1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:04,960 Speaker 1: Welcome back to this week's classic episode, fellow Ridiculous Historians. 2 00:00:05,760 --> 00:00:08,720 Speaker 1: This one, to be quite honest with you, is going 3 00:00:08,760 --> 00:00:13,600 Speaker 1: to take some unexpected dark turns. Max, did you ever 4 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:14,800 Speaker 1: learn Morse code? 5 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:15,440 Speaker 2: Oh? 6 00:00:15,520 --> 00:00:21,520 Speaker 1: God? Nopppep bepepepep right. 7 00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:23,480 Speaker 2: I might have just said something very dirty, or I 8 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:27,640 Speaker 2: might have said nothing, probably the latter, but that something. 9 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:31,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, Morse code is going to be familiar to a 10 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:36,040 Speaker 1: certain contingent of our fellow Ridiculous historians. It is a 11 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 1: useful thing to know. No, it is maybe not as 12 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:42,560 Speaker 1: common now as it used to be back in the day, 13 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:51,040 Speaker 1: but the evolution of communication across the planet owes a 14 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:55,360 Speaker 1: lot to the telegraph and to Morse code. This revolutionize 15 00:00:55,400 --> 00:01:00,160 Speaker 1: the way people transmit information. In today's classic episod, so 16 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:05,360 Speaker 1: we are going to explore the life and times of 17 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:08,800 Speaker 1: the man who invented the code in the first place, 18 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:14,039 Speaker 1: a guy named Samuel Morse. Again, we cannot emphasize this enough. 19 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:20,640 Speaker 1: This is kind of a bummer. Ridiculous History is a 20 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:47,760 Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. Noel, did you ever have to learn 21 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:48,520 Speaker 1: Morse Code? 22 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:52,760 Speaker 2: No? God, that was not a very interesting response. Let 23 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:55,160 Speaker 2: me make something up. Yeah, totally. When I was in 24 00:01:55,760 --> 00:01:58,040 Speaker 2: cub Scouts and we went on a camping trip into 25 00:01:58,040 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 2: the wilderness, so we had to learn how to communicate 26 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:04,760 Speaker 2: by tapping tree bark. Yeah, exactly, totally. 27 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:09,120 Speaker 1: Well. When I was back in Boy Scouts, one of 28 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:13,880 Speaker 1: the things that our troop leaders continually needled me about. 29 00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:16,840 Speaker 1: They're always like, Ben, you're good at knots, you can 30 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:19,239 Speaker 1: find a way around in the woods. But you you 31 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:22,320 Speaker 1: got to learn Morse code, buddy. It's just it's been 32 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 1: too long, you know what I mean. You're eleven, now 33 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:28,359 Speaker 1: it's getting real. You got to learn Morse code. And 34 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:31,680 Speaker 1: so eventually I learned Morse code, passed the test with it, 35 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:33,680 Speaker 1: and then promptly forgot it. 36 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:36,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, when you turn eleven, you get your first big 37 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:39,000 Speaker 2: boy bike and you learn Morse code, right. 38 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:43,160 Speaker 1: Right, And that's for late bloomers, not for early adopters 39 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 1: like our super producer Casey Pegram. Give them a hand, folks. 40 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:54,400 Speaker 1: Today's episode is about Morse code, but more importantly, it's 41 00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:56,400 Speaker 1: about the Man himself. 42 00:02:56,480 --> 00:03:00,000 Speaker 2: That's right, the Morseman, the Morsemen, not to be confused 43 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:01,240 Speaker 2: with some sort of norseman. 44 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:04,840 Speaker 1: No, No, that's a hard mus Yes, yeah. 45 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:07,240 Speaker 2: Yeah, the man, the myth, the Morseman. 46 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:11,840 Speaker 1: The Morseman, Samuel Morseman morse So Samuel Moose born in 47 00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:16,120 Speaker 1: April twenty seventh, seventeen ninety one. Today he is remembered 48 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:20,120 Speaker 1: primarily for the code system that bears his name, morse Code. 49 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:22,560 Speaker 1: And everyone knows what that is. Casey, could we get 50 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:32,959 Speaker 1: just a little clip of how that would sound? You know? 51 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:33,400 Speaker 2: Perfect? 52 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:36,320 Speaker 1: So like a series of short beats and then long ones. 53 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:37,880 Speaker 2: Yeah, and if you're really good at it, you can 54 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:39,160 Speaker 2: do it. You know, I would do it more like 55 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:42,760 Speaker 2: dot dot dash dot dot Dad. But if you're really 56 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:44,680 Speaker 2: good and you can work one of those little flipper 57 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:46,400 Speaker 2: paddle button things, you know that you see in the 58 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:50,600 Speaker 2: old movies, you'd be more like brererep you know what 59 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:53,360 Speaker 2: I mean. Like that's Morse code. A telegraph, Yeah, telegraph, 60 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:56,480 Speaker 2: which he's also credited with. He didn't really invent it exactly, 61 00:03:56,520 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 2: but he improved upon a previous design and made it 62 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:04,800 Speaker 2: much more useful in relaying information more or less instantaneously. Yeah. 63 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:08,760 Speaker 1: That's the thing. So most inventions that we think of 64 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:13,920 Speaker 1: as the huge game changing innovations, most of those are 65 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:16,520 Speaker 1: not going to be made up by one person working 66 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:19,440 Speaker 1: in isolation. You know what I mean multiple people exhibit 67 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:22,440 Speaker 1: parallel thinking. It's a phrase you enjoy or you. 68 00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:24,680 Speaker 2: Know, the whole idea of standing on the shoulders of 69 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:27,280 Speaker 2: giants and all that and improving, piggybacking on something that 70 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:29,520 Speaker 2: has come before and making it better and making it 71 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:30,479 Speaker 2: suit the times. 