bild

Early telegraph printing receiver. 1868 illustration of an early telegraph receiver by American inventor Samuel Morse that automatically printed the received letters. Swiss physicist Georges-Louis Le Sage invented the first telegraph machine in 1774. However, although his system worked, it was impractical and not adopted. Practical electric telegraphy was invented in 1837. Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system based on European telegraphs and co-invented Morse code. (KEYSTONE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/COLLECTION ABECASIS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY)