The Inventions: The Telegraph
Earlier this week I began sharing with you the inventions I’ve been hinting at the past couple of weeks. Tuesday it was the Printing Press. Yesterday’s invention was the Steam Engine. Today - the Telegraph.
Quotes from the forthcoming book The Power of Mobility. Due out this September.
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“However, it wasn’t until electric telegraphy whose invention is broadly attributed to Samuel Morse based on work he completed between 1832 and 1838, that practical telecommunications actually began to significantly impact the world.”
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“International routes also began to be built. England and France were connected in 1851 and the first trans-Atlantic cable was installed in 1858. Prior to these investments, international communications took as long as it took for ships to sail. A message from London to Bombay and back could take ten weeks. But by the 1870s, a message from London to Bombay and back could take four minutes.”
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“Writing in 1748, Ben Franklin made the truthful observation that answers our question and that should help us understand why any technology that helps us gain information and/or make a decision and/or complete a task more quickly will always be highly valued. He said ‘Remember that Time is Money.’”
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“The financial value created by telecommunications continues to this day, even as mobility enables information to reach us, and us to reach information whenever and wherever we go.”
January 28th, 2008 at 3:53 am
[...] couple of weeks. Earlier this week we’ve covered the Printing Press, the Steam Engine, and the Telegraph. Today - the [...]