what the guest was talking about, although she had already heard the reason for Count Bezukhy's chagrin fifteen times already.
- That's the current upbringing! While still abroad,” the guest said, “this young man was left to his own devices, and now in St. Petersburg, they say, he has done such horrors that he and the police have been expelled from there.
- Tell! said the Countess.
“He chose his acquaintances badly,” intervened Princess Anna Mikhailovna. - The son of Prince Vasily, he and one Dolokhov, they say, God knows what they were doing. And both were hurt. Dolokhov was demoted to the soldiers, and Bezukhoy's son was sent to Moscow. Anatol Kuragin - that father somehow hushed up. But they were sent out from St. Petersburg.
“What the hell did they do?” the countess asked.
“These are perfect robbers, especially Dolokhov,” said the guest. - He is the son of Marya Ivanovna Dolokhova, such a respectable lady, and what? You can imagine: the three of them got a bear somewhere, put it in a carriage with them and took it to the actresses. The police came to take them down. They caught the guard and tied him back to back to the bear and let the bear into the Moika; the bear swims, and the quarter on it.
- Good, ma chere, the figure of the quarterly, - the count shouted, dying with laughter.
- Oh, what a horror! What's there to laugh at, Count?
But the ladies involuntarily laughed themselves.
“They rescued this unfortunate man by force,” continued the guest. - And this is the son of Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhov, who is so cleverly amused! she added. - And they said that he was so well educated and smart. That's all the upbringing abroad has brought. I hope that no one will accept him here, despite his wealth. I wanted to introduce him. I resolutely refused: I have daughters.
Why do you say this young man is so rich? asked the countess, bending over from the girls, who immediately pretended not to listen. “He only has illegitimate children. It seems ... and Pierre is illegal.
The guest waved her hand.
“He has twenty illegal ones, I think.
Princess Anna Mikhailovna intervened in the conversation, apparently wishing to show her connections and her knowledge of all secular circumstances.
"Here's the thing," she said significantly, and also in a whisper. - The reputation of Count Kirill Vladimirovich is known ... He lost count of his children, but this Pierre was his favorite.
“How good the old man was,” said the countess, “even last year!” I have never seen a more beautiful man.
“Now he has changed a lot,” said Anna Mikhailovna. “So I wanted to say,” she continued, “by his wife, the direct heir to the entire estate, Prince Vasily, but Pierre was very fond of his father, was engaged in his upbringing and wrote to the sovereign ... so no one knows if he dies (he is so bad that they expect it every minute, and Lorrain came from St. Petersburg), who will get this huge fortune, Pierre or Prince Vasily. Forty thousand souls and millions. I know this very well, because Prince Vasily himself told me this. Yes, and Kirill Vladimirovich is my maternal second cousin. It was he who baptized Borya, ”she added, as if not attributing any significance to this circumstance.
Everyone has heard of Morse code. And although it has long since become irrelevant, almost everyone can remember at least one word, or rather not a word, but just a signal - SOS. That is, it is a Morse code character, which is a sequence of "three dots - three dashes - three dots", transmitted without pauses between letters.
Samuel Finley Breeze Morse (born April 27, 1791, Charleston - died April 2, 1872, New York) was an American artist and inventor. In 1837 he invented the electromechanical telegraph apparatus. In 1838 he developed a telegraph code for it (Morse code).
Born in the family of a famous geographer, Congregationalist priest Jedediah Morse (1761-1826). He studied at Yale College (1807-1811) and developed an interest in electricity and in painting, painting miniature portraits. After graduating from college in 1810, Morse became a clerk in Boston, but painting remained his main passion. In 1811 his parents helped him to go to England to study painting, including the "historical" style. There he created a number of historical canvases.
Studied painting under Washington Allston. Morse showed great promise as an artist, but he was constrained by the fact that he unconditionally accepted on faith the then fashionable intellectual concept that painting dedicated to historical antiquity was much higher than art that reflected the life of contemporaries.
