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Charles Wheatstone
Slide 1
Photograph of Charles Wheatstone
Charles Wheatstone was one of the most influential figures in the development of the electric telegraph.
Slide 2
Illustration
This illustration shows a demonstration of Wheatstone's Enchanted Lyre, circa 1821.
Musicians played on a piano or harp in the room above the lyre, and the vibrations passed down a brass wire made the lyre appear to play by itself.
Sound recording explaining how Charles Wheatstone was born in Gloucester in 1802, the son of a musician, and he spent the first years of his adult life conducting experiments into the nature of sound and how it might be transmitted over long distances.
Slide 3
Portrait of Charles Wheatstone
'He seemed to know every book that was written and every fact recorded, and anyone in doubt had only to go to Wheatstone to get what he wanted.'
Sir William Preece, Post Office Engineer-in-Chief.
Sound recording explaining how in 1833 he moved towards experiments in electricity, work which led him to be made Professor of Experimental Philosophy at Kings College London. By 1836 he had discovered that magnetic needles could be deflected by an electrical current through much longer lengths of wire than had previously been though possible, and through this he devised the Needle Galvanometer. (photo of Needle Galvanometer)
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