Global Communications 150 Years Ago

Scientific American magazine always lists what was happening 50, 100 & 150 years ago. In the September 2005 issue they mentioned an award given to Samual Morse (by the Emperor of Austria in 1855) for his valuable services to the world with his contributions of Morse Code and the Electric Telegraph. It was twelve years after the first public experiment, between Baltimore and Washington, and there were now 50,000 miles of wire in operation.

Communications has changed quite a bit since then. Where would we be if it weren't for our phones, Internet and cellular phones to keep us in constant communications with the world? How many miles have the electrical impulses that I just generated with this message traveled so far? How many search engines have picked it up so far, how many have just come along to read it, how many feed readers just set off a little flag to alert someone to a new post? Communications has definitely come a long way in the last 15 years, let alone 150...

FYI - 1855 is also the year the Michigan Agricultural College was established. Eventually this college would grow up to be Michigan State University. I remember this because the campus information phone number (like everything else) started with a 355 and they appended the year to make the phone number for information be 355-1855...