During the war of 1812 between England and the United States took a pro-American position. In 1815 he returned to his homeland, but the Americans did not appreciate his historical canvases. To earn a living, he returned to portraiture and worked in New England, New York and South Carolina. His friends included American Revolutionary War hero Marquis Lafayette and novelist Fenimore Cooper.
In 1817 Morse was getting $60 for a portrait, and he could paint four portraits a week. He toured the South and returned in 1818 with three thousand dollars, which enabled him to marry Lucretia Walker of Concord.
With this capital, Morse moved to Charleston, South Carolina, abandoned the portraits, and spent the next year and a half working on a huge historical canvas for the House of Representatives in Washington. The painting was not sold. The money ran out, and he again went to New York. In New York, he was commissioned for a large portrait of Lafayette, who was touring America at the time. Morse painted two portraits. In all the portraits of Morse's work, talent is felt, but his Lafayette was already the creation of a mature and serious master. And yet Morse was not satisfied, despite the fact that a few years later he was recognized as the leader of young American artists. In 1829 he again went to Europe to continue his studies.
In 1826 Morse founded the National Academy of Drawing and served as its first president from 1826 to 1845.
In America, artists devoted to their chosen genres were doomed to a half-starved existence, or, like Pils, they opened private museums, where, along with all sorts of curiosities, they exhibited their paintings. Pils' experience gave Morse the idea to paint a painting that would interest America, which had never seen Mona Lisa, The Last Supper and other masterpieces of world art either in the original or in a copy. He painted the Louvre painting, in the background of which he depicted as many masterpieces as the canvas could accommodate. In 1832, full of hope, Morse packed the canvases and returned to America on the Sally packet boat. He boarded the Sally as an artist and landed as an inventor.
On board the conversation turned to European experiments in electromagnetism. Shortly before that, Faraday's book was published, and his experiments were repeated in many European laboratories. "Extracting sparks from a magnet" was one of the wonders of the time. Morse immediately suggested that the combination of sparks could be used as a code to send messages over wires. This idea captured him, despite the fact that even the most basic rules of electricity were almost unknown to him. Morse at that time firmly believed that the Americans could achieve anything, if only they got down to business. What if there is no special knowledge and training (God will enlighten!). He spent twenty years studying painting; however, it never occurred to him that a career as an electrical inventor also required preparation.
During the month-long voyage, Morse sketched out several preliminary drawings. He spent the next three years trying unsuccessfully to build an apparatus from them, working in the attic of his brother Richard's house. To add to his complete ignorance of electricity, Morse had neither the time nor the peace of mind. His wife passed away and he left behind three small children.
In 1834, Morse had an ambitious plan to paint historical paintings for four still empty panels of the Rotunda in the Capitol building. He made a request to a number of congressmen, but John Quincy Adams did not believe that an American artist was able to write in the style needed for such work. The refusal was such a severe disappointment for Morse that he actually abandoned painting, although he was only forty-three years old and in the prime of life and talent.
The following year he was appointed to the post of professor of painting and drawing at the newly founded New York University, created by such enlightened minds in New York as Fenimore Cooper, Washington Irving and others. Morse received a small salary, on which, however, it was possible to live. He returned to work on the electromagnetic telegraph.
He made the first working model of a telegraph in 1835. During this time he still devoted most of his time to painting, teaching at New York University (where he became professor of painting and sculpture in 1832) and politics.
Since 1837, Morse began to focus on his invention. A university colleague showed him a description of an alternative model proposed in 1831, and another suggested that his models be built in his family's ironworks. Both of them became partners with S. Morse.
In 1838, he developed a system of dots and dashes (dashes) for coded message transmission, which became known throughout the world as Morse code. In the same year, he made an attempt to install a telegraph line in the Congress building, but this was not successful, but one of the congressmen became another of his partners.
After an unsuccessful attempt to establish a telegraph line in Europe in 1843, Morse received financial support from Congress ($30,000) to establish the first experimental telegraph line in the United States, from Baltimore to Washington. In 1844 the line was completed, and on May 24, 1844 he sent the first telegraphic message: "Wonderful are thy works, Lord!"
