The 12 Biggest Breakthroughs in Communication Technology

The 12 Biggest Breakthroughs in Communication Technology — page 3
2 Telegraph Cables Carry Dots and Dashes Around the World sent and received by machines Operators weren’t needed This meant messages went faster In 1913 it became possible to send eight messages at once Then 72 messages could be sent at the same time By 1959 users could send printed documents to each other Today the telegraph is no longer used But it was the first step in a long line of communication inventions In 1830 Joseph Henry became the first person to send an electric current over a wire The signal traveled one mile and caused a bell to strike This invention became known as the telegraph Wires were run between cities The telegraph sent signals over these wires The signals were in the form of a code Operators translated the code The first message was sent in 1844 It came from Washington DC It said Henry Clay had been nominated for president By 1854 the United States had 20,000 miles 32,000 km of telegraph cable In 1866 a line was laid across the Atlantic Ocean It went from Ireland to Canada Before long there were telegraph lines from Hawaii to Asia and Australia Soon telegraph messages were 6 Portrait of Joseph Henry in 1860