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The electric telegraph, developed in the 1830s and 1840s, sent messages along wires as coded pulses of electricity. News, prices and instructions that had taken days to travel by horse, ship or train could now cross great distances in minutes.

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In Britain, William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone patented a telegraph in 1837, and within two years one was working along the Great Western Railway out of Paddington station in London. In the United States, Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail developed Morse code, which spells out letters as short and long signals, dots and dashes. On 24 May 1844 Morse sent the Bible verse ‘What hath God wrought’ from Washington to Baltimore. Soon the wires crossed seas as well. A cable laid across the Atlantic in 1858 carried a greeting from Queen Victoria to President James Buchanan but failed after about three weeks. A lasting link followed in 1866, and the slogan ‘two weeks to two minutes’ summed up the change from letters sent by ship. Railways used the telegraph to run trains safely, newspapers to report distant events the same day, and markets to share prices between cities.

Türkçe oku
Elektrikli telgraf 1830'larda ve 1840'larda geliştirildi; mesajları teller üzerinden kodlanmış elektrik sinyalleriyle iletiyordu. At, gemi ya da trenle günlerce yol alan haberler, fiyatlar ve talimatlar artık uzak yerlere dakikalar içinde ulaşabiliyordu.

Britanya'da William Cooke ile Charles Wheatstone 1837'de bir telgrafın patentini aldı; iki yıl geçmeden de telgrafları Londra'daki Paddington İstasyonu'ndan çıkan Great Western Demiryolu hattında çalışmaya başladı. ABD'de Samuel Morse ile Alfred Vail, harfleri kısa ve uzun sinyallerle, yani nokta ve çizgilerle yazan Mors alfabesini geliştirdi. Morse, 24 Mayıs 1844'te Washington'dan Baltimore'a Kutsal Kitap'tan alınmış “Tanrı neler yaptı!” sözünü gönderdi. Çok geçmeden teller denizleri de aştı. 1858'de Atlantik'in dibine döşenen kablo, Kraliçe Victoria'nın ABD Başkanı James Buchanan'a yolladığı kutlama mesajını taşıdı, ama üç hafta kadar sonra bozuldu. Kalıcı bağlantı 1866'da kuruldu; “iki haftadan iki dakikaya” sloganı, gemiyle giden mektuplara göre kazanılan hızı özetliyordu. Demiryolları telgrafı trenleri güvenle yönetmek, gazeteler uzaktaki olayları aynı gün duyurmak, borsalar da fiyatları şehirler arasında paylaşmak için kullandı.

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