Morse

Morse, Samuel Finley Breeze (1791-1872), son of Rev. Jedidiah Morse, of Charlestown, Massachusetts, was a painter, sculptor, and art lecturer before turning inventor. The idea of an electric telegraph came to him in 1832, when on a voyage between Havre and New York. In 1837 he took out a patent for an electric machine, and in 1844 sent a telegraphic message from Washington to Baltimore, and his system soon came into use in America and in Germany. Professor Henry, however, disputed with him the priority of the invention, while Wheatstone and others also took out independent patents at the same time. An international present was given him in 1858 at the instance of Napoleon III.; his statue in bronze stands in New York. Morse also experimented in submarine telegraphy, and in 1857 attempted to lay a cable.