VIDEO: The Invention of the Telegraph

National Association of Scholars

When it was introduced, the telegraph transformed long-distance communication from a lengthy, arduous process into a near-instantaneous transmission of information.

What is the story behind the invention of the telegraph? What effects did it have when it was introduced? And how did it lay the groundwork for our modern system of hyper-connected communication?

This event features Paul Israel, the director and general editor of the Thomas A. Edison Papers at Rutgers University, and historian specializing in American innovation and invention; William Kovarik, a professor at Radford University and prolific author; and Tomas Nonnenmacher, a professor of business and economics at Allegheny College and writer of several articles and works on the telegraph.


Photo by Rama, CC BY-SA 3.0 fr

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