181 years ago today, on May 24, 1844 (April 8, 1844 lunar calendar), the American inventor Morse successfully experimented with the world's first telegraph. On the table were Morse's manual telegraph (the one on the left) and the Westen hammer telegraph. For thousands of years, communication technology has been stagnant for a long time. Even if foreign enemies invade and the border town is in danger, the fastest way is to send the document at the post station. In the mid-17th century, the British Navy introduced semaphore, and at the end of the 18th century, the French government established a signal system, which solved the difficulty of sending messages quickly by sea and land to some extent. The key change in communication technology took place in the mid-19th century. In the autumn of 1832, on a cruise ship bound for the United States from France, a young doctor was explaining the function of electromagnets: "Many recent experiments have shown that the more wires are wound around the coil of wire, the stronger the electromagnetic attraction when electricity passes through the wire. Experiments have also proved that no matter how long the wire is, electricity can pass through instantaneously. Soon science will produce miracles that create electricity." Samuel Morse, an American present, remembered these words. He remembered the French signal system he had seen, which could only transmit messages within sight for miles at a time; if an electromagnetic signal was transmitted by electricity, it could not be transmitted thousands of miles in an instant. Since then, Morse's life has been fundamentally changed. Morse was born in 1791 to a family of American clergymen. As a young man, he studied painting and sculpture, and held several positions in charge of art groups. He abandoned the art of carpets of honor and turned to electricity in his infancy, risking failure to climb the rugged peaks of technology. During the trial construction of the telegraph machine, Morse's life was extremely difficult, sometimes even starving. He cut down on food and clothing to buy experimental equipment. In 1836, he had to resume his old business as an artist to solve the problem of livelihood. But he never stopped his research work. With perseverance and the help of friends, Morse finally succeeded. He used the different signals produced by alternately energizing and cutting the current to compile a code representing letters and numbers, the famous Morse code. Between 1837 and 1838 he built a telegraph that could carry signals back and forth over short distances. The long-distance experiment required a lot of money. He asked Congress for $30,000 to build a telegraph line between Washington and Baltimore. But it was not until two years later, in March 1844, that Congress approved the appropriation. The telegraph line was finally completed. On May 24, 1844, Morse sat in the Supreme Court Chamber of the United States Capitol in Washington, and with trembling hands, sent the first long-distance telegram in history to Baltimore, 40 miles away. Morse's telegraph went through many improvements and was quickly put into use. From then on, the outbreak of war, the conclusion of peace treaties, the coming of storms, the discovery of fish schools..., all kinds of news were quickly transmitted by telegraph. In 1858, many European countries jointly gave Morse a bonus of 400,000 francs. In Morse's twilight years, New York City made a statue of him in Central Park, with great honor, to compensate for the fault that had caused the scientist to starve.