Literary and historical notes of a young technician. Biography of Samuel Morse

Samuel Finley Breese Morse was born on April 27, 1791 in the family of the famous local preacher Jedid Morse in the American town of Charlestown (Massachusetts). In 1805 he entered Yale University.

In 1811, Samuel went to Europe to study painting with Washington Alston. The young man showed great promise as an artist. In 1813, he presented the painting “The Dying Hercules” to the Royal Academy of Arts in London, which was awarded a gold medal. In 1815 he returned to his homeland. A few years later, Samuel was recognized as the leader and idol of young American artists (his brush is the famous portrait of President Munro). In 1825, he founded the Society of Painters in New York (later the National Academy of Drawing) and became its president, and in 1829 he again went to Europe to study the structure of drawing schools and outstanding works of painting.

On October 1, 1832, the sailing ship "Sally" (captain of the ship - Pell) left Le Havre for New York. In the first class cabin, the famous doctor of those times (the discoverer of anesthesia and new methods of pain relief in medicine), Charles T. Jackson, demonstrated a focus experiment to its passengers: the compass needle began to rotate when a piece of wire connected to a galvanic element was brought to it. Samuel watched the experiment carefully.

In Europe, at this time, M. Faraday's book was published and the experiments presented in it were repeated in many laboratories, and St. Petersburg at the beginning of 1832 witnessed Schilling's first experiments. “Extracting sparks from a magnet” seemed like a miracle to the uninitiated. The experience he saw gave him the idea of ​​​​creating a system for transmitting signals through wires, using combinations of transmitting “sparks”. This idea captured him. During the month-long voyage home, Morse sketched several drawings. He devoted the next three years, working in the attic of his brother Richard's house, to building an apparatus according to his drawings, but without success.

Major American industrialist Steve Weil became interested in Morse's work and agreed to donate 2 thousand dollars and provide premises for further experiments on one condition - S. Morse would take his son Alfred as an assistant. The union of the younger Vail and Morse turned out to be fruitful. The first message was sent on May 27, 1844 and the text of which read: “Wonderful are your works, O Lord!” To transmit parcels, a key was used, invented by the Russian scientist B.S. Jacobi, and for reception, an electromagnet was used, the armature of which controlled the movement of an ink pen across the paper.

While working on further improving his telegraph apparatus, Samuel Morse in 1838 also invented a code - the telegraph alphabet. Note: The telegraph alphabet (a system of encoding characters in short and long bursts for transmitting them over communication lines, known as “Morse code” or “Morse code”), which is used now, is significantly different from the one invented in 1838 by S. Morse, although some researchers believe that its author was Alfred Vail, Samuel Morse's business partner.

It should be noted that the original Morse code table was strikingly different from those codes that are heard today on amateur bands. Firstly, it used messages of three different durations (dot, dash and em dash). Secondly, some symbols had pauses within their codes. The encodings of the modern and original tables are the same for only about half of the letters (A, B, D, E, G, H, I, K, M, N, S, T, U, V and W) and do not match for any digits. Moreover, to construct the code for a number of characters in the original Morse code, completely different principles were used. So, along with “dots” and “dashes,” there were combinations of “double dash” (letter L) and even “triple dash” (number 0), and some characters included a pause... . The Latin letter C, for example, was then rendered as “two dots-pause-dot,” i.e., essentially, like the letters I and E, rendered one after another. This significantly complicated the reception of radiograms. That is why various versions of the telegraph alphabet soon appeared that did not contain codes with pauses between sendings (Phillips, Balna, “marine”, “continental”...).

The modern version of the international “Morse code” (International Morse) appeared quite recently - in 1939, when the last adjustment was made (the so-called “continental” version), which mainly affected punctuation marks. It sounds even more incredible, but it’s a fact - the original version of the “Morse code” was used in some places on railways until the mid-60s of the 20th century!

In 1851, the German Telegraph Commission assessed the advantages of the Morse apparatus, and since then it has found wide application.

In recent years, S. Morse lived in Ponchkifi (near New York) and died on April 2, 1872 in wealth and honor.

Based on materials from the website www.qso.ru

), Massachusetts

Samuel Finley Breeze Morse(eng. Samuel Finley Breese Morse [ mɔːrs]; April 27, Massachusetts - April 2, New York) is an American inventor and artist. The most famous inventions are the electromagnetic writing telegraph (“Morse machine”) and the Morse code (code).

