Samuel Morse
/ˌsæmjuəl ˈmɔːs/
/ˌsæmjuəl ˈmɔːrs/
- (1791-1872) an American who invented the telegraph (= a device for sending messages on electric wires) and Morse code, a special 'alphabet' in which letters are represented by a series of short and long radio signals or flashes of light (dots and dashes ). His first public message, sent in Morse code from Baltimore to Washington, DC, on 24 May 1844, was ‘What hath God wrought!’ His inventions were important to communication during the American Civil War.