72 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:36,039 Speaker 1: Yes, that's correct. He he eventually improved, as you said, 73 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:41,560 Speaker 1: on this existing telegraph technology, famously sending the first telegraph 74 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:45,560 Speaker 1: message on May twenty fourth, eighteen forty four. But between 75 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:49,920 Speaker 1: his first day on the planet and that moment where 76 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:53,359 Speaker 1: he sends the first telegraph message, a lot of stuff happened, 77 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:57,720 Speaker 1: and not all of it was particularly pleasant. In fact, 78 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:02,640 Speaker 1: we could say that without great personal tragedy, Morse code 79 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:05,159 Speaker 1: may not have ever come to be and. 80 00:05:05,279 --> 00:05:07,800 Speaker 2: Know and that first telegraph messag is that Morese sent 81 00:05:08,640 --> 00:05:12,520 Speaker 2: a little heavy, inn't it. It's a what hath God wrought? 82 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:15,159 Speaker 2: That sounds sinister to me. 83 00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:17,599 Speaker 1: I like it. It's better than ahoi hoi. 84 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:21,640 Speaker 2: That's true, ahoihoi, which was what famously mister Burns sent 85 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:23,640 Speaker 2: on the first ever telephone call. 86 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:30,039 Speaker 1: Right right so before Samuel Morse was known for his inventions, 87 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:34,320 Speaker 1: way back when Morse was just a regular surname. This 88 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:37,600 Speaker 1: guy had a completely different job, didn't. 89 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:40,960 Speaker 2: He He did. He went to Yale and when he 90 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:44,680 Speaker 2: graduated was his degree in ben Did you catch that well? 91 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:49,400 Speaker 1: He studied several different things. He studied religious philosophy, mathematics, 92 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:51,520 Speaker 1: and equestrian science. 93 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:54,200 Speaker 2: Which is so interesting because he went into none of 94 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:58,520 Speaker 2: those fields. Upon graduating from Yale, he became a quite 95 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:02,000 Speaker 2: well regarded portrait paint and a piece that he did 96 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:04,240 Speaker 2: I was not aware of this at all. His work 97 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 2: is pretty breathtaking. He has one piece called Dying Hercules 98 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:12,520 Speaker 2: that has that kind of Caravaggio asque look of like 99 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:17,200 Speaker 2: some of the Italian masters, like real charscuro lighting like 100 00:06:17,279 --> 00:06:21,120 Speaker 2: this dude is heavily ripped, massive pectorals and eight pack 101 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:23,560 Speaker 2: kind of back in the throes of agony, leaning up 102 00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:26,599 Speaker 2: against some rocks as hercules holding up this kind of 103 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:29,360 Speaker 2: like sheet as though were like a wing. And it's 104 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:33,120 Speaker 2: really breathtaking, epic stuff. And he received some note from 105 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:37,360 Speaker 2: that work and got some really pretty big name commissions 106 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:37,839 Speaker 2: as a painter. 107 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:41,839 Speaker 1: It's interesting because this was a masterpiece early in his life. 108 00:06:41,839 --> 00:06:46,039 Speaker 1: It's typically called his early masterpiece. And just a side note, 109 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:49,520 Speaker 1: he did a sculpture of this first and he based 110 00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:51,080 Speaker 1: the painting on that sculpture. 111 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:51,880 Speaker 2: I didn't know that. 112 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:55,440 Speaker 1: That's pretty weird, right, I wasn't aware of that technique, 113 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:58,000 Speaker 1: but I assume it's a common thing because this guy 114 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:02,000 Speaker 1: was a big deal painter. He he ended up attracting 115 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:05,040 Speaker 1: the attention of notable artists of the time, such as 116 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:08,960 Speaker 1: Washington Alston, who wanted him to meet another artist named 117 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:14,000 Speaker 1: Benjamin West and along with Morse's father, Alston arranged for 118 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:19,120 Speaker 1: Morse to stay in England for three years to study painting, 119 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:22,680 Speaker 1: and eventually, by the end of eighteen eleven he was 120 00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:26,600 Speaker 1: admitted to the Royal Academy and this is where he 121 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:30,960 Speaker 1: began producing things like dying hercules. He has some portraits 122 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:33,400 Speaker 1: that are in the National Portrait Gallery now, including a 123 00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:34,560 Speaker 1: self portrait. 124 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:39,680 Speaker 2: Yeah, and I believe he did one of James Madison 125 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:44,000 Speaker 2: as well, and he was commissioned to paint a portrait 126 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:49,280 Speaker 2: of the Marquis de Lafayette in Washington in February of 127 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:52,240 Speaker 2: eighteen twenty five. Oh, we also did John Adams and 128 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:58,480 Speaker 2: James Monroe. And that was when, unfortunately, tragically, his wife 129 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:01,520 Speaker 2: Lucretia fell deathly ill. 130 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:07,200 Speaker 1: Yes, she fell ill just a month after giving birth 131 00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:13,200 Speaker 1: to their third child, and she was located in new Haven, Connecticut, 132 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:16,119 Speaker 1: and he was in Washington in February of eighteen twenty 133 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:22,520 Speaker 1: five painting that portrait. So he dropped everything ran back 134 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:28,600 Speaker 1: to New Haven as quickly as he could. Unfortunately, he 135 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:33,360 Speaker 1: was too late, and his wife passed at the young 136 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:36,840 Speaker 1: age of twenty five on February seventh, eighteen twenty five. 137 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:39,360 Speaker 1: And at this point the only way that he could 138 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:42,760 Speaker 1: receive notice of this would be through a written correspondence, 139 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:46,160 Speaker 1: a letter through the post, or word of mouth, or 140 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:48,960 Speaker 1: maybe somebody sending a courier, you know what I mean, 141 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:53,280 Speaker 1: and Corvid of some kind, Yes, a Corvid courier. So 142 00:08:53,640 --> 00:08:58,959 Speaker 1: his father sent him a letter about his wife's illness, 143 00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:02,680 Speaker 1: and more did not receive this letter for several days. 144 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:09,080 Speaker 1: He wrote to his wife two days after she had died, 145 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:12,400 Speaker 1: unaware that she had passed from this earth, and he 146 00:09:12,559 --> 00:09:15,040 Speaker 1: was talking to her about the election of John Quincy 147 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:19,240 Speaker 1: Adams as president, his meeting with Lafayette, and then by 148 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:22,240 Speaker 1: the time he returned to New Haven, several days had 149 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:23,840 Speaker 1: passed since her burial. 