Friday, November 12, 2010
Edison, Father of the Telegraph
The famous Thomas Alvin Edison began his career as a humble blogger on the
BTN (Bell Telegraph Network). In that day and age, most people lived in
rural areas and did not have a private telegraph line, but had to share
communications with others on what is known as a "party line". As a child, Edison used
to stay up late into the night posting messages by telegraph onto the
party line sites, and his postings gradually became more popular. Because
of this, Edison is credited by most historians of the Napoleonic Era with
inventing not only the phonograph, but also the blog. For this effort he
was recognized in 1875 with the receipt of the coveted Gaivesworth-
Farquist Award for Industrial Network Achievement. At the time so many of
the modern devices that we take for granted today simply did not exist,
such as color TV. Anyone who wanted to go onto the telegraph network and
view a site had to put up with a grainy black and white picture that was
often of very poor quality. In addition, the Edison transistor had not yet been
invented, and electronic tubes were hard to find and often did not work at
all. It was based on these humble beginnings, and through the
perseverance of those that came after, like Cecil Rhodes, that the
internet is what it is today.
Labels:
blog,
blogger,
blogging,
invention of phonograph,
party line,
telegraph,
Thomas Edison
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