Wednesday, February 9, 2011

The Telegraphphony

This post is dedicated to Black History Month

Granville T Woods (1856-1910) African-American Inventor

He invented the telegraphony that enabled the train operators to send and receive messages more quickly than before. The Bell Company purchased his invention qualifying him to become a full-time inventor. He also invented the multiplex telegraph that helped dispatchers locate trains, and moving trains to communicate by telegraph.

I find it intriguing that this African-American man at the age of 10 left school to support his family. Yet he continued to educate himself by working in railroad machine shops and steel mills, and by reading about electricity. As an African-American he was not allowed in the library, so his friends will check out library books for him.

1 comment:

  1. The sad stories of young children dropping out as soon as elementary school is sadly, quite a common one in the olden days. In any case, it is amazing how this man's work possibly paved the way for future forms of communication that are so greatly advanced to this day.

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