Morse had converted the alphabet into a system of dots and dashes to send telegraph messages over land lines. European nations revised the code in 1851 and it gained widespread acceptance.

Morse code is not of any great value except recreational value, or something like collecting stamps.” Originally Published: July 12, 1995 at 12:00 AM EDT ...

However, with Morse code, some things are very short (like an E, for example) and some are much longer (like a zero). In fact, the code tries to reflect the frequency certain letters occur.

The first message sent by Morse code’s dots and dashes across a long distance traveled from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore on Friday, May 24, 1844 – 175 years ago. It signaled the first time in human ...

They are wrong. The history of social media began almost two centuries earlier, on May 24, 1844, when Samuel F.B. Morse, a painter turned inventor, sent a message from Washington to Baltimore.

When it finally retired Morse code on July 12, station manager Tim Gorman turned his final message into the ultimate bookend moment: It was “What hath God wrought,” the very same quote that ...

Now Morse code is used largely in airplane navigational systems for identification purposes, says Paul F. Johnston, curator of maritime history at the National Museum of American History.