The Telegraph

History

Before the mid-1800s, the closest thing to a system of rapid, long-distance communication, like the telegraph, involved visual signaling with smoke, light, or other similar methods to broadcast data over somewhat long distances. In the late 1700s, one popular method was using light towers where data would be encoded by positioning various shutters. However, after breakthroughs in electricity, such as the invention of the battery, many groups started experimenting and trying to develop a method of communication via electricity. Two of the more significant attempts were by American inventor Samuel Morse and British inventors Sirs William Fothergill Cooke and Charles Wheatstone.¹

The first transcontinental telegraph line in the United States was built alongside the railroad by Western Union in 1861. After Morse's telegraph started commercially operating in the US in 1844, other countries did not take long to adopt the technology. In 1865, the International Telegraph Union was formed to standardize global telegraph systems, as well as to build the first intercontinental telegraph line in 1866.

Technological Advancements

Many technological breakthroughs and advancements, brought on through the development and improvement of the telegraph, have influenced modern internet technologies. Two notable examples are the development of an early form of multiplexing in 1871 by Jean-Maurice-Émile Baudot and Guglielmo Marconi's wireless telegraph technology.

Multiplexing, specifically time-division multiplexing in this case, is a method of data transmission where multiple signals can be sent on one cable by giving each signal a specific amount of time and then cycling through each signal. Assuming the timing on both ends is correct, multiple signals can be sent on one cable and decoded on the receiving end. While more advanced versions of multiplexing are handled by computers nowadays, Baudot's system involved a spinning copper disc connected to multiple wires, each of which would get access to the disc for however much time as is needed based on the number of users.³

Marconi's research into radio technology led to the invention of wireless telegraph technology in the late 19th century. This technology was used on many ships around this time, with one of the most famous examples being the Titanic.

The telegraph was one of the primary methods of long-distance communication for close to a century before being made obsolete by technologies like the telephone in the early-mid 20th century and more efficient forms of radio communication. The importance of the telegraph led to many innovations in long-distance communication. Ironically, the further development of many of these innovations led to the technologies that replaced the telegraph, some still in use today.⁴

Significance

Out of the three topics discussed in this project (the telegraph, the radio, and the internet), the invention of the telegraph is arguably the most significant because of how rapidly and radically it changed the world. It allowed people to communicate with virtually anyone, no matter the distance, in a matter of days instead of the months or years that sending letters required. While the radio and the internet were also hugely impactful on modern society, neither could exist without the research and development infrastructure laid down by the telegraph.