Biography [ | ]

Dying Hercules

During the War of 1812 between Britain and the pro-Napoleon United States, Morse proved himself an ardent patriot. However, in 1813, when Morse submitted the painting “The Dying Hercules” to the Royal Academy of Arts in London, he was awarded a gold medal.

Upon returning home in 1815, Morse discovered that Americans considered him an English artist and had little interest in painting. Therefore, he eked out a meager existence by painting portraits. For ten years he had to lead the life of a traveling painter. Morse was very sociable and charming, he was eagerly received in the homes of intellectuals, rich people 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 his 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 by ship in 1832. A passenger, during a conversation about the recently 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 by it.” Although the idea of ​​an electric telegraph had been 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 being shown a description of a telegraph model proposed by Wilhelm Weber in 1833 at the university in 1836, he devoted himself entirely to invention.

It took Morse years of work and study to get his telegraph working. In September 1837, he finally demonstrated his invention. The signal was sent over a 1,700-foot wire, but the telegram received from the transmitter was unreadable. But Morse was not going to give up and less than six months later, together with A. Weil, he developed a system for transmitting letters with dots and dashes, which became known throughout the world as Morse code. On February 8, 1838, in Philadelphia, he first publicly demonstrated his electromagnetic telegraph system, which transmitted messages using specially encoded signals.

But implementing the invention turned out to be difficult. He found no support either at home, or in England, or in France, or in Russia, and was met with refusal everywhere. In another attempt to interest the US Congress in the creation of telegraph lines, he acquired the congressman as a partner, and in 1843 Morse received a subsidy of $30,000 to build the first telegraph line from Baltimore to Washington. During the work, it turned out that at this distance of about 40 kilometers, the electrical signal attenuated too much and direct communication was impossible. The situation was saved by his companion Alfred Weil, 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 intertwined the whole world, Morse's fortune and fame increased. In 1858, Morse received 400,000 francs from ten European countries for his invention. Morse bought an estate in Ponchkifi, near New York, and spent the rest of his life there with a large family of children and grandchildren. In his old age, Morse became a philanthropist. 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 of Lafayette and other prominent people. His 1837 telegraph is kept in the US National Museum, and his country house is now recognized as a historical monument.

Personal life [ | ]

On September 29, 1818, Morse married Lucretia Pickering Walker. The marriage produced three children. After the death of his first wife, Morse remarried on August 10, 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.

If you ask the average Russian about which American artists he knows, then - depending on his erudition and area of ​​interest - you can hear in response the names of a variety of people: from Boris Vallejo to Norman Rockwell. There is, however, one name that is known to everyone - and yet it is unlikely to be heard... Which is a pity.

Painter and portraitist

Samuel Morse. Self-portrait.

On April 27, 1791, in the town of Charlestown near Boston (Massachusetts), the first child, Samuel Finley Breese Morse, was born into the family of a well-known Christian preacher in New England and the author of the first American geography textbook.

Already in early childhood, Samuel showed an ability to draw. At school, he received punishment from his old teacher for damaging the classroom furniture, which he decorated with images of people and animals, but already at the age of fifteen, Samuel painted an oil painting, which later hung in the city hall.

After graduating from school, 16-year-old Samuel entered Yale University, where he continued to be passionate about painting. His teacher and mentor was Washington Alston, the famous American artist and poet.*

In 1811, Samuel traveled with Alston to the Old World to study painting and sculpture in the studios of major European masters. Washington Alston, a professor at London's Royal Academy of Arts, believed that his student from the New World had a bright future. After all, it was Morse who was awarded a gold medal for his final work - the painting "The Dying Hercules". He also painted portraits wonderfully,

The portrait was painted in 1822.

With this capital, Morse moved to Charleston (South Carolina), abandoned portraits and devoted the next year and a half to working on a huge historical canvas for the House of Representatives in Washington. However, the painting could not be sold; the money ran out - and Morse again went to New York.

There they ordered him a large portrait of Lafayette, who was touring America at that time. It should be noted that talent is felt in all of Morse’s works, but his “Lafayette” was the creation of a mature and serious master.

Morse paints a portrait of Lafayette.

Active by nature, Morse was a recognized leader of young American artists. He founded the National Academy of Design and was its first and permanent president from 1826 to 1845.

