Biography of Samuel F.B. Morse

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Samuel F. B. Morse was one of the greatest inventors of the 19th century; he was the invention of the singled-wire telegraph machine that influenced the Industrial Revolution in America and the Morse code led way to many future innovations. Samuel Morse was not just an inventor; he was also a painter that did works such as The Chapel of the Virgin at Subiaco and The Gallery of the Louvre 1831 – 1833 to portraits of famous politicians such as John Adams. Samuel F. B. Morse was born in Charleston, Massachusetts on April 17, 1791. He was the son of a geographer and pastor Jedidiah Morse and Elizabeth Ann Finley Breese. Samuel Morris was originally interested in painting; his paintings usually put in more detail to the austere facial features as well as simple clothing. His artistic talent attracted Washington Allston, a famous artist, who invited Morse to travel to England to meet with Benjamin West. He then later attended the Royal Academy where he studied Neo-classical arts of the Renaissance such as the works by Raphael and Michelangelo interested him. Throughout Morse’s painting career he did works for people such as James Monroe, a United States president, and Marquis de Lafayette, one of the biggest supporter of the American Revolution. While painting a portrait of the Marquis De Lafayette, a message was delivered to Samuel Morse about his wife dying. When he arrived to tend to his sick wife, he was too late because his wife had already passed away and buried. Due the fact that he was not there to tend to his wife during her dying days, he decided to end his career of painting and tried to develop a technology that could transmit and receive information that was faster than the current methods that were available during th... ... middle of paper ... ...53 and Chief Justice Roger B. Taney that made the ruling that Samuel F. B. Morse was the first to combine the power of the electromagnet, electromagnetism, and the battery that powered the telegraph machine. Although the United States did not give any recognition of Samuel Morse’s invention, he was rewarded 400,000 French francs, which amounted to roughly $80,000 at that time, from the countries of Austria, Piedmont, Belgium, France, Russia, Turkey, Tuscany, and Sweden. In June 10, 1871, a bronze statue of Samuel F. B. Morse was constructed and placed in Central Park in New York City. There was also an engraving of a portrait of Samuel Morse on the reverse side of the two-dollar certificate of the United State in 1896. Samuel Morse also developed a marble-cutting machine, but he was unable to patent it due to it conflicted with the 1820 design by Thomas Blanchard.

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