Morse code: from telegraph to modern technologies
“The telephone is like an icon to me,
The phonebook is a triptych,
The operator turned Madonna,
Bridging the distance in a blink.
‘Miss, dear! Please, connect me!’
You’re now like an angel – don’t leave the altar!
The most important thing is still ahead, you see…
Ah, they answered. Hello, it’s me!”
Vladimir Vysotsky
It’s 2005. You are 8 years old. Your best friend lives across the street — which means your bedroom windows face each other. Every evening your parents tell you to go to bed, but how can you sleep when there are still so many secrets, jokes, and dreams to share before the night? At that age, everything seems so important.
While the lights are still on in your rooms, you wave to each other using simple and understandable hand signs. But you quickly realize that it’s impossible to share all the emotions of the day this way. As soon as the strict order comes: “Lights out now!”, all communication is cut off.
What to do? You could call on the phone. But if your parents hear you, you risk losing your favorite gadget for many long and painful weeks. What your parents don’t know is that you and your friend each have a small flashlight: silent, but its beam hits the target perfectly. Now you need to come up with a way to talk using flashlights. You could try moving the flashlight beam smoothly, drawing letters in the air: H, I, F, R, I, E, N, D… Easy! But by the second word, you realize that all the squiggles and strokes your friend carefully draws just don’t want to form words. And if a word has more than five letters, you’ll have to stand by the window forever just to “watch” this light ballet to the end. So this plan definitely isn’t going to work.
Then you remember that your grandfather, a former sailor, once told you about using a small mirror to reflect sunlight into a friend’s room to send messages. All you need to do is aim the reflector precisely and click the flashlight on and off.
You share this idea with your friend. They love it, and together you decide to create a secret communication system. Let’s say each letter of the alphabet will correspond to a certain number of flashes: A means one flash, B — two, C — three, D — four, and so on. For the letter Z you’d need 33 flashes! The messaging system is ready! Now all you have to do is wait for night to fall and try it out.
Evening comes, you hear the usual: “Lights out now!”, and you grab your flashlight and mirror. Your friend does the same — but suddenly a problem arises. The first message “HELLO” takes 52 flashes! Plus, you forgot to agree on pauses between words: how many flashes would mean a comma, a period, an exclamation, or a question mark? You realize that even one short question could take half the night to send. And how did people ever manage to communicate like this before?
The next morning, you and your friend head to school. Still searching for new ways to exchange messages over distance, you peek into the library — and discover a wonderful invention called Morse Code.
The History of the Invention of Morse Code
The first half of the 19th century. The world doesn’t know what the Internet or mobile phones are yet. A simple exchange of letters could take months: by the time a letter reached its recipient, its relevance could change several times. And it was during this era that a man appeared whose name would become synonymous with a new era of communication — Samuel Finley Breese Morse.
Samuel Morse was born into the family of a pastor and dreamed of becoming an artist from an early age. His dream came true, and he became a successful portrait painter. Morse was educated at Yale and studied art in London. His paintings were commissioned by politicians and wealthy people. He gained well-deserved recognition in Europe — for example, Morse’s portrait of General Lafayette (1825) is still displayed in New York City Hall today. In 1836, Morse even ran for mayor of New York City as an independent candidate and won 5.7% of the vote. Additionally, Morse was deeply passionate about photography.
Samuel Morse was quite content with his artistic life, if not for one sad event that changed everything in an instant. In 1825, while working on a portrait of a famous politician’s wife, Morse received disturbing news:
“Bad news, Mr. Morse. Your wife is gravely ill. Her days are numbered. You must hurry.”
Morse immediately abandoned his work and rushed home to New Haven. But by the time he arrived, his wife had already passed away. For the rest of his life, Morse blamed himself for not being there to say goodbye to his dying wife.
This tragedy changed his life forever. The future inventor decided that the world could no longer afford to communicate so slowly. Saddened, Morse abandoned his career as an artist and began working on a technology that would allow people to exchange messages much faster.
The Path to Invention
“When it seems that a goal is unattainable, do not change the goal — change the plan of action.”
