Ridiculous History CLASSIC: The Tragic Origin Story of Morse Code
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Feb 7, 2026 A quirky retelling of Samuel Morse’s life, from his art career to a personal tragedy that spurred a communication revolution. They trace the invention of the telegraph, the science of electromagnets, and the birth of dots and dashes. Listeners hear about congressional demonstrations, rapid telegraph expansion, competing inventors, and how the code evolved and survived into modern uses.
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Innovation Is Cumulative
- Major inventions usually build on prior work and parallel thinking rather than solitary genius.
- Morse improved existing telegraphy and electromagnet ideas to create a widely usable system.
Personal Tragedy Sparked A Mission
- Samuel Morse missed his wife's death because mail was slow and he learned of it days too late.
- That tragedy motivated him to work for decades to speed long-distance communication.
A Chance Meeting At Sea
- On a sea voyage in 1832 Morse met Charles Thomas Jackson, who showed him an electromagnet.
- That meeting sparked Morse's idea to send electrical pulses down a wire recorded by an electromagnet.