Milestone-Proposal:Salva's Electric Telegraph, 1804
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Docket #:2018-03
This Proposal has been approved, and is now a Milestone
To the proposer’s knowledge, is this achievement subject to litigation? No
Is the achievement you are proposing more than 25 years old? Yes
Is the achievement you are proposing within IEEE’s designated fields as defined by IEEE Bylaw I-104.11, namely: Engineering, Computer Sciences and Information Technology, Physical Sciences, Biological and Medical Sciences, Mathematics, Technical Communications, Education, Management, and Law and Policy. Yes
Did the achievement provide a meaningful benefit for humanity? Yes
Was it of at least regional importance? Yes
Has an IEEE Organizational Unit agreed to pay for the milestone plaque(s)? Yes
Has the IEEE Section(s) in which the plaque(s) will be located agreed to arrange the dedication ceremony? Yes
Has the IEEE Section in which the milestone is located agreed to take responsibility for the plaque after it is dedicated? Yes
Has the owner of the site agreed to have it designated as an IEEE Milestone? Yes
Year or range of years in which the achievement occurred:
1804
Title of the proposed milestone:
Salvá's Electric Telegraph, 1804
Plaque citation summarizing the achievement and its significance; if personal name(s) are included, such name(s) must follow the achievement itself in the citation wording: Text absolutely limited by plaque dimensions to 70 words; 60 is preferable for aesthetic reasons.
On 22 February 1804, Francisco Salvá Campillo reported to the Barcelona Royal Academy of Sciences, in Spain, a new kind of electric telegraph. He proposed a new method of telegraphy by combining the generation of an electric current using the recently-invented voltaic pile with detection by water electrolysis. Salvá’s report described the elements required and how they should be arranged to convey information at a distance.
200-250 word abstract describing the significance of the technical achievement being proposed, the person(s) involved, historical context, humanitarian and social impact, as well as any possible controversies the advocate might need to review.
IEEE technical societies and technical councils within whose fields of interest the Milestone proposal resides.
In what IEEE section(s) does it reside?
IEEE Spain Section
IEEE Organizational Unit(s) which have agreed to sponsor the Milestone:
IEEE Organizational Unit(s) paying for milestone plaque(s):
Unit: IEEE Spain Section
Senior Officer Name: Jesus Fraile-Ardanuy
IEEE Organizational Unit(s) arranging the dedication ceremony:
Unit: IEEE Spain Section
Senior Officer Name: Jesus Fraile-Ardanuy
IEEE section(s) monitoring the plaque(s):
IEEE Section: IEEE Spain Section
IEEE Section Chair name: Jesus Fraile-Ardanuy
Milestone proposer(s):
Proposer name: Antonio Perez Yuste
Proposer email: Proposer's email masked to public
Proposer name: Begoña Villanueva
Proposer email: Proposer's email masked to public
Please note: your email address and contact information will be masked on the website for privacy reasons. Only IEEE History Center Staff will be able to view the email address.
Street address(es) and GPS coordinates in decimal form of the intended milestone plaque site(s):
41.384171, 2.170700
Describe briefly the intended site(s) of the milestone plaque(s). The intended site(s) must have a direct connection with the achievement (e.g. where developed, invented, tested, demonstrated, installed, or operated, etc.). A museum where a device or example of the technology is displayed, or the university where the inventor studied, are not, in themselves, sufficient connection for a milestone plaque.
Please give the address(es) of the plaque site(s) (GPS coordinates if you have them). Also please give the details of the mounting, i.e. on the outside of the building, in the ground floor entrance hall, on a plinth on the grounds, etc. If visitors to the plaque site will need to go through security, or make an appointment, please give the contact information visitors will need. The intended site of the milestone plaque is the current headquarters of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona, sited on the center of the City of Barcelona in a gorgeous building originally designed by the Spanish Modernist Architect José Doménech y Estapá. Salvá introduced his electric telegraph for the first time to the members of this pretigious scientific organisation, in a public address given on February 22, 1804.
Are the original buildings extant?
Yes, the original building remains in full operation currently.
