Before Edison became the Wizard of Menlo Park, he was a teenage telegraph operator. His first scientific breakthroughs weren’t light bulbs or phonographs—they were electric signals pulsing through copper wire. At a wooden desk with a simple key, he sent clicks and pauses that crossed miles in seconds. These invisible pulses revolutionized business, warfare, and everyday life.
n earned 1,093 U.S. patents and over 2,300 worldwide, but his earliest 100 inventions all focused on telegraphy—the first system to conquer time and distance. From that humble beginning, he built the future. In this presentation, we’ll unlock the science of telegraphy by building and testing a working telegraph system— just like Edison did.
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