EMC+SIPI 2024 Keynote Address

Ed Godshalk, Ph.D., IEEE Fellow, presented “The Story of the Transatlantic Telegraph and the World's First Internet” as the EMC+SIPI 2024 Keynote Address. Ed explained that electrical telegraphy may be considered the first example of electrical engineering. Electrical telegraphs were point-to-point text messaging systems that were first used around 1840. His fascinating presentation traced the formative years of electrical engineering and the evolution of transmission line engineering that enabled a global communications network over 180 years ago! Many great minds of the 19th century (Samuel Morse, Hans Christian Orsted, Joseph Henry, Carl Friedrich Gauss, and many others) were featured in the presentation which concluded with the modern transoceanic fiber optic cable, which forms the backbone of today's global communications network. Did you know that presently 99% of the data traffic that is crossing oceans is carried by undersea cables? Ed noted that the total carrying capacity of a submarine cable is in the terabits per second range while satellites typically offer only 1 gigabit per second capability. It was an inspiring presentation and a great addition to the technical program!