Confucius
In 1832, Samuel Morse met a young scientist named Charles Jackson, who excitedly told him about the latest discoveries in the field of electricity. To prove his words, Charles Jackson performed an interesting demonstration: he brought a magnet close to a compass, and immediately, the compass needle began to behave strangely. Without realizing it, the young scientist gave Morse the idea to use electrical signals to transmit messages. If one could control a compass needle by opening and closing a circuit, why not use these properties to send signals along wires?
Returning to America, Samuel Morse began his first experiments. It turned out that putting this idea into practice was not easy, especially since Morse was not an engineer. Nevertheless, in September 1837, Samuel Morse demonstrated his invention at New York University. At the presentation, there was an industrialist from New Jersey, Stephen Vail, who recognized the potential of Morse’s invention. He offered Morse $2,000 in funding and provided space for further experiments on the condition that Morse would take his son, Alfred Vail, as an assistant. Later, Alfred Vail, who had technical expertise, would make significant improvements to the telegraph machine.
Samuel Morse continued to improve his invention. He tried repeatedly to attract the attention of the government and investors, but he faced great skepticism. It was only in 1840 that he received a patent for his telegraph system, but even that did not bring immediate success.
“The more brilliant your idea, the fewer people will agree with it.”
Sun Tzu
In 1843, after many years of working on the telegraph, Samuel Morse faced yet another disappointment — the U.S. Congress was reluctant to allocate funds for his project. The idea of almost instant communication between cities seemed strange and even frightening to many. It seemed that all was lost.
But one day, tired, almost hopeless, and having spent all his savings, Morse was sitting in a café. Suddenly, a young woman named Belle ran up to his table and shouted joyfully:
“Mr. Morse! Mr. Morse! Congratulations! The Senate has approved funding for your invention!”
Belle was the daughter of Morse’s friend, a government patent commissioner. Inspired by this support, Morse promised the young woman that the first telegraph message would be sent in her honor — and he asked her to choose the content of that message. Belle chose words from the Bible:
“What hath God wrought!”
The First Telegram and the Birth of a New Era
On May 24, 1844, Samuel Morse stood next to his invention — the telegraph machine — in Washington, D.C. His hands were trembling slightly. His assistant, Alfred Vail, was located in Baltimore, 60 kilometers away. Morse typed the message: “What hath God wrought!” A moment later, Vail received and decoded it. It was a triumph.
For people of that time, this felt like a real miracle: a message traveled 60 kilometers in an instant. This day went down in history because distance was no longer an obstacle for communication.
Morse code and the telegraph quickly spread. Telegraph lines connected cities, and within a few decades, they connected continents. Each message of dots and dashes became a symbol of progress.
With the invention of the telegraph, the modern era of telecommunications began — for the first time, people could communicate with someone out of sight. And the most amazing thing is that binary code was used in this invention — literally meaning “two-by-two”, because every element of the code contains only two components: dots and dashes.
An Alphabet of Two Symbols
When we hear the word alphabet, we usually think of letters. But Morse code is built very differently. It uses only two symbols: a dot (short signal) and a dash (long signal). How could such a simple system be used to transmit complex messages? The answer lies in the principles of binary encoding.
Morse code is, in fact, a forefather of the digital world, where information is encoded using binary signals — 0 and 1. In Morse code, each letter or number is represented by a specific combination of dots and dashes.
For example, the number 7 in Morse code looks like this: — — •••
In binary-decimal code, the number 7 is written as 0111.
See the resemblance? Both codes use only two symbols. That’s why Morse code is sometimes called an ancient computer code.
Here are the other digits in Morse code:
But then what about numbers like 10, 23, or 102928373763?
It’s simple, but takes time:
Originally, Samuel Morse’s code was designed to transmit only numbers. Later, letters were added to the system.
