born April 27, 1791, Charlestown, Mass., U.S.
died April 2, 1872, New York, N.Y.
U.S. painter and inventor.
The son of a distinguished geographer, he attended Yale University and studied painting in England (181115). He returned home to work as an itinerant painter; his portraits still rank among the finest produced in the U.S. He cofounded the National Academy of Design and served as its first president (182645). Independent of similar efforts in Europe, he developed an electric telegraph (183235), believing his to be the first. He developed the system of dots and dashes that became known internationally as Morse code (1838). Though denied support from Congress for a transatlantic telegraph line, he received congressional support for the first U.S. telegraph line, from Baltimore to Washington; on its completion in 1844 he sent the message "What hath God wrought!" His patents brought him fame and wealth.