Samuel Morse: Biography and Inventions.
                     Samuel Morse: 
Biography and 
Inventions
Introduction
By creating of the electric telegraph 
and unified language that managed to 
connect all four corners of our world, 
Samuel Morse solidified his place in 
the annals of our history.
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Early Years
Samuel F. B. Morse was the first child 
of clergyman Jedidiah Morse and 
Elisabeth Finley Morse. His parents 
were committed to his education and 
instilling in him the Calvinist faith.
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Early Years Cont.
After a mediocre showing at Phillips Academy, 
save for a strong interest in art, his parents 
sent him to Yale College. Samuel’s record at 
Yale wasn’t much better, though he found 
interest in lectures on electricity and focused 
intensely on his art.
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Education
After graduating from Yale in 1810, Morse 
wished to pursue a career as a painter, but 
his father desired a more substantial 
profession and arranged for him to 
apprentice at a bookstore/publisher in 
Boston, Massachusetts.
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Career as an 
Artist
Morse returned to America in 1815, and set up 
a studio in Boston. 
In 1818, he married Lucretia Walker, and 
during their brief union, they had three 
children. Morse soon discovered that his large 
paintings attracted significant attention but not 
many sales.
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Grief Transforms 
into Opportunity
In the decade between 1825 and 1835, grief 
transformed into an opportunity for Morse. 
In February 1825, after giving birth to their 
third child, Lucretia died.
Morse was away from home working on a 
painting commission when he heard his wife 
was gravely ill, and by the time he arrived 
home, she had already been buried.
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Discussion with 
Charles Thomas 
On his voyage home, in 1832, he met the 
inventor Charles Thomas Jackson, and the 
two got into a discussion about how an 
electronic impulse could be carried along a 
wire for long distances. 
Morse immediately became intrigued and 
made some sketches of a mechanical device 
that he believed would accomplish the task.
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Inventing the 
Telegraph
After studying the work of American 
physicist Joseph Henry, Morse developed a 
prototype of the telegraph. 
In 1836, others in Europe were also 
working on the invention, and it is possible 
Morse knew about these, but no one had 
yet developed a fully operational device 
that could transmit over long distances.
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Morse code
In 1838, Morse formed a partnership 
with fellow inventor Alfred Vail, who 
contributed funds and helped develop 
the system of dots and dashes for 
sending signals that would eventually 
become known as Morse code. 
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Later Years
In 1848, Morse had married Sarah Griswold, with 
whom he had four children, and after he was 
recognized as the “inventor of the telegraph,” he 
settled down to a life of wealth, philanthropy and 
family.
Morse died of pneumonia on April 2, 1872, at his 
home in New York City at age 80.
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