150 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:26,520 Speaker 2: What would have been from Washington, DC to New Haven, 151 00:09:26,559 --> 00:09:30,520 Speaker 2: Connecticut in those days, which would have been by train. 152 00:09:31,160 --> 00:09:32,040 Speaker 2: How do you have traveled? 153 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:36,240 Speaker 1: I wonder it's an interesting question. So the distance, if 154 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:39,240 Speaker 1: you're talking just a straight flight, the distance would be 155 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:41,840 Speaker 1: about Testain Corbett flies, Yeah, two hundred and seventy three 156 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:45,360 Speaker 1: miles or four hundred and forty kilometers for the rest 157 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:48,520 Speaker 1: of the world. So just for perspective, if someone were 158 00:09:48,559 --> 00:09:51,960 Speaker 1: traveling on a train today on Amtrak, for instance, how 159 00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:54,000 Speaker 1: long would that journey take? 160 00:09:54,120 --> 00:09:56,400 Speaker 2: I think only about five and a half hours or so, 161 00:09:56,600 --> 00:09:58,480 Speaker 2: which kind of threw me because at first I when 162 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:00,440 Speaker 2: I read this, I misread and thought he was much 163 00:10:00,440 --> 00:10:02,439 Speaker 2: farther away because he had spent a lot of time overseas, 164 00:10:02,640 --> 00:10:06,320 Speaker 2: but he was in fact not that far, but still 165 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:10,880 Speaker 2: just the same, he needed the information instantly, and that 166 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:15,520 Speaker 2: is what led him to decide he needed to devise 167 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:17,920 Speaker 2: a way of doing this so other people wouldn't have 168 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:20,559 Speaker 2: to experience what he experienced, because he wrote a letter 169 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:23,800 Speaker 2: to his daughter after the passing of his wife that 170 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:26,640 Speaker 2: was just really heartbreaking to read. 171 00:10:27,160 --> 00:10:30,080 Speaker 1: Right, he said, you cannot know the depth of the 172 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:32,679 Speaker 1: wound that was inflicted when I was deprived of your 173 00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:35,520 Speaker 1: dear mother, nor in how many ways that wound has 174 00:10:35,559 --> 00:10:39,640 Speaker 1: been kept open and when he learned of their death, 175 00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:46,199 Speaker 1: he vowed to find some way to deliver important messages 176 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:49,800 Speaker 1: in a timely manner, and he would spend the next 177 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:53,439 Speaker 1: two decades perfecting this system. 178 00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:56,720 Speaker 2: He didn't give up the art right away, but he 179 00:10:57,080 --> 00:11:00,840 Speaker 2: continued kind of tinkering away at this side hush at 180 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:03,720 Speaker 2: the same time. And it was in eighteen thirty two, 181 00:11:04,559 --> 00:11:09,400 Speaker 2: when he was on another voyage sea voyage to Europe. 182 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:12,440 Speaker 2: From Europe rather back to the United States, that he 183 00:11:12,559 --> 00:11:16,960 Speaker 2: met a very important gentleman for the evolution of what 184 00:11:17,040 --> 00:11:19,480 Speaker 2: would be his kind of crowning achievement. 185 00:11:19,960 --> 00:11:25,640 Speaker 1: Yes, Charles Thomas Jackson, a Boston physician and scientist. And 186 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:30,600 Speaker 1: Jackson says to Morse, hey, check out this electromagnet I made. 187 00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:36,440 Speaker 1: He had a rudimentary electromagnet, and Morse was inspired. And 188 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:40,000 Speaker 1: Morse thought, you know what, what if I could send 189 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:44,319 Speaker 1: a message along a wire by opening and closing an 190 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:49,040 Speaker 1: electrical circuit, and then an electro magnet could record these 191 00:11:49,679 --> 00:11:53,400 Speaker 1: blips on a piece of paper via some sort of 192 00:11:54,040 --> 00:11:58,679 Speaker 1: dare I say a code? And I like your thinking, 193 00:11:58,880 --> 00:12:04,360 Speaker 1: yeah right, And this is one of those I don't 194 00:12:04,400 --> 00:12:08,439 Speaker 1: know at first. It's like a cocktail Napkin idea. You know, 195 00:12:08,559 --> 00:12:12,920 Speaker 1: he's still what iffing to himself. But when he goes 196 00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:15,760 Speaker 1: back to the US, when he disembarks from the trip, 197 00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:19,160 Speaker 1: he moves forward with the idea and he meets another 198 00:12:19,280 --> 00:12:23,840 Speaker 1: guy who works with electromagnets, a fellow named Joseph Henry. 199 00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:28,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, and Joseph Henry was also working with the idea 200 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:31,439 Speaker 2: of electromagnetism, which is just quick and dirty. I'm no 201 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:34,720 Speaker 2: magnet scientist, but it is the idea of passing electric 202 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:39,200 Speaker 2: current into a magnet that turns on and off its 203 00:12:39,400 --> 00:12:42,319 Speaker 2: magnetic abilities, right, Yeah. 204 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:45,200 Speaker 1: I mean I'm not a magnet doctor either, but I 205 00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:54,280 Speaker 1: like that phrase. But yeah, that's the basic gist. At 206 00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:58,959 Speaker 1: this time, Morse still doesn't absolutely understand the nuts and 207 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:02,960 Speaker 1: bolts of how electro magnetism works. And it is Henry 208 00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:08,400 Speaker 1: who explains the phenomenon of electromagnetism to Morse, and he 209 00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:13,080 Speaker 1: also shows him the experimental electromagnets that he has built. 210 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:19,640 Speaker 1: And if you look at the electromagnets Morse later goes 211 00:13:19,679 --> 00:13:23,040 Speaker 1: on to use and the experimental ones that Joseph Henry created, 212 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:28,839 Speaker 1: they're obviously the same design. He's well, you don't want 213 00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:32,080 Speaker 1: to call it plagiarism. But he's riffing well, but he 214 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:36,880 Speaker 1: did sue, I believe, yeah, yeah, later he did sue 215 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:39,640 Speaker 1: and said, hey, that's my idea. You can you can 216 00:13:39,679 --> 00:13:41,840 Speaker 1: read some of this, by the way, in a fantastic 217 00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:45,800 Speaker 1: Smithsonian article called How Samuel Morse Got His Big Idea 218 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:49,959 Speaker 1: by Joseph Stromberg, And the Smithsonian has written a couple 219 00:13:49,960 --> 00:13:52,959 Speaker 1: of things about the story of Morse because I don't 220 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:55,760 Speaker 1: remember if we've mentioned this on area yet. Joseph Henry 221 00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:58,040 Speaker 1: would later go on to become the first Secretary of 222 00:13:58,080 --> 00:14:01,240 Speaker 1: the Smithsonian Institution. They have a little bit of stake 223 00:14:01,280 --> 00:14:05,600 Speaker 1: in the game here story wise. So before he gets sued, 224 00:14:06,160 --> 00:14:11,160 Speaker 1: Morse and Henry are pretty good buds. They're having interesting conversations. 