The first letter of the alphabet: A = 1 (• — — — —)
The second letter of the alphabet: B = 2 (•• — — —)
If you wanted to ask your friend “What’s up?”, you would need to:
1. Assign each letter of the alphabet a number. For example, “What’s up?” = w-23, h-8; a-1; t-20; s-19; u-21; p-16.
2. Convert the numbers into Morse binary code:
23: · · — — — · · · — —
8: — — — · ·
1: · — — — —
20: · · — — — — — — — —
19: · — — — — — — — — ·
21: · · — — — · — — — —
16: · — — — — — · · · ·
Complicated and exhausting, right? And on top of that, you would still need to figure out whether the message contains numbers or words.
That’s exactly what Samuel Morse’s assistant, Alfred Vail, thought. He spent time studying the frequency of each letter’s usage in the English language. Then he assigned the shortest marks to the most common letters.
That’s how Morse Code version 2.0, or American Morse Code, was born.
Notice the pattern? Each following row of letters contains twice as many symbols as the previous one. There’s logic in this: each next set of letters uses combinations of the previous ones, plus a dot or a dash.
The remaining spaces were filled by letters with diacritical marks: Ë, Ü, Ö, Ş, Ä, Ÿ, and punctuation marks:
Morse Code version 3.0: Modern Version
Still, the original Morse code, created by Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail, differed from the modern version.
The American version of Morse code, when transmitted over the telegraph, used dots and dashes, but it also used combinations of long and short pauses, which were not standardized. This often confused operators.
For example:
One letter could contain short signals with short pauses.
Another letter could contain long signals with long pauses.
In modern Morse code, each element has an exact time value:
Short pause (between dots and dashes within one letter) — 1 second
Medium pause (between letters) — 3 seconds
Long pause (between words) — up to 7 seconds
A German engineer, Friedrich Gerke, in 1848, modified the system to use only dots and dashes with standardized time intervals, making the code simpler and more efficient. He removed pauses from the symbol set and left only dots and dashes, separated by standard pauses. Simply put, he turned all symbols into combinations of dots and dashes of the same length. This made Morse code easier and clearer for transmitting messages. This version was officially recognized by all countries in 1865, and it is the one still used worldwide today.
Examples:
Original Morse Code:
Letter A by one operator: short signal — pause (2 seconds) — long signal.
Letter A by another operator: short signal — (thinking: “How long should the pause be? 1… 2… 3… Two hours later… Ok, let’s send the next signal.”) — long signal. Hoping it will be understood.
Gerke’s Improved Version:
A: dot (•) – 1-second pause – dash (—)
Morse code became the basis for creating various abbreviations used in telegraph communication. To simplify radio communication, many abbreviations, slang expressions, and so-called “Q-codes” were introduced, with each language adding its own features. For example, in English, GM, GA, GE, and GN were used for Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening, and Good Night, respectively. At the same time, numerical codes appeared: 73, meaning best regards, and 88, meaning kisses.
In the early 1900s, sailors decided it would be a good idea to have a single international distress signal. In 1906, the International Radiotelegraph Convention decided that SOS would be the best choice. It was simple enough: three dots – three dashes – three dots (••• – – – •••). A code from Morse that is easy to remember.
Telegraph — The Button That Changed the World
“You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.”
Albert Einstein
The idea of sending messages over long distances using electricity first appeared at the end of the 18th century with Francisco Campillo, a Spanish inventor. However, the invention closest to Morse’s telegraph was introduced to the world by Pavel Schilling, a Russian engineer. In 1823, he created the first electromagnetic telegraph. His device used six wires and showed signals with the help of arrows. It was a working model but too complicated and expensive for mass use.
Main Parts of Morse’s Telegraph
Telegraph Key (a manual switch): It works like a regular button. Instead of turning on a lamp, it closes an electrical circuit, and current starts flowing through the wire. The operator presses the button to send a signal. A short press (0.1–0.2 seconds) creates a dot, and a long press (0.5–0.6 seconds) creates a dash. When the operator releases the button, the circuit breaks, and the current stops. This is how dots and dashes are sent along the wire. Example: If the operator wants to send the letter S, they press the key three times (•••).
The Wire connects the sender and receiver. An electric signal runs along the wire, delivering the message.