In September 1837, Morse demonstrated his invention at New York University. The signal was sent over a 1,700-foot wire. Among those invited to the hall was a prosperous New Jersey industrialist, Stephen Weil, who agreed to donate $2,000 and provide space for experiments on the condition that Morse take his son Alfred as an assistant. Morse agreed, and it was the most successful step in his life. Alfred Vail possessed not only real ingenuity, but also a sharp practical instinct. Over the following years, Vail greatly contributed to the development of the final form of Morse code, the introduction of a telegraph key instead of a connecting rod, and the reduction of the apparatus to the compact model that has become generally accepted. He also invented the printing telegraph, which was patented in the name of Morse, according to. the terms of the Weil and Morse contract.
Shortly after meeting with Vail, Morse learned that the government had offered financial assistance to an inventor who could telegraph the entire coast. In December 1837, he turned to Congress for help. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Francis O. J. Smith was so impressed by the display of the Morse apparatus that he resigned his post and became Morse's partner. Smith was a dirty businessman. His gift for public rhetoric and penchant for double-dealing got Morse into trouble.
The Panic of 1837 forced the government to withdraw all subsidies. Smith sent Morse to Europe to apply for patents there. In England, Morse was told that Wheatstone had already invented the electromagnetic telegraph, as he can verify by looking into the nearest post office. On the Morse Continent, it became known that Steinheil had already invented the electromagnetic telegraph: "You can go to the nearest railway station and see for yourself!" While in France, Morse became friends with another unsuccessful inventor, Daguerre, who, with no less difficulty than Morse, tried to obtain a patent for the photography method he had discovered. Comrades in misfortune, they agreed that each of them would defend the interests of the other in his own country.
In Russia, Morse learned that Baron Schilling, the Russian ambassador to Austria, had invented the electromagnetic telegraph as early as 1825, but the very idea of instant communication between people in the far reaches of the country seemed so seditious to the tsar that he forbade even mentioning this invention in print.
Smith went to Washington. None of the foreign telegraph systems was as simple and successful as the Morse apparatus. Therefore, the inventor did not give up hope, although his situation had never been so desperate. He decided to do some work. To this end, in addition to painting, he opened a small photography studio according to the Daguerre method. But this enterprise also failed.
Weil left New York and taught somewhere in the South. Morse eventually went to Princeton to consult Joseph Henry.
Henry himself was not interested in developing the details of the electromagnetic telegraph. After he invented the relay, the main problem was solved. And Henry embarked on a more exciting and interesting exploration. He knew that sooner or later a man with enough determination would show up to see the job through. Morse seemed to him just such a person.
Henry liked Morse's obsession and was willing to help him. He patiently explained his errors to Morse and pointed out that a single battery, no matter how powerful, could only send an electrical signal over a limited distance.
The relay, invented by Henry six years ago, could solve the problem that Morse was facing.
The transmitter circuit was not connected directly to the receiver. Instead of a receiving device, a horseshoe-shaped soft iron core wrapped in wire was included in the circuit. An anchor was placed between the poles of the electromagnet. When the operator closed and opened the circuit by sending electrical impulses through the magnet winding, the armature was attracted to or away from the magnet. The armature, in turn, completed another electrical circuit with its own battery and electromagnet, which operated in exactly the same way as the first circuit. The second circuit controlled a third independent electrical circuit. Thus, it was possible to assemble an endless garland of electrical circuits. Each circuit had its own current source and relay.
Henry explained to Morse that such a chain system could transmit electrical signals for thousands of miles, and at the end of the "garland" the impulse strength would be equal to the intensity of the transmitted signal.
Morse returned to New York and rebuilt his apparatus according to Henry's instructions.
Morse first applied for a subsidy to the government as early as 1837. However, despite the promises that ex-Congressman Smith repeated from month to month, it was not until 1843 that Morse's request was granted.
When the subsidy bill was finally brought before the House of Representatives, the deputies treated it like a funny joke. Magnetism seemed to them something like mesmerism. Fifty-two-year-old Morse listened from the guest gallery to the flat jokes of the deputies and left the hall in despair, without waiting for the vote. The session ended its work the next morning. Even if the bill is passed, President Tyler won't have time to sign it.