Details of the plaque mounting:
The plaque will be mounted in the main hall of the Royal Academy premises.
How is the site protected/secured, and in what ways is it accessible to the public?
The intended plaque site is an indoor space, under the Royal Academy protection, where visitors can freely wander and watch the plaque while enjoying the modernist architecture of the building. Not any arrangement is required in advance. Just, to check the opening hours of the Royal Academy is required. The contact information is: Tel: +34 93 317 0536, E-mail: secretaria@racab.com
Who is the present owner of the site(s)?
The present owner of the site is the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona
What is the historical significance of the work (its technological, scientific, or social importance)? If personal names are included in citation, include detailed support at the end of this section preceded by "Justification for Inclusion of Name(s)". (see section 6 of Milestone Guidelines)
Francisco Salvá y Campillo (1751-1828) was one of the pioneers in exploring the practical application of human-made (artificially generated) electricity [1]. After a deep review of the Benjamin Franklin's works, he repeated some of the experiments that were being carried out at that time by Galvani and Volta. As a result of that, he very soon devised the application of human-made electricity to the transmission of information at a distance, as a more reliable and cost-effective substitute for the optical telegraph systems then in use. He wrote a report titled "Electricity Applied to Telegraphy", addressed to the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona, as early as December 16, 1795, where he already unveiled his ideas on this topic [2].
In the following years, Salvá conducted some new experiments on galvanism that he duly reported again to the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona in two in a row papers: a first one on February 19, 1800, titled of "On the Galvanism" [3], and a second one on May 14 of the same year, titled of "On the Application of the Galvanism to the Telegraphy" [4]. Just as a curiosity, in his last paper he proposed the use of frog-legs as a natural current detector for the receiver.
Meanwhile that was happening, some remarkable scientific advances were being done in Europe. On the one hand, in Italy, Alessandro Volta had just developed the electric pile as a way to artificially produce a steady electric current [5]; on the other hand, in England, William Nicholson and Anthony Carlisle had discovered the electrolysis process leading to the decomposition of water [6]. Based on those two relevant facts, Salvá conceived a new method for conveying intelligence at a distance by means of electricity, which finally led to his 1804 electric telegraph. This was a very innovative model based on those two former elements: on the one hand, the use of a Volta's pile to generate an electric current and, on the other hand, the electrolytic decomposition of water to detect such a current flow.
The equipment and operation for this new system was presented to the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona on February 24 that year, and was recorded in a paper titled "Second Report about Galvanism as applied to Telegraphy" [7].
As far as it has been documented until now, this 1804 electric telegraph was the first one in history operated by means of an electric battery to produce the signaling current and by using a reliable physical phenomenon to make its detection, so coming ahead of the Sömmering electrochemical telegraph, demonstrated to the Munich Academy of Sciences 5 years later, and to the electromagnetic models proposed by Morse, in the States, and Cooke and Wheastone, in England, over 3o years later.
Next, some literal paragraphs have been reproduced from works of different historians, recognizing the contribution of Salvá to the development of the electric telegraph:
Munro, p. 17 [10]: "Volta's great invention of the pile in 1800 furnished a new source of electricity, better adapted for the telegraph, and Salvá was apparently the first to recognize this, for, in the same year (sic), he proposed to use it and interpret the signals by the twitching of a frog's limb, or the decomposition of water".
Huurdemann, p. 30 [11]: "A few attempts were made to use this electrolytic phenomenon as a means of signal transmission. In 1798 (sic), the Spanish Franscisco Salvá yCampillo used the development of hydrogen bubbles on the negative electrode as a signal indicator".
Hawks, p. 61 [12]: "In 1795, Salvá, an eminent Spanish physicist and the inventor of the first electro-chemical telegraph, described how insulated wires might be laid under the ocean and the water used, instead of return wires, to complete the circuit".
Pérez-Yuste, p. 3 [13]: "Salvá should devise the advantages that these both discoveries could have over his previous telegraph systems because, in 22 February 1804, he presented a new essay to the Barcelona Academy of Sciences, titled "Second Report about Galvanism as applied to Telegraphy", where he reported his ideas for making use of a voltaic pile, in preference to Leyden jars, to generate an electric current and of the electrolysis process, instead of the electric shock, the attraction of a pith ball or the twitching of a frog leg, to detect such a current flow".
