What Is Morse Code?

Morse code is a way to send letters and numbers with two signals: a short one (dot, ·) and a long one (dash, −). It was developed by Samuel F. B. Morse and Alfred Vail for the electric telegraph in the 1830s and 1840s, and it can be sent with sound, light, electricity or taps.

How does Morse code work?

Every letter and number has its own pattern of dots and dashes. For example, A is ·− and B is −···. Timing holds it together:

Common letters got short codes to save time. E, the most used letter in English, is just one dot. You can try it with the Morse code translator.

Who invented Morse code, and when?

In the 1830s, American painter and inventor Samuel F. B. Morse worked on an electric telegraph that sent pulses of current along a wire. With his partner Alfred Vail, he created a code to turn those pulses into letters. On 24 May 1844, Morse sent the message "What hath God wrought" from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore, and long-distance telegraphy took off.

The original American code was later simplified in Europe. In 1865, an international telegraph conference in Paris made this simpler version the standard. That International Morse code is the one used around the world today.

Where Morse code was used

Is Morse code still used today?

Questions people ask

Who invented Morse code?
Samuel F. B. Morse developed the electric telegraph and its code in the 1830s and 1840s, working with Alfred Vail, who played a large part in the code itself. The international version used today was later adapted from it in Europe.
When was Morse code invented?
Work began in the late 1830s. The first famous long-distance message, "What hath God wrought", was sent from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore on 24 May 1844.
Is Morse code still used?
Yes, in smaller ways. Radio amateurs use it every day, aircraft navigation beacons identify themselves in Morse, and some people with limited movement use it to type on phones and computers.
What is the difference between American and International Morse code?
American Morse code was the original version used on US telegraph lines. It had different codes and extra types of spaces inside some letters. International Morse code, set as the standard in Europe in 1865, is simpler and is the one used worldwide today.
Is Morse code like binary code?
Only partly. Both use two kinds of signal, but binary uses fixed-length groups of 0s and 1s, while Morse letters have different lengths and also depend on pauses. So Morse code really needs three things: dots, dashes and gaps.

Sources

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