Morse paid his hotel bill and bought a train ticket to New York, leaving him with only thirty-seven cents. The next morning, the daughter of his friend, the government commissioner of patents, showed up with the fantastic news that Smith's friends had managed to get the bill through without any stupid amendments, and Tyler signed it at midnight. Morse was happy. He promised the girl that he would give the world's first telegram in her honor, and suggested that she come up with the content herself. The girl chose the words from the Bible: “Wonderful are your works, Lord!”
Morse could receive a government subsidy of thirty thousand dollars on the condition that the first trial line of 40 miles be installed. Smith rewarded himself by taking the building contract. Morse and Vail decided to make an underground line by placing a complex device in a lead pipe. Engineer Ezra Cornell designed a special plow that simultaneously dug a trench, laid a cable, and buried the trench.
Smith spent almost twenty thousand dollars on the first few miles. Morse did not find a place for himself, burning with anxiety. Cornell, on his own initiative, tested the already laid cable and found that the line was paralyzed by many short circuits. It turned out that Smith decided not to spend precious dollars on such a “trinket” as isolation.
Cornell proposed hanging bare wires from poles and thus providing a fast and cheap telegraph connection to Baltimore and avoiding scandal. But Morse panicked. He again went for advice to Henry. Henry supported Cornell, and the entire line was suspended from trees and poles, using bottle necks as insulators. The laying was completed when the Whig party convention met in Baltimore to nominate a presidential candidate.
Vail went to Baltimore. He was instructed to immediately inform Morse in Washington about all the events taking place at the congress.
Politicians who hurried from Baltimore to the capital with urgent messages learned that the news had preceded the courier trains. A man named Morse spoke from Washington to Baltimore by wire.
Being the sole owner of the telegraph, Morse and his partners created the Magnetic Telegraph Company to lay a line between New York and Philadelphia. The company was a private joint stock company.
By then, Morse had broken with Vail and most of his other assistants.
The real organizer of the construction of the line from the sea coast to the Mississippi was a certain businessman O "Reilly. He was completely ignorant in matters of telegraph and technology, but he knew how to trade stocks. Each segment of the line between the two cities was considered a separate enterprise. As a skillful commander, O" Reilly sent forward messengers announcing the approach of the Talking Lightning. He collected tribute with the same speed as he pulled wires. In less than two years, he ran thousands of miles of wire in all directions, creating so many joint-stock companies that the patent holders literally lost count.
Newspapers quickly became convinced of the benefits of the telegraph, and the Associated Press set up its own wire service. By 1848, in small villages, residents were reading the latest news about the war in Mexico, just broadcast on the Talking Lightning. Soon the telegraph began to be used on railways for signaling, communication and blocking. The owners of freight trains with cattle intended for export, approaching New York, warned the captain of the ship by telegraph about the number of heads. He could accordingly prepare decks for the reception of livestock, and loading took no more than half an hour. For a long time, all telegrams began with the appeal "Dear Sir" and ended with the words "With deep respect."
The first lines were constantly out of order in bad weather. On one occasion, one hundred and seventy cliffs were discovered over a span of thirty miles. After the test, the copper wire was rejected and replaced with iron, and then it was replaced by a braided cable. The fitters who followed the line did not know peace. They were opposed not only by the forces of nature, but also by angry farmers who strove to cut off the line because they were annoyed by the rumble in the wires.
Only in 1856, when Hiram Sibley, whom I have written about earlier, organized the Western Union company, was it possible to restore some order. More and more lines sprang up, and each time Morse was paid to use the patent. The days of deprivation are over. He spent his old age in wealth and glory. Morse repeatedly sued competitors and invariably won cases, although once for this he had to deny even the fact that he had once enjoyed the valuable help of Joseph Henry.
Morse was immediately involved by partners and competing inventors in patent litigation, fought vigorously for his rights, which in 1854 were recognized by the US Supreme Court. Later, he experimented with an underwater telegraph cable. Telegraph lines were laid on both sides of the Atlantic.
In his later years, being a wealthy man, Morse was engaged in philanthropic activities - he helped colleges, churches and poor artists.
