Samuel Morse (1791-1872) was an American inventor and painter who contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system based on European telegraphs. Co-developer of the Morse Code, he helped to develop the commercial use of telegraphy.
He was also a noted painter – among others, he was commissioned to paint US President James Monroe in 1820 and Marquis de Lafayette, a leading French supporter of the American Revolution. In 1826 he helped to found the National Academy of Design in New York and was its president for over twenty years.
Returning by ship from Europe in 1832, Morse encountered Bostonian Charles Thomas Jackson, a man well-schooled in electromagnetism. Witnessing various experiments with Jackson’s electromagnet, Morse developed the concept of a single-wire telegraph. In time, the Morse Code that he developed would become the primary language of telegraphy in the world and it is still the standard for rhythmic transmission of data.
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