Samuel Morse
Samuel F.B. Morse was an America painter and inventor, born on April 17, 1791, in Boston, Massachusetts. His father was a Calvinist pastor and a supporter of the conservative Federalist Party.
He was educated at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, where he was described as an unsteady and eccentric student, and later at Yale College where he studied religion, mathematics and science. Importantly, he attended lectures on the little-understood subject of electricity.
Morse had developed an interest in painting. In 1811 he travelled to England where he perfected his painting techniques and was admitted to the Royal Academy. He travelled between Europe and America several times, enjoying mixed success as a painter.
While returning from Europe in 1832, he met a Charles Jackson. The two discussed electromagnetism at length, leading Morse to develop ideas for a telegraph system. Morse believed he was the first to conceive of such a system, however a similar idea had been proposed in 1753 and messages had been transmitted over short distances in 1774.
Politically, Morse was a leader in the anti-immigration movement and even ran in the Nativist Parity for Mayor of New York in 1836.
Morse collaborated with Alfred Vail to invent the system of dots and dashes that has become known as Morse Code. The pair demonstrated a successful message transmission over 2 miles of wire in New Jersey in 1838. The message read "A patient waiter is no loser." These demonstrations led to Morse receiving Congressional funding of $30,000 to build a 38-mile telegraph line between Washington DC and Baltimore. The line was officially opened on May 24, 1844, when Morse sent the message, "What hath God wrought", from the basement of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., to the Mount Clare Railroad Station in Baltimore.
Morse held a US patent for his telegraph system, but it was ignored and contested. Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruled Morse could claim monopoly over his invention of a repeater system, to extend transmissions over any distance, but not for other aspects of the system. As telegraph lines covered ever-increasing distances, his wealth grew.
Despite the international growth of telegraph systems, Morse had received little recognition in America. In 1871, a group of Western Union employees began plans to recognise Morse and his achievements. On June 10, they held Samuel Morse Day, with a parade, a bronze statue of Morse unveiled in Central Park and a reception attended by the 80-year-old Morse himself. A telegraph operator keyed Morse’s final message to the world; “Greetings and Thanks to the Telegraph fraternity throughout the world. Glory to God in the Highest, on Earth Peace, Goodwill to men.” But was it his final message? What is this mysterious document found amongst his effects?
Samuel F.B. Morse died in New York City on April 2, 1872