225 00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:14,080 Speaker 1: Morse goes back to his home, which is now in 226 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:17,600 Speaker 1: New York, and in eighteen thirty seven he creates his 227 00:14:17,679 --> 00:14:19,520 Speaker 1: first telegraph receiver. 228 00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:22,600 Speaker 2: It's, like I said, is kind of that thing you 229 00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:25,400 Speaker 2: see in some of these old, the old pictures where 230 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:29,040 Speaker 2: it's like a button exactly on a spring and that 231 00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:31,920 Speaker 2: clopens and closes the circuit to the decay. Yeah, when 232 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:34,440 Speaker 2: you need the taps, that's right, And that is pretty 233 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:36,120 Speaker 2: much what it looked like and it got sort of 234 00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:40,440 Speaker 2: streamlined over time, and you can actually see this first 235 00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:44,600 Speaker 2: ever version, this prototype today at the American History Museum. 236 00:14:44,680 --> 00:14:48,160 Speaker 1: And according to Harold Wallace, the curator of the American 237 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:53,880 Speaker 1: History Museum, the most interesting aspect of this is that 238 00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:57,960 Speaker 1: he took an artist canvas stretcher and made it into 239 00:14:58,120 --> 00:15:00,760 Speaker 1: a telegraph receiver. A canvas stretcher is what you use 240 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:04,160 Speaker 1: to stretch the canvas over a frame and a fixation. 241 00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:06,880 Speaker 2: So he was kind of given props to his old 242 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:08,000 Speaker 2: arts roots. 243 00:15:08,680 --> 00:15:11,680 Speaker 1: And to Wallace, this is symbolic of a shift from 244 00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:15,720 Speaker 1: painter to telegrapher, all in one piece, one artifact. That's 245 00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:20,720 Speaker 1: pretty cool, somewhat poetic. Right. So now he theoretically has 246 00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:24,160 Speaker 1: a way to record these signals, and he has to 247 00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:27,600 Speaker 1: figure out how to transmit them. Right. Yeah, he builds 248 00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:29,640 Speaker 1: the receiver first, but he doesn't build a way to 249 00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:30,400 Speaker 1: transmit it. 250 00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:32,840 Speaker 2: So was the infrastructure already in place for this, because 251 00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:35,240 Speaker 2: I mean this is obviously pre telephone. 252 00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:37,480 Speaker 1: Right, He had to work with some other people and 253 00:15:37,520 --> 00:15:40,720 Speaker 1: this is where his colleagues Leonard Gale and Alfred Vail 254 00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:44,600 Speaker 1: come into play. Over the next few years, after building 255 00:15:44,680 --> 00:15:48,360 Speaker 1: this receiver, Morse, still, a man on a mission, works 256 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:52,560 Speaker 1: to improve this system, and he uses Veil's transmitter key 257 00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:56,880 Speaker 1: and a code of dots and dashes. This would be 258 00:15:57,040 --> 00:16:04,800 Speaker 1: what becomes known as Morse code. And initially people said, okay, 259 00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:07,560 Speaker 1: it could be potentially useful, but they had a hard 260 00:16:07,640 --> 00:16:12,600 Speaker 1: time getting investors because of the infrastructure problem that you 261 00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:17,280 Speaker 1: alluded to earlier. There's not a pre existing network of 262 00:16:17,440 --> 00:16:20,320 Speaker 1: miles and miles and miles of wire. You would have 263 00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:24,280 Speaker 1: to build it to send that signal. And that's something 264 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:26,240 Speaker 1: that we see with a lot of technology. One of 265 00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:28,960 Speaker 1: the things people are talking about today with autonomous vehicles 266 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:31,200 Speaker 1: is how do you build a system in which they 267 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:31,760 Speaker 1: can exist? 268 00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:33,520 Speaker 2: That's right, and so in the same way that we're 269 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:37,280 Speaker 2: doing small scale tests of autonomous vehicles in private in 270 00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:40,440 Speaker 2: these private companies and then gradually doing road tests, some 271 00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:44,560 Speaker 2: of which have spectacularly failed, they did that very thing 272 00:16:44,640 --> 00:16:47,920 Speaker 2: to demonstrate to potential investors that this technology did work 273 00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:51,040 Speaker 2: using short runs of wires instead of the kind that 274 00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:53,200 Speaker 2: would have been strung miles and miles apart to make 275 00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:56,600 Speaker 2: the technology actually useful across long distances. 276 00:16:56,880 --> 00:16:59,920 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a part of the story that I found 277 00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:04,800 Speaker 1: endearing they turned to Uncle Sam. They asked the US 278 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:09,879 Speaker 1: government for some scratch, some cheddar, some sweet sweet telegraph 279 00:17:09,920 --> 00:17:14,000 Speaker 1: money just to construct this network, to lay these lines, 280 00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:17,840 Speaker 1: to make this wire stuff happen. And the way that 281 00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:21,359 Speaker 1: they convinced the government to fund it was through this 282 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:24,160 Speaker 1: sort of science fair approach. They did a live demonstration 283 00:17:24,600 --> 00:17:27,320 Speaker 1: within the Capitol and they strung wires up just between 284 00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:28,160 Speaker 1: different rooms. 285 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:31,080 Speaker 2: You know what makes me think of there's a part 286 00:17:31,119 --> 00:17:34,000 Speaker 2: in the new Red Dead Redemption game where the character 287 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:36,800 Speaker 2: you play, the cowboy I can't remember his name for 288 00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:39,600 Speaker 2: some reason, now, Arthur Morgan. Arthur Morgan, great game if 289 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:43,640 Speaker 2: you haven't played it. He happens upon an inventor who 290 00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:46,920 Speaker 2: has these remote control boats that are like little battleship 291 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:49,200 Speaker 2: kind of things that can like, you know, shoot missiles. 292 00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:51,880 Speaker 2: And the whole idea is that he wants to get 293 00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:55,119 Speaker 2: investors and he rounds up rich people that are like 294 00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:57,160 Speaker 2: walking around in the city that you're in to come 295 00:17:57,200 --> 00:18:00,480 Speaker 2: and check out him using this wireless technolog And that 296 00:18:00,520 --> 00:18:01,800 Speaker 2: was sort of a time. It was just at the 297 00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:04,520 Speaker 2: same time, around the late eighteen hundreds or mid eighteen hundreds, 298 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:07,240 Speaker 2: and it was a time of that kind of ingenuity. 