Electromagnet (the heart of the receiver), paper tape, and a lever: This device contains a coil of wire around an iron core. When an electric signal passes through the wire, the core becomes magnetic. As the signal (dot or dash) reaches the receiver, the current activates the magnetic field, pulling or releasing a tiny lever sensitive to the magnet. If it’s a dot, the lever briefly moves, leaving a short mark on the paper tape. If it’s a dash, the current flows longer, the lever stays pulled longer, leaving a longer mark. When the current stops, the magnetic field disappears, and the lever returns to its starting position, creating a pause (space) between characters.
For some time, a pen was used instead of a pencil lead, but this was quickly abandoned. The pen made no sound and often broke.
Power Source (Battery) provides electric current for transmission. Early telegraph systems used galvanic cells, devices that generated electricity through chemical reactions between two different metals in a special solution, like acid or saltwater.
How the Telegraph Operator Worked
1. The operator presses the telegraph key, closing the circuit and sending an electric signal.
2. The signal reaches the receiver, where the electromagnet activates and moves the lever.
3. The lever presses on the paper tape, leaving dots and dashes.
4. The tape moves through the device, and the message appears on the paper.
5. The operator reads the sequence of dots and dashes and translates them into text.
Nothing complicated. The device itself was simple, with almost no moving parts, and rarely broke. Experienced operators could read signals by ear, without even looking at the tape. This was the simplest way to encode messages at that time. That’s why Morse’s telegraph became so popular. Its secret of success was simplicity.
Moreover, Samuel Morse created a whole new profession — the telegraph operator, providing jobs for generations.
After the telegraph, Italian engineer Guglielmo Marconi created a new device in 1896 — the radiotelegraph. It allowed sending messages via radio waves using similar Morse code signals — short and long. These signals were transmitted through the air, so any radio receiver could pick them up from long distances.
First Steps Towards Globalization. Communication Without Borders
The first telegraph line was laid in 1844 between Washington and Baltimore. It marked the beginning of the creation of telegraph networks that quickly spread throughout America.
The first transatlantic telegraph cable connecting America and Europe was successfully laid 10 years later, in 1858, thanks to the efforts of the Atlantic Telegraph Company, founded by American entrepreneur Cyrus Field. The cable-laying process was carried out by the crews of two specially equipped ships. As a result, after numerous attempts to connect the two continents, Queen Victoria of Great Britain and U.S. President James Buchanan were able to exchange congratulatory telegrams on August 16, 1858.
Soon, telegraphs began to connect all continents. This gave rise to a global communication network that allowed governments and companies to exchange information instantly over vast distances.
The telegraph became the foundation for the further development of communication tools like the telephone and radio. It enabled people to learn news and exchange information much faster. The telegraph was also useful in military and naval operations.
Morse Code. A Language of Communication on Land, in the Air, and at Sea
Morse code played an important role in maritime navigation. Onboard ships, telegraphs were used to exchange signals in poor visibility or at night. Maritime signals, which were later transmitted via radiotelegraph, used Morse code principles for communication with other vessels and coastal stations. This ensured safety and synchronized fleet movements.
During World War I and World War II, Morse code became the primary means of communication for soldiers. Thanks to its concise and easily distinguishable nature, it was used in radio transmissions for effective exchange of secret information between military units.
Railway stations widely adopted Morse telegraph systems for exchanging information between stations, which greatly sped up and simplified train traffic coordination. This method allowed for the prompt transmission of important messages about routes, delays, and malfunctions, improving the safety and efficiency of railroads.
In aviation, Morse code played a crucial role in transmitting messages between aircraft and control centers in situations when other communication means were unavailable or unreliable. Radiotelegraphy allowed pilots to send important information about their location, aircraft condition, and weather — critical for flight safety. Morse code continued to be used in aviation as a backup communication system even after more advanced technologies appeared.
Morse’s Influence on Communication Inventions
“Communications devices were always used to effect change, to effect revolution. Telephone, telegraph – these all seemed like very big enhancements at the time.”