What obstacles (technical, political, geographic) needed to be overcome?
Contemporary of such important French figures as Laplace, Coulomb, Lagrange, or Fourier, the Spaniard Salvá was also a prominent Enlightenment scientist who had to develop his career in the shadow of the more influential and powerful French science system at that time. Although his very first experiments with static electricity were supported by the Counselor of the King of Spain, Manuel Godoy [8], (position somehow equivalent to a Prime Minister nowadays), the War of the First Coalition in Europe at the end of the XVIII century, the rise of Napoleon to power in France, his invasion of Spain at the beginning of the XIX century, and the following bloody Peninsular War, almost paralyzed all the scientific activities in Spain and, particularly, brought a sad end to the work of Salvá, who could neither continue the development of his electric telegraph nor claim his priority in this field.
In relation to technical obstacles, Salvá was a Doctor in Medicine with a solid education in Physics but with not any institutional support to carry out his experiences on electricity. Anyway, he gained a seat in the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona, on February 8, 1786, from where he could learn very much about the state of the art in this promising new field and obtain some support from both friends and colleagues [9]. In spite of that, he never produced an industrial model of his electric telegraph, neither he patented nor sold his prototype to any other person or company. As a consequence, his ideas were soon consigned to oblivion.
What features set this work apart from similar achievements?
In according to John Munro, "the first suggestion of an electric telegraph on record is that published by one C.M. in the Scots Magazine for February 17, 1753" [10]. The device consisted in a number of wires, one for each letter of the alphabet, so a static current was applied to a wire representing the letter to be transmitted. At the other end, the wires were arranged to attract a disc of paper marked with the corresponding letter, and so the message would be spelled.
After that, Anton A. Huurdeman claims the Genevan physicist Georges-Louis Le Sage be, in 1774, "the first to construct an electrostatic telegraph as proposed by C.M." [11]. Le Sage used 24 pith balls over 24 wires connected with an electrostatic generator to communicate at a short distance.
Even Salvá, in 1795, also conceived a more advanced electrostatic telegraph by using Leyden jars to transmit a spark across the wires and, amazingly, by the twitching of a frog's limb as a way to signal the reception [13].
But, without a doubt, it was the system proposed in 1804, what gives Salvá the merit to be a pioneer of the electric telegraph. So it is recognized by some historians like Munro [10] , Huurdeman [11], Hawks [12], or Pérez-Yuste [13].
By following Salvá's steps, Samuel Thomas von Sommering, a distinguished Prussian anatomist, in 1809, brought out a telegraph worked by a voltaic battery, and making signals by decomposing water, in a very similar way to Salvá's [11]. There is reason to believe that but for the discovery of electromagnetism by Oersted, in 1824, the Salvá's electric telegraph could have come into practical use much before the models of Morse and of Wheatstone and Cooke.
An artistic recreation of the 1804 Salvá's electric telegraph, as it was imagine by the Spanish historian and electrical engineer Antonino Suárez Saavedra, was reproduced in his popular treatise on telegraphy, written in 1880 [14].
Why was the achievement successful and impactful?
Supporting texts and citations to establish the dates, location, and importance of the achievement: Minimum of five (5), but as many as needed to support the milestone, such as patents, contemporary newspaper articles, journal articles, or chapters in scholarly books. 'Scholarly' is defined as peer-reviewed, with references, and published. You must supply the texts or excerpts themselves, not just the references. At least one of the references must be from a scholarly book or journal article. All supporting materials must be in English, or accompanied by an English translation.
