This black-and-white Encyclopaedia Britannica Films production “Development of Communications from Telegraph to TV” (1955) shows the development of communication devices from the 17th century to the 20th. Through animations and live action, it shows how devices such as the battery, ground connections, telegraph, telephone, and television function, and how telecommunications has affected social, cultural, and economic life. The film begins by showing feet walking and then lightning superimposed on a globe, describing the speed of communications development. A horse-drawn carriage (0:42); mountains, plains, forest, and ocean. A portrait of Alessandro Volta, an Italian physicist and chemist who developed the principles of the electric battery (1:19). An animation of electric particles moving between negative and positive poles (1:32). A portrait of William Watson (1:35), an English scientist who demonstrated that electricity could be conducted from one place to another by using the Earth to complete the circuit; he is also known for his work with Leyden jars, types of capacitors used in electrical experiments. A portrait of Joseph Henry (1:48), an American scientist who improved electromagnets to produce attracting power, and Samuel Morse (1:58), the American inventor of the telegraph, the original model of which is shown at 2:23. An animation shows the first public telegraph message being transmitted in 1844 between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. (2:31); the first telegraph message, “What hath God wrought?” is written above. Men on horseback; railroads being built; telegraph wires being erected. An animation showing the first submarine cable with many telegraph wires stretching under the ocean from North America to Europe, accomplished in 1866 (3:22). Alexander Graham Bell, the American inventor of the telephone, patented in 1876, shown at 4:01 with a telephone prototype. A diagram of an early telephone. Thomas Watson, Bell’s helper, on the receiving end (4:54). Several early telephone models shown, starting at 5:00. Portrait of Guglielmo Marconi (5:22), an Italian inventor, known for creating a radio-wave based wireless telegraph system in 1896. An animation of this system and electromagnetic waves. Animation of wireless telegraph messages being flashed across the Atlantic Ocean in 1903 (5:57). Lee de Forest (6:04), an American inventor known for inventing the vacuum tube in 1906. The vacuum tube (shown at 6:09) with a tungsten filament served as an electronic amplifier. Early radio operators at KDKA Pittsburgh, the first commercial radio station in the city (6:41). Radio transmission towers. Animation of shortwave telephone messages crossing the Atlantic Ocean (7:01). A family sits down to watch an early television. Animation of television transmission cables spreading over the United States, starting on the east coast (7:37). A germanium transistor (8:00), which allowed electronic impulses to be controlled with smaller instruments, instead of vacuum tubes. Portraits of Samuel Morse, Alexander Graham Bell, and Guglielmo Marconi in rapid succession (8:08). A rotary dial telephone (8:25). A teletype machine (8:41) transmits information to newspaper headquarters. A newspaper employee wires a photo to another news desk (8:52). A Trans World Airlines (TWA) airplane (8:59). Pilots use radio and radar equipment in a cockpit. Ships in a storm benefit from radio communication. President Franklin D. Roosevelt giving his “Day of Infamy” speech after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, which was broadcast by live radio (9:20). A TV news anchor; telephone switchboard operators. Delegates wearing headphones at the United Nations (9:36). The film ends by re-showing the opening globe animation, emphasizing the change in communication “to the speed of light.” Produced by Encyclopaedia Britannica Films in collaboration with Ralph E. Turner, Ph.D., Yale University.

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