Samuel believed that young American artists should have the opportunity to study painting not only in culturally rich Europe, but also in their homeland, America. Therefore, in 1829 he again went to Europe to study the organization of drawing schools. It would seem that nothing foreshadowed that a fully accomplished mature man, a talented artist, could leave the business in which he was so successful. Subsequently, Morse would say: “I devoted my young years only to painting. But, as it turned out, I could not forget the phrase that struck me in my youth, heard at a lecture on natural sciences: “If an electric current encounters a delay in its path, it will become visible.” This the thought was the first seed from which, many years later, the invention of the telegraph grew in my head."
So, in 1829, Morse again went to Europe. He wanted to create a painting that would interest America, which had never seen the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper or other works of art either in copy or original. He painted the canvas “Gallery of the Louvre”, which was extremely interesting from the point of view of composition - in the background of this picture Morse managed to place many masterpieces, so that the viewer looked at one picture and saw several paintings at once.

Morse suggested that the combination of sparks could be used as a code to send messages over wires. This idea captivated him, despite the fact that even the most basic rules of electricity were almost unknown to him. Morse at that time firmly believed that Americans could achieve anything if they just got down to business. What does it matter if there is no special knowledge and training (God will enlighten you!). He spent twenty years studying painting; nevertheless, it never occurred to him that a career as an electrical inventor also required preparation.
Morse's sketches of "Sally" demonstrate his idea of ​​using pulses of electrical current to propel the pen. They also show that he did not know how current is generated from the battery.

So, having boarded a ship in Le Havre as an artist, Morse disembarked in New York as an inventor. What happened next? Then there were three years of unsuccessful attempts to make an apparatus according to my drawings. Three years spent in the attic of his brother Richard's house. Three years wasted, which is completely natural for a person so far from technology.

These days, failures follow Morse in everything. His wife dies, and he is left with three children - without money, peace of mind and prospects for the future. He is even refused an offer to paint a picture. Taking advantage of his past acquaintance with his French colleague, the artist Louis Daguerre, the inventor of photography, he becomes the first photographer in American history, but this does not bring him any income.

What saves Morse from starvation is his position as a teacher of aesthetics and drawing, which he received at the newly opened New York University. This turned out to be a salvation for his invention.
During the month of sailing, he sketched out preliminary drawings and then built a makeshift laboratory in the attic of his brother, Richard Morse. Samuel decided to invent nothing less than an electromagnetic telegraph.

In fact, the telegraph has existed since the 17th century - this is the name of the system of semaphore towers, built in a chain within direct visibility of each other. The optical telegraph by Claude Chappe was invented in 1792 and was used for a long time in both the Old and New Worlds.

The Roman Empire was created by roads. The empires of modern times needed something more important than roads - communications. The young North American republic also realized this need - first of all, it was necessary to unite a thousand miles of the Atlantic coast with a single communications system. Conventional semaphores were not suitable, and the government offered a $30,000 reward to the person who proposed the most successful project. Morse found this offer very tempting and got to work.

Mobile installation of the Chappe telegraph, Crimean War 1853-1856.
The ABC of signal fires.

Telegraph at the turn of the century

By the time the Morse model appeared, several varieties of electric telegraph already existed.

The first Morse apparatus weighed 184 pounds.

However, one should not assume that Samuel Morse simply invented the telegraph - alas, he did not have enough knowledge, time, or peace of mind to do this. Lucretia Morse died, leaving three small children in his arms.

In addition, Morse loved painting - in 1834 the artist had an ambitious plan to paint historical paintings for the four still empty panels of the Rotunda in the Capitol building. However, Congress refused to subsidize this project, which was a great disappointment for Morse. However, the following year Morse received a post as professor of painting and drawing at New York University. A certain financial stability allowed him to return to work on the electromagnetic telegraph.

For many days the inventor struggled with the installation to no avail.
He had at his disposal several voltaic batteries, iron rods and wire. He connected them according to the diagram he himself had drawn and completed the circuit. No result! He made several switches. Nothing again! For many days he struggled with the installation to no avail. Finally, in despair, he turned to his colleague from the chemistry department, Leonard Gale, for help. Gale looked at Morse's helpless construct and took pity on him. Morse heard from someone that in order to make an electromagnet, you need to wrap a horseshoe-shaped piece of iron with wire. Gale, who was familiar with Henry's work, explained to Morse that the winding was made haphazardly, without any insulation. He showed Morse how winding was done and how to connect a battery to such a circuit. And then, finally, the Morse apparatus showed signs of life.
Early designs for the Morse telegraph were quite naive and extremely complex.

