In the 1930s, due to the rapid development of railways, there was an urgent need for a communication tool that was not affected by the weather, had no time limit and ran faster than trains. At this time, the basic technical conditions for the invention of telegraph (battery, copper wire, electromagnetic inductor) have also been met. 1837, the first wired telegraph was designed and manufactured by Cook and Wheatstone in Britain, and it was continuously improved, and the speed of sending telegrams was continuously improved. This kind of telegram was quickly applied in railway communication. The characteristic of their telegraph system is that messages point directly to letters.
At the same time, American Morse was fascinated by the telegraph. He is a painter. With his rich imagination and indomitable spirit of struggle, he realized many people's dreams. At the age of 4, he returned to the United States by boat after studying painting in France, and Dr. Jackson introduced him to the magical electromagnetic world. On the boat, Jackson showed him an "electromagnet", which is a device that attracts iron with electric energy. When the power is cut off, the iron will fall off. It is also said that "no matter how long the wire is, the current can pass quickly." This gadget made Morse daydream: Since current can pass through wires instantly, can it be used to transmit information? To this end, he wrote the word "telegram" in his picture book, determined to complete the invention of transmitting information by electricity.
After returning to America, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to the development of telegraph. He studied electromagnetism from the beginning and studied under the famous electromagnetist Henry. He bought all kinds of experimental instruments and power tools, turned the studio into a laboratory and worked day and night. He designed one scheme after another, drew another sketch, tried again and again, but failed again and again. In deep disappointment, he tried to return to his old job several times. However, every time he picked up the brush and saw the words "telegram" written by himself in the picture book, he was inspired by his vows and looked up from disappointment.
He calmly analyzed the reasons for the failure, carefully examined the design ideas, and found that new methods must be found to send signals. 1836, morse finally found a new method. He wrote down the new design in his notebook: "As long as the current stops for a moment, there will be sparks. Spark can be regarded as a symbol, no spark is another symbol, and the length of time without spark is another symbol. These three symbols can be combined to represent letters and numbers, so that words can be transmitted through wires. " How simple we look now! But Morse was the first person in the world to think about how difficult it is to represent letters with a combination of dots, dashes and spaces. How great and strange the idea of transmitting information through coding is! In this way, as long as two kinds of electrical symbols are issued, information can be transmitted, which greatly simplifies the design and devices. Morse's peculiar idea, the famous Morse code, is the earliest code in the history of telecommunications and a major breakthrough in the history of telegraph invention.
After the breakthrough, Morse immediately threw himself into intense work, turned his ideas into practical devices, and constantly improved them. 1844 May 24th is a glorious page in the world telecommunication history. Morse himself pressed the telegraph button in the lobby of the US Congress. With a series of clicks, the news quickly spread to Baltimore, dozens of kilometers away. His assistant translated the message accurately. The success of Morse's telegraph sensationalized the United States, Britain and other countries in the world, and his telegraph soon became popular all over the world.