299 00:18:07,560 --> 00:18:10,720 Speaker 2: When people were so far ahead of like what investors 300 00:18:10,760 --> 00:18:13,960 Speaker 2: were willing to put their money toward, you had to 301 00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:16,639 Speaker 2: really wow them with some kind of display that they 302 00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:19,760 Speaker 2: it was unequivocally a thing that was going to work 303 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:21,919 Speaker 2: and that was worth their money. 304 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:24,880 Speaker 1: Yeah, and so they put some cash behind it. They 305 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:29,199 Speaker 1: gave Morse and Co. Thirty thousand dollars to build a 306 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:35,080 Speaker 1: thirty eight mile wire line from Baltimore, Maryland to Washington, DC. 307 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:39,399 Speaker 1: And then on May one, oh, should we inflation calculate that? 308 00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:42,240 Speaker 2: We think, Oh, of course, whatever we can, we should. 309 00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:46,080 Speaker 2: I'm going to guess one million dollars. 310 00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:49,600 Speaker 1: So let's say, just for the sake of argument, let's 311 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:53,280 Speaker 1: say eighteen forties dollars. And we said, what was that? 312 00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:58,360 Speaker 1: Thirty thousand? Okay, so thirty thousand dollars in the eighteen 313 00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:01,880 Speaker 1: forties would be equal. Well, two, what did you guess? 314 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:02,959 Speaker 2: One million dollars? 315 00:19:03,119 --> 00:19:08,240 Speaker 1: Dude, you're really close. It's nine hundred and eighty thousand, 316 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:08,919 Speaker 1: four and eighty dollars. 317 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:10,040 Speaker 2: Awesome. What do I win? 318 00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:12,720 Speaker 1: A peace of mind? 319 00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:14,880 Speaker 2: I'll take it, Okay, I need it. 320 00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:18,159 Speaker 1: Yeah, dude, I'm sure we have a T shirt somewhere. 321 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:19,920 Speaker 1: A ridiculous history T shirt. 322 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:21,359 Speaker 2: I'm not gonna be one of those guys in the 323 00:19:21,359 --> 00:19:24,160 Speaker 2: band wearing their own shirt. That's embarrassing. 324 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:26,399 Speaker 1: I would wear a Casey on the K shirt. 325 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:28,920 Speaker 2: Oh, I absolutely would. That's different though, that that represents 326 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:31,400 Speaker 2: the good mister Pegram, not our own. 327 00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:34,720 Speaker 1: Do we talk about this on air? I pitched Casey 328 00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:38,600 Speaker 1: on getting a T shirt with just his face on it. 329 00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:41,800 Speaker 1: You were against that, right? 330 00:19:42,480 --> 00:19:44,359 Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah? I think so. I'm going to say a 331 00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:47,560 Speaker 2: note to that one. Oh man, Casey on the sad 332 00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:52,600 Speaker 2: sad case Well, you know what, Hey, how about this, listeners, Yeah, 333 00:19:52,640 --> 00:19:55,560 Speaker 2: you guys speak up, let us know, demand it, Demand 334 00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:58,159 Speaker 2: Casey's face on a T shirt. Then we'll see if 335 00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:02,040 Speaker 2: he changes his tune. Oh, we're gonna be in deep 336 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:04,399 Speaker 2: trouble on that one. Huh so oh yeah. So they 337 00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:08,600 Speaker 2: strung up the line, Yeah, probably along a similar route 338 00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:11,639 Speaker 2: as there would have been a train travel I imagine. 339 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:13,359 Speaker 1: That would make sense, right, that's a good point. It 340 00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:18,360 Speaker 1: really gets national attention when the device is used by 341 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:24,160 Speaker 1: the Whig Party to telegraph their presidential nomination from Baltimore, Maryland, 342 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:27,920 Speaker 1: to Washington, d C. Much much faster than an ordinary 343 00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:32,560 Speaker 1: courier could have traveled and people say, holy smokes, building 344 00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:36,080 Speaker 1: this wires is real pain. Once you have the wire up, 345 00:20:36,119 --> 00:20:37,199 Speaker 1: this is very useful. 346 00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:39,960 Speaker 2: Yeah, and it makes me think of those barbed wire 347 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:43,760 Speaker 2: telephone networks because all you need is a conductive material. 348 00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:46,040 Speaker 2: There's something special about it just has to travel from 349 00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:48,680 Speaker 2: point A to point B and it can transmit those messages. 350 00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:51,120 Speaker 2: And it's so cool because I mean, it makes sense, 351 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:53,399 Speaker 2: but I just wasn't thinking about it in these terms. 352 00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:56,520 Speaker 2: You know, in my head, the invention of the telegraph 353 00:20:56,560 --> 00:20:59,200 Speaker 2: was so far removed from the inventor of the telephone. 354 00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:01,879 Speaker 2: But that's how how technology works when you're building on 355 00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:07,160 Speaker 2: the work of others. Antonio Meucci, who was an Italian immigrant, 356 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:10,760 Speaker 2: started developing what was referred to as the talking telegraph 357 00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:13,040 Speaker 2: as early as eighteen forty nine. 358 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:18,600 Speaker 1: We see the concurrence or the confluence rather of these 359 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:20,520 Speaker 1: similar technologies. 360 00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:23,720 Speaker 2: Oh, speaking of your parallel thinking, the Italian gentleman I 361 00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:27,760 Speaker 2: just mentioned came up with his design completely independently of 362 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:31,440 Speaker 2: Alexander Graham Bell, who is credited with the invention. So 363 00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:33,160 Speaker 2: it just goes to show like it's totally a thing 364 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:33,720 Speaker 2: that happens. 365 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:36,880 Speaker 1: It's first to the patent office. Sometimes that's the way 366 00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:40,280 Speaker 1: it works. Right. So Morris has finally achieved his mission, 367 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:46,560 Speaker 1: and almost twenty years later, nineteen twenty years later, he 368 00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:51,280 Speaker 1: has not put his tragedy to rest, but he has 369 00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:56,440 Speaker 1: made something positive in the world from this terrible personal catastrophe. 370 00:21:56,960 --> 00:21:59,320 Speaker 1: And that brings us to the question that we have 371 00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:03,840 Speaker 1: to ask, would Morse code or would the telegraph have 372 00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:08,520 Speaker 1: existed without this man on personal mission? The answer is yes, 373 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:16,080 Speaker 1: it just wouldn't be Morse code. We've been throwing around 374 00:22:16,119 --> 00:22:18,840 Speaker 1: the phrase Morse code and we said they're dots and dashes. 