Gary Shteyngart
First, there was the “click-clack” sound, then came dots and dashes. In the future, dots evolved into 0, and dashes into 1. It would take over 100 years for the internet to appear. And according to some scientists, in 50 years, the world may be ruled by super-intelligent AI. All of this was influenced by Samuel Morse.
In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone — a device that converts electrical signals into sound. The basic working principle of the telephone is very similar to the telegraph: the operator presses a device, sending an electrical signal through a wire, which is then converted back into sound on the other end. Although the telephone does not use Morse code, the idea of transmitting information via electrical impulses underlies its operation.
“The radio was an improvement on the telegraph but it didn’t have the same exponential, transformative effect.”
Alison Gopnik
The transition from wired to wireless communication was a revolutionary step in the history of communications. The inventor of radio, Guglielmo Marconi, borrowed ideas from telegraph operators to create a device that could transmit signals through radio waves. In early radio systems, messages were sent using short pulses very similar to dots and dashes. Although radio waves are much more complex, the basic principle of transmitting data via electrical impulses remained unchanged.
Today’s world is built on digital information, transmitted through binary codes — combinations of zeros and ones. Morse code can also be considered an ancient form of binary coding, where dots and dashes served as two basic symbols. A simple but effective system developed over a century ago became a prototype for digital data transmission used in computers and mobile devices today. The principles established by Morse prove that even the simplest ideas can lead to a true revolution in communication.
When Communication Fails. The Modern Use of Morse Code
It seems like light, electricity, and the Internet will always be with us. But along with all the conveniences, there will always be unforeseen circumstances that can easily deprive us of everyday comforts. An earthquake strikes — and the connection is gone. A tsunami hits — and the connection is gone. Even unknown aliens would likely destabilize communication channels first. So what can we use if all communication is completely lost? Morse code.
But even without imagining a global communication collapse, Morse code will always remain relevant.
Morse code is used to transmit secret messages and distress signals during radio silence or when the main communication channels are disrupted. Military and rescue teams can quickly send SOS signals using simple devices — flashlights or portable transmitters.
Many organizations maintain Morse code as a backup communication system. In emergencies, when the Internet or mobile networks are down, a signal can be transmitted through alternative channels, providing an additional level of security for governments and large companies.
Amateur radio enthusiasts continue to use this code. Moreover, Morse code is good to know in case of an unexpected dangerous situation. It is studied in military academies and is mandatory knowledge for air traffic controllers, pilots, and maritime radio operators. Many experts believe that knowing Morse code is an important survival skill that can save lives or ensure communication at a critical moment.
An interesting use of Morse code was invented in 2011 by the Colombian authorities. They wanted to boost the morale of soldiers and police officers taken hostage by rebels. The captives had no access to news but were allowed to listen to the radio. Knowing this, the Colombian government composed a song in which the beat transmitted a message in Morse code.
The coded message reported how many people had already been rescued from captivity and called on the prisoners to stay strong. The song was played on all Colombian radio stations for several months.
As technology developed, Morse code gradually became less relevant. On January 31, 1997, the French Navy officially ended its use of Morse code, choosing for its final message these piercing words: “Calling all. This is our last cry before eternal silence.”
The last commercial Morse code message in the United States was sent on July 12, 1999, from the main Globe Wireless station. The operator used the first-ever Morse message: “What hath God wrought.”
_________
The Year 2075
Aliens from the distant planet Arzamulu have attacked Earth. You are hiding in the basement of a destroyed building. Your main goal is to make contact with your friend, who is sheltering in the basement of another building.
The aliens are blind but possess incredibly sharp hearing. Every step, every word — a deadly risk. Speaking out loud is impossible. But they cannot see the light. And that is your salvation.
In your hand is an old flashlight, and in your mind resurface those same dots and dashes you used to exchange with your friend when you were eight years old. A few flashes: short, short, short, long.
A minute later, another flashlight blinks back. You’ve been seen. Your friend relays the signal to others, and they pass it along throughout the city. Victory is near.
—·−· −··· −·− −−− ·· ·−·· ·−·· ·− ··−− −·− −· ·−·· ·−
We illuminate scientific horizons with an intensity that rivals a laser.
Thank you!
