Inventors of the Telegraph

The article reviews the work of three of the pioneers responsible for the introduction of the electric telegraph. This brings together a portrait painter, an anatomical model-maker, and a musical instrument maker who were all interested in the telegraph. The three are an American, Samuel Finley Breese Morse (1791-1872), and the Englishmen William Fothergill Cooke (1806-1879) and Charles Wheatstone (1802-1875). Cooke and Morse saw the commercial possibilities, but lacked scientific understanding. Wheatstone had the scientific and technological skills, but did not see the commercial potential.