Who invented the Morse code; is it still used?

Throughout history, people have tried to communicate with each other. Our ancestors, who tried to express themselves by drawing pictures on cave walls before written history, started to express themselves better with written history in 3000 BC and tried to convey their writings to people farther away. They used homing pigeons or messengers to carry letters, and sometimes they put the letters in bottles into the sea to reach other people. In the Stone Age, Native American tribes lit fire and shaped its smoke in order to communicate with each other. In other words, humanity has always sought ways to communicate.

Along with the industrial revolution in the 19th century, communication methods were also affected by this development. Before Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, methods such as Morse code and the telegraph were used.

What Is Morse Code and How Was It Discovered?

Morse code or Morse code; It is a system that represents letters of the alphabet, numbers, and punctuation marks with strings of periods, dashes, and spaces. Codes are transmitted by mechanical or visual signals such as electrical pulses of varying lengths or flashing lights. Morse code was associated with each letter of the Latin alphabet and became a means of communication used to convey information. Mors (Eng: Morse) is named after its inventor, Samuel Finley Breese Morse (27 April 1791-2 April 1872), who also invented the telegraph.

In the 1830s, the English team of Cooke and Wheatstone developed a five magnetic needle telegraph system using electric current. Their system soon began to be used for railway signaling in England. Meanwhile, a Yale-trained Morse (who started his career as a painter) was working on developing the electric telegraph on his own. In the early 1830s, with the help of Leonard Gale and Alfred Vail, he produced a single-circuit telegraph that operated by pressing down on the operator key. This process sent the electrical signal along a wire to a receiver at the other end. Requirements for this system; the switch was the battery, the wire, and a cable line between the stations. The system known as Morse code or Morse code was thus invented.

The signal is on when the knob is pressed and off when the knob is released. The length and timing of dots and dashes is entirely controlled by the telegrapher.

In 1843, Morse and Vail received funding from the U.S. Congress to set up the telegraph systems between Washington D.C., Baltimore, and Maryland. On May 24, 1844, Morse sent Vail his first historic message: "What hath God wrought!" (It is a phrase from the Bible meaning "What has God done!"). This system later spread to America and the world. In 1861, Western Union established the first transcontinental telegraph line and became the first telegraph company. Extensive systems emerged in Europe towards the end of the 19th century, and in 1866 the first permanent telegraph cable was successfully laid in the Atlantic Ocean. By 1940 there were 40 telegraph lines in the Atlantic.

What is the Difference Between Original Morse Code and International Morse Code?

Shortly after the arrival of Morse code in Europe, the original Morse code was found to be inadequate for the transmission of many non-English texts, and also lacked codes for letters with diacritical marks (signs that change their sound by placing them above or below the letter). To address this shortcoming, another Morse code, called International Morse Code, was devised by the Conference of European Countries in 1851. The two systems are similar, but International Morse Code is simpler. For example, the original Morse code used periods and spaces to represent a few of the letters, while the International Morse Code uses combinations of dots and hyphens for all letters. Additionally, International Morse Code uses fixed-length lines rather than the variable-length lines used in the original Morse code.

What is the Importance of Morse Code?

With the invention of Morse code, the way he communicated took an instant. Morse code provided the fastest communication over long distances. Ships in the seas were able to communicate over long distances using their lights. Morse code became very important, especially during World War II; Thanks to Morse code, warships communicated with their bases, providing critical information. Warplanes also used Morse code to report the locations of enemy ships and bases.

Morse code is also used to encode SOS, known as an emergency signal or distress call; SOS is encoded as three dots, three lines, and three dots (...−−−......---......−−−...). A lot of expansions have been made up, thinking that SOS is an abbreviation of some words, but SOS does not have an expansion (it is thought to come from the phrase "save our souls" used etymologically in Old English). Most likely, however, the letters SOS were chosen because only three dots, three lines, and then three dots are easy to remember and easy to code. SOS coding was first introduced by the German government on April 1, 1905. It was adopted by the International Radio-Telegraph Convention on 3 November 1906 and entered into force worldwide on 1 July 1908.

Let's give a little information: Do you remember Nokia's famous message tone? The one in the form of "didıdıddııdıııııdıdıdıt" when read quickly?

In Morse Code it becomes: "Dıt-dit-dit daa-daa dit-dit-dit". In Morse code: ...−−......--......−−...

When you turn it into letters, we see that the SMS letters are Morse code. In SMS, the initials of the words "Short Message Service", which means Short Message Service...

Morse code is still used today. It is especially popular with amateur radio enthusiasts. Until 2003, knowledge of Morse code was required to obtain an amateur radio license. But this requirement has been lifted by the International Telecommunication Union. It is also still very common in the aviation field because radio navigation devices such as VORs and NDBs are still identified with Morse code. The US Navy and Coast Guard use Morse code with various signals to communicate.

Anyone can learn Morse code. An experienced Morse operator can read over 40 words per minute. The duration of a point is considered to be approximately 50 milliseconds. The duration of a line is three times the duration of the dot. Spaces between words are considered a period of time. Of course, this period varies depending on the experience of the user.