Samuel Morse Credit: invent.org

Samuel Finley Breese Morse was born on 1791 and he lived till 1872 American artist and inventor, known for his invention of the electric telegraph and the Morse code.

Morse studied painting in London. He became a successful portrait painter and a sculptor. In 1825 he helped found the National Academy of Design in New York City. He continued his painting. Samuel became a professor of painting and sculpture at New York University in 1832.

 

The Telegraph Credit: invent.org

After 1832 he became interested in chemical and electrical experiments and developed an apparatus for an electromagnetic telegraph that he completed in the year of 1836. The following year he filed a legal notice, at the patent office in Washington, D.C., and tried without success to obtain European patents for his apparatus. He also invented a code, now known as the Morse code, for use with his telegraph instrument.

In 1843 the U.S. Congress appropriated $30,000 for Morse to construct an experimental telegraph line between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland. The line was successfully installed, and on May 24, 1844, Morse sent the first message: "What hath God wrought!"