Adventures in Research – Telegraphy. ep96, 441128

Dr Philip Thomas is back after his help in the recreation of the historic first radio broadcast. He shares how Samuel Morse used his knowledge of the new discovery of electricity, to develop a long distance communication tool.

In 1844, Morse demonstrated his invention to politicians to transmit his famous message, “What has God wrought?” Dr Thomas explains how the telegraph sends its signal through electromagnetism.

Methods of recording the transmitted signal is explored, and other scientists began to theorize about light waves, and how they might be made to be transmitted. Time marches on to explain the earliest spark gap radio broadcasting, sending messages without wire. Experiments in 1895 by a young Marconi, lead to the first practical wireless radio transmitters, not just for distances of a mile, but dreams of distances that would reach a cross the ocean are planned.