Samuel Morse

April 2, 1872 - Artist and inventor, Samuel B. Morse died on this day.

47 years earlier, Morse was an accomplished painter working on a portrait in Washington D.C. when news came via messenger that his wife was very sick. Morse jumped on a horse and rode as quickly as he could to his home in Connecticut, but unfortunately his wife was already dead and buried before he arrived.

The depressing incident served as an inspiration to Morse. He immediately began work on a method of communication that would send messages electronically - thus providing the ability to share news instantaneously.

The result was a primitive telegraph, but it was the refining work done by a young man named Alfred Vail that really made the instrument viable.

Ironically, the code that bears Morse's name was also created by Vail.