Though he is most famous for his invention and the code named after him, Samuel Morse did not develop his telegraph technology until he reached middle age. Previous to his focus on the telegraph, Morse was a prolific painter. He produced famous paintings that were hailed by critics as “masterpieces,” including the Dying Hercules, Judgment of Jupiter, The House of Representatives, The Gallery of the Louvre, and The Chapel of the Virgin at Subiaco. Morse also painted portraits of prominent leaders, including the Marquis de Lafayette, President John Adams, and President James Monroe. Some of Morse’s works remain on display at his estate in Poughkeepsie, New York.
In 1825, Morse founded the National Academy of Design in New York City and served as its president from 1826 to 1845 and from 1861 to 1862. In 1832, he was appointed professor of painting and sculpture at what is now New York University, the first such professorship in the United States. Among Morse’s students was Matthew Brady, one of America’s earliest photographers, who would go on to famously depict the Civil War.
While traveling abroad, Morse befriended author James Fenimore Cooper. Morse also met Louis Daguerre, and was fascinated by the daguerreotype, which was the initial practical form of photography. Morse wrote a letter to the New York Observer describing the invention, and the widely published better led to broad public awareness of the technology.
In 1832, when returning by ship from Europe, Morse first met Charles Thomas Jackson, who was accomplished in electromagnetism. After witnessing various experiments with Jackson’s electromagnet, Morse developed the concept of a single-wire telegraph. At the time, in England, Cooke and Wheatstone had been experimenting with telegraphy and understood that because a single large battery would not carry a signal over long distance, numerous small batteries would be more efficient. Cooke and Wheatstone patented the first electrical telegraph in May 1837.
Meanwhile, Morse was working to solve the problem of carrying a telegraphic signal over more than a few hundred yards of wire. With the help of NYU chemistry professor Leonard Gale, More introduced extra circuits (or relays) at frequent intervals and was soon able to transmit a message over ten miles of wire. Morse’s system of electromagnetic relays was the key breakthrough because the telegraphy would no longer be limited by distance. Morse’s prototype remains at the Smithsonian Institute.
In 1843, Congress appropriated $30,000 for construction of a 38-mile telegraph line between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore Maryland. On May 24, 1844, the line was officially opened with the infamous words, sent from the Supreme Court chamber in the basement of the U.S. Capitol building to Mount Clare Station in Baltimore. By 1850, 12,000 miles of telegraph wire had been laid in the United States. The next year, the Morse telegraphic apparatus was adopted as the official standard for European telegraphy, while the United Kingdom and its empire kept the needle telegraph of Cooke and Wheatstone. In 1858, the first transatlantic messages were sent.
In 1853, the Supreme Court ruled that Morse had been the first to combine the battery, electromagnetism, the electromagnet, and the correct battery configuration into a workable practical telegraph, in O’Reilly v. Morse. The Court sustained Morse’s claim to telecommunication effectuated by his inventive repeater apparatus. However, Morse was denied a monopoly on his claim 8, for any and all use of the electromagnetic force for purposes of transmitting intelligible signals to any distance, which bordered on privatization of natural transmission of electromagnetic radiation. The Court’s precedent has become foundational to modern patent law governing computer program-implemented inventions and inventions implementing natural laws.
Morse had seven children. The first three of his children were born to his first wife, Lucretia Pickering Walker. Lucretia died of a heart attack shortly after their third child was born. In 1848, at the age of 57, Morse married Sarah Elizabeth Griswold, and had four more children over nine years.
Throughout his life, Morse was an inventor on seven U.S. Patents. He was rarely awarded royalties for later uses and implementations of his inventions, but he was able to live comfortably.
In his later years, Morse gave large sums to charity. He died in New York City on April 2, 1872, and his will bequeathed a sum for an award medal presented annually by NYU to an undergraduate who demonstrates special ability in Physics. A statue of Morse now stands in Central Park.
In less than 200 years, the advent of paperless communication over distance has resulted in radio, land-line telephone, cellular, satellite, and Internet. Morse’s discovery made that crucial first step forward possible.