[1] Pérez-Yuste, A., "Francisco Salvá's Electric Telegraph", Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 98, n. 11, pp. 1974 - 1977, Nov. 2010
[2] Salvá-Campillo, F., "Memoria sobre la Electricidad Aplicada a la Telegrafía", 1795 Report in Memorias de la Real Academia de Ciencias Naturales y Artes, pp. 1-12, Imp. Jaime Jepús Roviralta, Barcelona, 1876
[3] Salvá-Campillo, F., "Disertación sobre el Galvanismo", 1800 Report in Memorias de la Real Academia de Ciencias Naturales y Artes, pp. 13-27, Imp. Jaime Jepús Roviralta, Barcelona, 1876
[4] Salvá-Campillo, F., "Adición sobre la Aplicación del Galvanismo a la Telegrafía", 1800 Report in Memorias de la Real Academia de Ciencias Naturales y Artes, pp. 28-40, Imp. Jaime Jepús Roviralta, Barcelona, 1876
[5] Cecchini, R. and Pelosi, G., "Alessandro Volta and his battery", IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, vol. 34, n. 2, pp. 30-37, April 1992
[6] Nicholson, Carlisle, and Cruickshank, "Experiments in Galvanic Electricity", The Philosophical Magazine, vol. VIII, pp. 337-347, Sep. 1800, London
[7] Salvá-Campillo, F., "Memoria Segunda sobre el Galvanismo Aplicado a la Telegrafía", 1804 Report in Memorias de la Real Academia de Ciencias Naturales y Artes, pp. 41-55, Imp. Jaime Jepús Roviralta, Barcelona, 1876
[8] Gazeta de Madrid, n. 96, p. 1018, Martes 29 de Noviembre de 1796
[9] Sánchez-Miñana, J., "Vida y Obra del Doctor Salvá i Campillo", Ed. Colegio de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación de Cataluña, Barcelona, Spain, 2005
[10] Munro, J., "Heroes of the Telegraph", Ed. The Religious Tract Society, 1891, rerpint edition by BiblioBazaar, 2007
[11] Huurdeman, A. A., "The Worldwide History of Telecommunications", Ed. Wiley-Interscience, New Jersey, 2003
[12] Hawks, E., "Pioneers of Wireless", Ed. Methuen & Co. Ltd., London, 1927, reprint edition by Arno Press Inc., 1974
[13] Pérez-Yuste, A., "Salvá’s Electric Telegraph based on Volta’s Battery", 2008 IEEE History of Telecommunications Conference, HISTELCON, 11-12 September 2008, Paris, France
[14] Suárez-Saavedra, A., "Tratado de Telegrafía", Imp. Jaime Jepús Roviralta, Barcelona, 1880
Supporting materials (supported formats: GIF, JPEG, PNG, PDF, DOC): All supporting materials must be in English, or if not in English, accompanied by an English translation. You must supply the texts or excerpts themselves, not just the references. For documents that are copyright-encumbered, or which you do not have rights to post, email the documents themselves to ieee-history@ieee.org. Please see the Milestone Program Guidelines for more information.
Pérez-Yuste, A., "Francisco Salvá's Electric Telegraph", Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 98, n. 11, pp. 1974 - 1977, Nov. 2010:
Media:Francisco_Salvá's_Electric_Telegraph,_2010.pdf
Cecchini, R. and Pelosi, G., "Alessandro Volta and his battery", IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, vol. 34, n. 2, pp. 30-37, April 1992:
Media:Alessandro_Volta_and_his_battery,_1992.pdf
Nicholson, Carlisle, and Cruickshank, "Experiments in Galvanic Electricity", The Philosophical Magazine, vol. VIII, pp. 337-347, Sep. 1800, London:
Media:Experiments_in_Galvanic_Electricity,_1800.pdf
Pérez-Yuste, A., "Salvá’s Electric Telegraph based on Volta’s Battery", 2008 IEEE History of Telecommunications Conference, HISTELCON, 11-12 September 2008, Paris, France:
Media:Salvá’s_Electric_Telegraph_based_on_Volta’s_Battery,_2008.pdf
Suárez-Saavedra, A., Artistic recreation of Salvá's electric telegraph, in "Tratado de Telegrafía", Imp. Jaime Jepús Roviralta, Barcelona, 1880:
Media:Artistic_recreation_of_Salvá's_electric_telegraph,_1880.JPG
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