375 00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:23,320 Speaker 1: What exactly is Morse code? It changed a little over time, right. 376 00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:25,119 Speaker 2: It did change a little bit over time, because, like 377 00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:28,080 Speaker 2: we said, you know, he had this invention that he 378 00:22:28,119 --> 00:22:32,480 Speaker 2: had worked with these other inventors to achieve, including Alfred Vail, 379 00:22:32,840 --> 00:22:37,359 Speaker 2: who invented his contribution to the device, which was the 380 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:40,080 Speaker 2: telegraph key, which is literally that little button that we've 381 00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:42,439 Speaker 2: been talking about that allows you to like enter in 382 00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:46,760 Speaker 2: the code. But Morse himself was credited with coming up 383 00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:50,720 Speaker 2: with a system of dots, as in a short beep 384 00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:54,040 Speaker 2: and then a long beep beep versus beep, and with 385 00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:57,000 Speaker 2: those it's sort of like a Braille alphabet, but for 386 00:22:57,040 --> 00:22:58,800 Speaker 2: your ears instead of your fingers right. 387 00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:02,200 Speaker 1: Right, And he created this code with some inspiration from 388 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:06,240 Speaker 1: earlier attempts to communicate even just line of sight over 389 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:09,600 Speaker 1: distance through visual cues, you know, semaphore kind of stuff. 390 00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:13,960 Speaker 1: Yet a controversy exists. If you look at International Morse 391 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:17,000 Speaker 1: Code now we still call it Morse code, you'll see 392 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:21,880 Speaker 1: that that fairly easy to grock system dots and dashes. 393 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:25,200 Speaker 2: Or ditson does as it's referred to in the parlance 394 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:26,160 Speaker 2: of Morse coderie. 395 00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:30,920 Speaker 1: Yes, and I like the phrase coderie. However, many scholars 396 00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:34,800 Speaker 1: will tell you that Morse code is misnamed and it 397 00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:39,320 Speaker 1: should actually be called Veil code due to the contributions 398 00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:43,880 Speaker 1: of Alfred Vail, who collaborated with Samuel Morse. So many 399 00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:49,399 Speaker 1: scholars will say that Veil, as a collaborator, was the 400 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:53,919 Speaker 1: generative force behind what we call Morse code. However, people 401 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:57,680 Speaker 1: who say that Morse invented it himself will point out 402 00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:01,480 Speaker 1: that Veil in public and private claimed he invented the code, 403 00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:06,199 Speaker 1: and he credited Samuel Morse with the creation of the 404 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:10,560 Speaker 1: code in different private correspondence. So if you want to 405 00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:13,639 Speaker 1: be a revolutionary academic, you can you can argue the 406 00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:17,480 Speaker 1: veil side of it. It's just many people attribute Morse 407 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:20,720 Speaker 1: code to Samuel Morse, including Alfred Vail. 408 00:24:21,119 --> 00:24:25,240 Speaker 2: Yeah, and I actually had the misconception that Morse code 409 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:28,640 Speaker 2: was sort of the way you would enter in letters 410 00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:32,360 Speaker 2: alpha numerically, like in a telephone where you know each 411 00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:37,120 Speaker 2: however many you know A is one dot, B is two, 412 00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:39,040 Speaker 2: C is three. But if you think about it in 413 00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:41,040 Speaker 2: a whole sentence, if you keep things in one letter 414 00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:42,760 Speaker 2: at a time like that, it would take ages to 415 00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:46,480 Speaker 2: communicate any meaningful information. Right, So there's a whole other 416 00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:51,479 Speaker 2: system that makes Morse code efficient and able to have 417 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:54,600 Speaker 2: high words per minutent counts, which is how Morse code 418 00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:57,560 Speaker 2: transmissions are measured. But I have to say, Ben, even 419 00:24:57,600 --> 00:24:59,480 Speaker 2: after reading into this stuff, maybe I'm being a little 420 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:03,560 Speaker 2: dense here, I still don't fully get like how the 421 00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:06,199 Speaker 2: code works. Because if an S is an sos is 422 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:10,800 Speaker 2: three dits, an O is three dos and S is 423 00:25:10,840 --> 00:25:13,840 Speaker 2: three dits, how does that relate to other letters? Or 424 00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:16,880 Speaker 2: is it a phrase based like maybe you can acca. 425 00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:20,600 Speaker 1: So think of it in terms of units, So a 426 00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:24,119 Speaker 1: dit or dot think of it as one unit, almost 427 00:25:24,119 --> 00:25:29,000 Speaker 1: like music, Okay, and a dash is three units, so 428 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:33,520 Speaker 1: dot and then a dash is got it for lack 429 00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:37,520 Speaker 1: of a better vocal cue, The space between parts of 430 00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:40,960 Speaker 1: the same letter would be one unit, so there's one 431 00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:45,800 Speaker 1: dits space between these dits and these dos. And the 432 00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:49,679 Speaker 1: space between separate letters is three units, so there's a 433 00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:53,640 Speaker 1: three unit space between every letter that you send out. 434 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:58,439 Speaker 1: So when an sos, you would have that dit and 435 00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:01,560 Speaker 1: then a space for the span of three other dits. 436 00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:04,520 Speaker 1: So people would say, Okay, that's stopped, that's an S 437 00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:07,560 Speaker 1: and then where is that why? On telegrams they say 438 00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:13,719 Speaker 1: stop now, I'm sorry, keep going. But the the the 439 00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:18,920 Speaker 1: space between words would be seven units, so they're they're 440 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:22,680 Speaker 1: counting not just the dits or the das, but they're 441 00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:26,359 Speaker 1: counting the absence of those, and they they can figure 442 00:26:26,359 --> 00:26:30,600 Speaker 1: out from the spaces between letters or words what a 443 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:31,960 Speaker 1: phrase is supposed to be. 444 00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:34,119 Speaker 2: I see. And also if I'm looking at this chart 445 00:26:34,359 --> 00:26:37,680 Speaker 2: of the alphabet and the number system one through ten 446 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:40,440 