Samuel Morse Quotes
What hath God wrought!
Washington DC to Baltimore. While Morse is remembered as a pioneering inventor. What is not remembered is that Morse could not find private backing for his invention. However, in a midnight session of Congress in 1843, $30,000 was appropriated to build the first magnetic telegraph. Morse sent this first message from the U. S. Capitol building. In a way the telegraph was a precursor to the Internet which while conceived of by private citizens had to be initially funded by the Government.
Samuel Morse, 1791-1872, Inventor, President, American Protestant Union, First Message Sent Over the First Commercial Telegraph May 24, 1844
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
One of the great scientists of all time was totally wrong when it came to predicting the practical utility of the technological developments of science. In all fairness to Kelvin, once he had actually tried the new technologies, he became a great enthusiast for them and helped introduce them to the world.
Once proven, private capital carried the day from there.
The Professor just connected a telegraph wire to the balloon tether rope and the observer/telegraph operator in the balloon could describe in real time the position, deployment, weapons and strength of the Confederates. The information was picked up by the Union officers on the ground and a few seconds later by Washington where Abraham Lincoln, a brilliant innovator in the use of telegraph technology, had a telegraph office right next to the White House. Observational intelligence was in real time reaching the Commander in Chief and the war planners not unlike the functionality of a modern observational drone. The graphic is a photo of that balloon preparing for launch.
This quotation is important because it illustrates the important research and development role that the Government has played for the most important technological innovations of the second half of the 20th century. Even though most of the computer breakthroughs were developed by private companies, the government paid for most of the R&D and purchased the vast majority of the first computers on the market when private companies had not yet realized the value of computers and with the exception of IBM most of the private sector would invest no money in this unproven technology. This was the same as the telegraph, the railroads and others before and the Internet and more afterward.
He was one of the first to realize that technology was shaping the relations of people and states throughout the world. In 1891 most other people did not appreciate this dynamic including most politicians. However, we might wonder today what period of time he was contemplating when he used the word “rapidly”. Some have concluded that the globalization resulting from technology has been astoundingly fast while others see it as far too slow and it has a long way to go. See the related quotes for others who were early observers of the coming changes. See the Relates Quotes for more of the early observations of this phenomenon.
Samuel Finley Breese Morse was an American inventor and painter. After having established his reputation as a portrait painter, in his middle age Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system based on European telegraphs. He was a co-developer of Morse code and helped to develop the commercial use of telegraphy.
