Samuel Morse—the artist who invented the Morse code
by Ann Lamont, B.Sc., M.Ed.St.
Samuel Finley Breese Morse was bom in Charlestown, Massachusetts, on Wednesday April
27, 1791. This was some 70 years before Darwin’s theory of evolution did any
damage to general acceptance of creation.
Samuel was the eldest of three sons born to Dr. Jedediah Morse, a well-known clergyman
and author of geography books. The well-to-do family had high expectations of their
sons. The boys were educated at a Christian boarding school, and then at Yale College.
As part of his studies at Yale, Samuel saw demonstrations of electricity, which
at that stage had not been put to any useful purpose. He also experimented with
a camera obscura—a primitive forerunner of the photographic camera. However,
the image made by the camera obscura was only temporary. Samuel’s real interest
though was in drawing, and he began to develop his talents in his spare time. Unfortunately,
Samuel’s father believed that being an artist was not a suitable occupation
for a gentleman.
Art talent blossoms
Samuel began working for a printer and bookseller, but disliked that job. He spent
his spare time painting. When his talent began to be recognized, his father finally
agreed to send him to England to study art. There, Samuel’s talents blossomed
and he began to gain public recognition. His successes included a statue called
‘The Dying Hercules’, which won a prestigious sculpturing competition,
a painting also of ‘The Dying Hercules’, and a painting called ‘The
Judgement of Jupiter’.
When he returned to the United States, Samuel Morse travelled to various towns earning
a living by painting portraits. His subjects included fifth US President James Monroe,
and the famous French General Lafayette. He also painted scenes portraying democracy
in practice. One large painting called ‘Representative Hall’, which
showed the United States House of Representatives in session, gained widespread
acclaim.
In spite of the recognition his work was gaining, Morse’s income was very
irregular. However, he always made generous donations to God’s work; He supported
missionaries and gave to institutions which trained clergymen. Morse gave his time
to God as well. In his home church, he established one of the first Sunday Schools
in the United States. Although his work took him away from his wife and children
much of the time, he used these times away to encourage fellow Christians and promote
the idea of Sunday Schools.
It was during these struggling but happy years that Samuel Morse first became involved
with scientific inventions. He and his brother Sidney invented an improved version
of the water pump and also invented a marble-cutting machine.
Morse later combined his artistic and scientific talents.
He had seen the new process of photography while in France and became one of the
first to take photographs in the United States. However, at that time the subject
had to remain still for 10 minutes. This was unsuitable for taking portraits so
Morse worked with a science professor, John Draper, to improve the chemical processes
involved until only one minute was required for exposure. Also, he taught many others
the art and science of photography.
Communication problems
But why did Morse suspend his now successful artistic career to focus on developing
the telegraph? In Morse’s day, communication was slow. Morse experienced first
hand the problems that slow communication could cause. In 1811, when he arrived
in London as an art student, tensions were high between England and the United States.
English ships were attacking American ships believed to be carrying goods to England’s
enemy France. Eventually England sought reconciliation but, tragically, while that
message was on its month-long journey over the Atlantic Ocean, the United States
declared war in 1812. This war ended two years later amid similar confusion. After
the peace treaty had been signed, American and English forces engaged in another
major battle, not knowing that the war was over.
Slow communication also affected Morse in a more personal way. In 1825, Morse was
500 kilometres away in Washington D.C. when his young wife died suddenly in New
Haven, Connecticut. He could not even attend her funeral because it took a week
for the news to reach him by mail. However, an electrical impulse travels in an
instant. Morse realized that the international and personal problems he had experienced
could be eliminated if electricity could be put to use in communication.
Inventing the telegraph and Morse code
Morse conceived of the idea of the single-circuit, electro-magnetic telegraph while
on a ship travelling back to the United States from Europe in 1832. With some assistance
from Leonard Gale, a university science professor, Morse spent the next five years
developing his ideas into a working model. This included the use of a code of dots
and dashes for the letters of the alphabet, which became known as the Morse Code.
The dots and dashes were transmitted as short and long electrical impulses with
gaps in between.
He began demonstrating the telegraph to businessmen, hoping that private investors
would finance construction of a telegraph line. When no private investments came,
he spent a year constructing a better model and then demonstrated this to the American
government. Again no financial support. Morse spent a year in England and Europe
trying to gain financial support, but still he failed.
On returning to the United States, he tried to gain the interest of the public.
He laid an insulated wire across New York harbour and announced in the newspapers
that he would give a public demonstration. Unfortunately, when a ship’s anchor
caught his wire and it was cut, Morse received ridicule instead of support. During
these 11 years of frustration, Morse was penniless and frequently hungry, but he
never took his eyes off God. During this time, Morse wrote, ‘I am perfectly
satisfied that, mysterious as it may seem to me, it has all been ordered in view
of my Heavenly Father’s guiding hand’.1
In 1843, Morse made another attempt to interest the American government in financing
the telegraph. This time he succeeded. Despite a number of technical difficulties,
he successfully built the first telegraph line from Washington to Baltimore within
the allotted budget and within the specified time. On Friday May 24, 1844, all was
in readiness. The words of the first official message were chosen by a young Christian
lady, the daughter of a lifelong friend of Samuel Morse. She chose the words ‘What
hath God wrought’ from the Bible (Numbers 23:23) because she recognized that
it was God who had inspired and sustained Morse throughout.
Morse goes to court
The success of the telegraph ensured even more fame for Morse, and finally financial
reward as well. However, this attracted many unscrupulous people who claimed credit
for the invention of the telegraph. Others simply wanted to build telegraphs without
having to pay Morse for the right to do so. Eventually these legal claims reached
the US Supreme Court. The court decided that ‘Morse alone, in 1837, seems
to have reached the most perfect result desirable for public and practical use.
The telegraph never was invented, perfected, or put into practical use, until it
was done by Morse.’2
Concerning the help that Morse had received from others, the justices said, ‘The
fact that Morse sought and obtained the necessary information from the best sources,
and acted upon it, neither impairs his rights as an inventor, nor detracts from
his merits.’3
Morse remained a humble Christian to the end of his days, describing his life’s
work by saying that ’it is His work. “Not unto us, but to Thy Name,
O Lord, be all the praiseâ€?.’4
Samuel Morse revolutionized communication by putting scientific knowledge to work.
He did not see any conflict between his scientific knowledge and Christianity—in
fact, quite the reverse. He believed that ’education without religion is in
danger of substituting wild theories for the simple commonsense rules of Christianity.’
5
References
Samuel Morse as quoted in: J. H. Tiner, Samuel F.B. Morse—Artist with a Message,
1987, Mott Media, Milford, Michigan, USA.
- Page 116. Return to text.
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ibid. Return to text.
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to text.
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