Speaker 2: or one through nine and zero, it's a little easy 447 00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:43,159 Speaker 2: than you might think. A is dit do B is 448 00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:46,440 Speaker 2: dot dit dit dit C is da di da dit 449 00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:48,880 Speaker 2: I like saying do dit it's fine, d is da 450 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:51,840 Speaker 2: dit dit E is just one dit f is dit 451 00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:52,800 Speaker 2: dit do dit? 452 00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:55,040 Speaker 1: And going back to your question, why is it not 453 00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:59,000 Speaker 1: a dit for one? Dit dit for two? Did dit 454 00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:01,359 Speaker 1: for three? I feel like a beats about to drop, 455 00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:06,960 Speaker 1: but one is actually did da da da seems long 456 00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:07,480 Speaker 1: for one? 457 00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:10,720 Speaker 2: It does. And what we're talking about right now, this 458 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:13,320 Speaker 2: code that we're reading back to you is what became 459 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:17,160 Speaker 2: known as International Morris Code and it was adopted by 460 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:21,119 Speaker 2: the international community because incorporated the Latin alphabet with some 461 00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:26,240 Speaker 2: extra Latin letters and also Arabic numerals and some punctuation 462 00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:29,199 Speaker 2: and some other symbols that were not accounted for in 463 00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:33,359 Speaker 2: Morris's original code. So over time Morse's basis for Morse 464 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:36,479 Speaker 2: Code got phased out and it actually ended up not 465 00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:40,440 Speaker 2: even being the original Morse code that Morris created that 466 00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:43,560 Speaker 2: kind of took hold and got adopted by the international community. 467 00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:46,520 Speaker 2: It was this International Morse Code that was developed by 468 00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:51,240 Speaker 2: Frederick Clemens Girk, who was a German writer and journalist 469 00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:55,560 Speaker 2: and also someone that was very interested in telegraphy, and 470 00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:58,399 Speaker 2: he revised that Morse Code to make it make more sense, 471 00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:01,960 Speaker 2: include more necessary care that could be adopted more widely. 472 00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:06,399 Speaker 1: Yeah, So ten years after that first telegraph line opens 473 00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:10,760 Speaker 1: in eighteen forty four, there were over twenty three thousand 474 00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:15,240 Speaker 1: miles of line or wire crossing the continent and it 475 00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:20,600 Speaker 1: hit a watershed moment as various businesses that required quick, 476 00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:25,360 Speaker 1: long distance communication began to use telegraph systems. Railroad companies 477 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:27,959 Speaker 1: were one of the first to the plate there they 478 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:31,120 Speaker 1: would use it to communicate between their stations, and these 479 00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:35,720 Speaker 1: telegraph companies began to pop up everywhere that you could imagine. 480 00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:39,440 Speaker 1: While this was happening, countries in Europe were developing their 481 00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:42,920 Speaker 1: own system of Morse code. And the code used in 482 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:47,480 Speaker 1: America was called American Morse Code or Railroad Morse, and 483 00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:50,440 Speaker 1: the code used in Europe was called Continental Morse. And 484 00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:53,240 Speaker 1: so that's when that's when they realized they need to 485 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:56,360 Speaker 1: standardize this stuff, as you pointed out, with something that 486 00:28:56,520 --> 00:29:00,360 Speaker 1: everyone can agree on. And one of the things that 487 00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:05,000 Speaker 1: brought this need for an international code to public attention 488 00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:10,760 Speaker 1: was the use of radio communication, invented in the eighteen nineties, right, 489 00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:14,840 Speaker 1: and radio frequencies got longer and longer and longer, it 490 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:21,240 Speaker 1: became possible to communicate internationally. And that's when they realized, Okay, 491 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:25,080 Speaker 1: if we're talking about a global level of communication. We 492 00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:27,800 Speaker 1: all have to more or less be speaking the same language. 493 00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:31,120 Speaker 2: That's right, and as technology tends to do, it was 494 00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:35,160 Speaker 2: subsumed by the next best thing, which became the telephone 495 00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:39,960 Speaker 2: or the talking telegraph, and then radio communication or wireless right, 496 00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:42,120 Speaker 2: because you didn't have to have the infrastructure. It was 497 00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:45,440 Speaker 2: all just done on radio waves. Yeah. That was adopted 498 00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:49,520 Speaker 2: by the military for communicating between you know, planes and such. 499 00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:55,160 Speaker 2: And even though like for example, amateur radio enthusiasts still 500 00:29:55,360 --> 00:29:57,240 Speaker 2: use Morse code, it's a little bit more of kind 501 00:29:57,240 --> 00:30:00,160 Speaker 2: of a quirky holdover from the past. I believe, Ben, 502 00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:04,920 Speaker 2: you were telling me that pilots and the military personnel 503 00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:09,240 Speaker 2: had to learn Morse code up until I think the nineties, right, Yeah. 504 00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:12,880 Speaker 1: Up until the nineteen nineties, pilots were required to know 505 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:16,800 Speaker 1: how to communicate using Morse code, and up until two 506 00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:20,200 Speaker 1: thousand and seven, if you wanted to get an amateur 507 00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:23,280 Speaker 1: radio license, you had to pass a Morse code proficiency test. 508 00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:27,560 Speaker 1: But you're right, the average person today is probably not 509 00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:32,240 Speaker 1: going to communicate in Morse code, and they're probably not 510 00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:35,360 Speaker 1: going to know it. Most of us wouldn't know Morse code. 511 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:38,000 Speaker 1: I mean, I admitted at the beginning of the show 512 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:41,800 Speaker 1: that I promptly forgot it after getting whatever merit badge 513 00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:45,680 Speaker 1: I was gunning for. And believe it or not, man 514 00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:51,720 Speaker 1: American morse code, the railroad morse code is still around. 