Telegraph

Starting in 1867, Werner Siemens and Johann Georg Halske developed new telegraph technology for sending messages between Europe and East India. The system used alternating current instead of direct current for the first time, as well as polarised electromagnets as receivers. Alternating current made it possible to transmit messages automatically instead of only manually.

The 11,000 km-long Indo-European telegraph line was opened in 1870 and remained in operation until 1931. Previously, letters between London and Bombay took 30 days to arrive; now, dispatches could be transmitted in 28 minutes. The electric telegraph technology brought distant places closer together.

Today, in the electronic age, with the help of satellites we can communicate in real time with people around the globe. Telecommunication has become an essential technology for our globalised society; the mobile phone is its technological and cultural representation.

Inv. No. 2387–2392