MORSE, Samuel Finley Breese
(1791–1872), American artist and inventor, known
for his invention of the electric TELEGRAPH and the Morse code.
Morse was born in Charlestown, Mass. (now part of Boston),
on April 27, 1791, and educated at Yale College (now Yale University).
He studied painting in London and became a successful portrait painter
and sculptor. In 1825 he helped found the National Academy of Design
in New York City, and the following year he became the first president
of the institution. He became professor of painting and sculpture
at New York University in 1832. About this time he developed an
apparatus for an electromagnetic telegraph. In 1837 he filed a caveat,
or legal notice, at the U.S. patent office and tried without success
to obtain European patents for his apparatus. He also invented a
code, now known as the Morse code, for use with his telegraph instrument.
In 1843 the U.S. Congress appropriated $30,000 for
Morse to construct an experimental telegraph line between Washington,
D.C., and Baltimore, Md. The line was successfully installed, and
on May 24, 1844, Morse sent the first message: “What hath
God wrought!” Morse was subsequently involved in much litigation over
his claim to the invention of the telegraph, and the courts decided
in his favor. He received many honors. Later he experimented with
submarine cable telegraphy. Morse died in New York City on April
2, 1872.