The principle was the same as Henry's. The operator closed and opened an electrical circuit so that a series of electromagnetic pulses was sent along two wires to the receiving device. Later models of the telegraph were equipped with a signal key, with the help of which the circuit was closed and opened.
However, triumph was still far away. Electricity in the Morse apparatus was supplied by relatively low-power galvanic batteries: the longer the wire between the transmitter and receiver, the more batteries were required. The original design (with one battery) only allowed a clear message to be sent over a short distance. Morse, with the help of Gale, gradually increased the length of the wire from twenty feet to one hundred, and after some time to a thousand.

Dot and dash
Morse decided to place at the receiving station not a pointer measuring instrument, but a recorder, “drawing” the received message on a paper tape pulled through the apparatus.

What is the easiest thing to depict on paper? Dots and dashes. It all depends on how long the pen touches the paper. And if the device writes, then the pen should only rise and fall, and the paper tape should move. You just need to use dots and dashes to designate the letters of the alphabet and come up with combinations to designate each sign.

Everything great is simple, how simple and great is this universal code, consisting of dots and dashes, a worldwide telegraphic language, through which we can not only talk by sending electrical, light, sound signals, as, for example, prisoners knock, but even by blinking our eyes we can something to say to a man with paralyzed speech. A Morse code flies over the globe, its name alone immortalizing the name of its creator.

Their union turned out to be surprisingly fruitful - Alfred Weil had not only excellent engineering thinking, but also a keen practical sense. He made significant contributions to the creation of Morse code and the improvement of the transmitter. Alfred proposed using a telegraph key instead of a connecting rod and reducing the size of the apparatus.

Pavel Lvovich Schilling.
Telegraph apparatus P.L. Shilling.

First failures

So, on January 24, 1838, at the same New York University, a completely successful transmission of a telegram using a new code took place.

Soon after his meeting with Vail, Morse learned that the government wanted to connect the entire coast by telegraph. In December 1837, he turned to Congress for help and demonstrated the work of his apparatus to the chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Francis O. J. Smith. The result of this meeting was in many ways paradoxical - a prudent businessman and an experienced politician, Smith left his post and became Morse's partner.

The panic of 1837 forced the government to abandon all subsidies, and Smith sent Morse to Europe to obtain patents for his invention. But in England, Morse said that the electromagnetic telegraph had already been invented by Wheatstone, as can be seen by looking at the nearest post office. The same thing happened on the continent and in Russia, where Morse learned about the experiments of Baron Schilling.

While in France, Morse became friends with another unsuccessful inventor, Daguerre**, who was trying to obtain a patent for the method of photography he had discovered. Comrades in misfortune, they agreed that each of them would defend the interests of the other in their own country.

Morse hurried back to America with a heavy heart. None of the foreign telegraph systems was as simple and successful as the Morse apparatus - and the inventor did not give up hope, although his financial situation was never so desperate.

Henry comes to the rescue

"A Man of His Age" by S. F. B. Morse.
Morse's second wife was Sarah Elizabeth Griswold.

Washington Alston's work has been compared to Venetian Renaissance artists. His paintings were sometimes full of drama and vitality, transporting their viewer to the distant times of vulgar centuries. Alston's work significantly influenced the further development of American landscape painting. Among his most striking paintings are the paintings “Florimell's Flight”, “Coast Scene on the Mediterranean”, “Moonlit Landscape”, “Storm Rising at Sea”.

Washington Allston

Place of birth: Cormeil-en-Parisy, France

Place of death: Bry-sur-Marne

Nationality: France

Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre (French: Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, transliterated as Daguerre; 1787-1851) - French artist, chemist and inventor, one of the creators of photography

***
Material from Wikipedia

Occupation: inventor, entrepreneur, philanthropist

Place of birth: New York, USA

Nationality: American

SAMUEL MORSE

“Chu ́ the days of Thy works, O Lord!” - on May 24, 1844, the artist Samuel Morse tapped out this biblical phrase on a device he invented, sitting in Washington in one of the rooms of the Capitol, and at the same minute in Baltimore, 40 kilometers from Washington, it was read by his assistant Alfred Vail.