J.J. Grandville, "Merlin the Enchanter causing, in broad daylight, night to descend on the telegraph" (1835), pen and wash on paper (image courtesy Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nancy) Before the telephone ...

“Oh, stop it—you’re making me blush,” the throaty voice said, laughing off a compliment. Barret Zoph, who’d given the compliment, looked pleased. As he should—Zoph represents OpenAI, the company ...

On Oct. 24, 1861, the first transcontinental telegraph system was completed by Western Union, making it possible to transmit messages rapidly (by mid-19th century standards) from coast to coast. This ...

In 1839, Samuel Morse was in Paris to obtain a patent for the electro-magnetic telegraph he had developed in America, when he caught wind of another scientific wonder of the age: the daguerreotype.

This three-part publication is comprised of Papers 28, 29, and 30 from Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology. They are titled as follows: 1. The electrochemical cell and the ...

Joseph Henry, America's foremost electrical physicist of the early 19th century and first Secretary of the Smithsonian, was central to the development of science and technology surrounding the ...