Who was the true inventor of the telegraph?

mk2norwich

Most would of course say Samuel Morse, but not according to: http://www.si.edu/archives/ihd/jhp/joseph20.htm which gives the name Joseph Henry. May 26 02, 3:35 PM

Siskin

Siskin says: In 1747 an Englishman named William Watson showed how to send electrostatically-generated signals long distances through a wire, with the circuit completed through the earth. Seven years later an anonymous writer published an article in the Scots Magazine showing how to send messages with an array of twenty six such wires. Various multiple-wire systems were built in Switzerland,France and Spain before 1800. The idea of sending all the letters on a single wire,and using a code to distinguish them,was introduced about sixty years before Morse by the French inventor LeSage. Sun May 26 15:04:34 CDT 2002 (Delete Entry) Siskin says: Sorry,forgot to add source! www.uh.edu/engines/epi1393.htm Sun May 26 15:09:39 CDT 2002 (Delete Entry) (Reposted as one entry - McG) Jun 15 02, 11:21 PM