515 00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:56,160 Speaker 1: It's nearly extinct, but it's still around. And one group 516 00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:59,520 Speaker 1: of people who are keeping it alive might surprise you, sure, 517 00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:03,440 Speaker 1: amateur radio operators. I feel like that that's an easy one. 518 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:08,480 Speaker 1: Civil war reenactors say, what civil war reenactors keep American 519 00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:09,480 Speaker 1: morse code alive? 520 00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:13,680 Speaker 2: Interesting? And one that I hadn't thought about is or 521 00:31:13,720 --> 00:31:15,880 Speaker 2: something we haven't even discussed at all, is that you 522 00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:19,040 Speaker 2: can also transmit morse code visually through flashes of light 523 00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:22,680 Speaker 2: and at sea to communicate between ships or for a 524 00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:25,120 Speaker 2: ship to communicate with shore. They have these lamps that 525 00:31:25,160 --> 00:31:28,840 Speaker 2: have shutters on them. They can flash codes to, you know, 526 00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:31,440 Speaker 2: to the shore, so you can actually get messages back 527 00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:32,720 Speaker 2: to shore by line of sight. 528 00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:38,280 Speaker 1: And military personnel POW's have used Morse code through blinking 529 00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:42,720 Speaker 1: to communicate the true nature of their situation in. 530 00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:45,320 Speaker 2: Propaganda videos, so it's got all kinds of uses. Still. 531 00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:49,240 Speaker 2: Not to mention young lads banging on tree stumps in 532 00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:51,160 Speaker 2: the forest, Yes, yes. 533 00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:54,600 Speaker 1: Yes, it's a huge industry nowadays, and that's our story. 534 00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:58,560 Speaker 1: There is a point though, that we should make, and 535 00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:02,840 Speaker 1: that is that the telegraph system or something like it 536 00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:06,880 Speaker 1: would have developed without Samuel Morse because so many people 537 00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:13,400 Speaker 1: were working on something similar. However, his personal mission, his 538 00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:17,920 Speaker 1: passion to save other people from the situation that he 539 00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:21,600 Speaker 1: himself encountered, played a huge role in the timing of 540 00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:23,920 Speaker 1: Morse code for it to become a thing when it did. 541 00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:27,120 Speaker 1: It may have taken a little bit longer had one 542 00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:32,320 Speaker 1: man not been so emotionally and personally driven to pursue 543 00:32:32,320 --> 00:32:36,800 Speaker 1: this innovation. And you know what I say, thanks, because 544 00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:41,200 Speaker 1: we couldn't have had a podcast if things like Morse 545 00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:44,600 Speaker 1: code and telegraphs and later radio never existed. 546 00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:46,600 Speaker 2: I mean, certainly like one of the earliest forms of 547 00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:50,600 Speaker 2: long distance communication that served as the basis for It's 548 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:52,520 Speaker 2: just like the spark of an idea. So hey, what 549 00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:55,440 Speaker 2: if I could communicate an idea or a thought or 550 00:32:55,480 --> 00:32:58,080 Speaker 2: a message from point A to point B. That's literally 551 00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:01,840 Speaker 2: what podcasting and broadcasting a media of any kind is. 552 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:05,240 Speaker 2: It's all a jumping off from that simple idea. 553 00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:08,120 Speaker 1: One day we should tell the story of Farnsworth, the 554 00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:10,720 Speaker 1: inventor of television. You know he got that idea when 555 00:33:10,720 --> 00:33:14,320 Speaker 1: he was a fourteen year old farmhand. Hmm, well, story 556 00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:18,040 Speaker 1: for another day. I like it, and we've got to say, 557 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:21,840 Speaker 1: maybe we should go back re record this entire episode 558 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:22,880 Speaker 1: in worse code. 559 00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:25,320 Speaker 2: What do you think? Yeah, I don't know about that. 560 00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:27,840 Speaker 2: I'll think it over. 561 00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:31,360 Speaker 1: Let us know your thoughts on worse code. Feel free 562 00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:33,720 Speaker 1: to write to us in morse code if you wish. 563 00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:36,120 Speaker 1: You can find us on Facebook. You can find us 564 00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:38,480 Speaker 1: on I almost said Amazon. I don't know if you 565 00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:40,640 Speaker 1: can find us in Amazon, but we're definitely on Twitter, 566 00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:45,240 Speaker 1: and you can find us collectively and individually on Instagram. 567 00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:46,800 Speaker 1: I am at Ben Bullen. 568 00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:49,320 Speaker 2: I am at Embryonic Insider. You can check out our 569 00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:52,120 Speaker 2: community page on Facebook, The Ridiculous Historians, where you can 570 00:33:52,200 --> 00:33:54,640 Speaker 2: drop your history memes and hang out with your fellow 571 00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:58,479 Speaker 2: podcast fans enthusiasts and check us out next time when 572 00:33:58,520 --> 00:34:01,920 Speaker 2: we explore the weird story of how a stray dog 573 00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:05,200 Speaker 2: caused a war, It's true in the meantime thanks to 574 00:34:05,320 --> 00:34:07,600 Speaker 2: our super producer, Casey Pegram. 575 00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:10,600 Speaker 1: Casey, I want to make eye contact with you and 576 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:14,560 Speaker 1: apologize for bringing up the Casey face t shirt again. 577 00:34:15,560 --> 00:34:17,839 Speaker 1: But now the more I say the phrase, the more 578 00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:19,919 Speaker 1: I'm feeling it. So I don't know if this puts 579 00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:22,520 Speaker 1: us on opposite sides of history, but I hope we 580 00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:23,200 Speaker 1: remain friends. 581 00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:25,400 Speaker 2: We'll see you ends up on the right side of history. 582 00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:27,920 Speaker 2: Thanks to Alex Williams, who composed our theme and is 583 00:34:27,960 --> 00:34:29,680 Speaker 2: always on the right side of history and the right 584 00:34:29,680 --> 00:34:32,840 Speaker 2: side of our hearts, along with Gabe, our research associate, 585 00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:34,359 Speaker 2: and you Ben. 586 00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:35,960 Speaker 1: And to you as well, Noel, and you know what 587 00:34:36,160 --> 00:34:37,440 Speaker 1: to you, Samuel Moose. 588 00:34:38,280 --> 00:34:48,560 Speaker 2: Here you go. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the 589 00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:51,799 Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 590 00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:52,600 Speaker 2: favorite shows.