Charles Thomas Jackson

Charles Thomas Jackson (21 June 1805- 28 August 1880)

 Charles Thomas Jackson was a physician scientist born in 1805 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. He gained notoriety for being involved in many priority conflicts involving scientific discoveries. Amongst these conflicts were the discovery of the anesthetic effects of ether, the invention of guncotton, and the invention of the electric telegraph (Charles Thomas Jackson). The latter claim, the electric telegraph, stems from a voyage aboard the Sully in 1832, where he met Samuel Morse and discussed with him the potential and science behind an electric telegraph (Amos and Jackson 3). A bitter debate over the contributions and credit for the invention of the Electric Telegraph ensued between Morse and Jackson. Jackson wrote and published a letter in the Boston Morning Post of January 1839 describing himself as the main inventor and presenting “a detail of all circumstances of the invention and of the conversation which took place on board the Sully” (Amos and Jackson 4 ). However, in this full account, no mention of the Electro-Magnet Telegraph is made, rather only references to an Electro-Chemical Telegraph exist (Amos and Jackson 6). Furthermore, the two passengers that Jackson recounts present at these conversations, Mr. Fisher and Mr. Rives, as well as the captain of the boat, Capt. Pell, wrote letters supporting Morse (Amos and Jackson 19-23). In the early 1870s, Jackson suffered from mental illness and died in 1880 in the McLean Asylum, Somerville, Massachusetts (Charles Thomas Jackson).

Works Cited

“Charles Thomas Jackson”. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc..                     9 Jul 2011. Web.  29 Jan 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Thomas_Jackson>

Kendall, A., and C.T. Jackson. Morse’s Patent, Full Exposure of C.T. Jackson’s Pretensions to      the Invention of the American Electromagnetic Telegraph. 1852. Print.

Standage, T. The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth    Century’s on-Line Pioneers. Walker & Company, 2007. Print.

Winchell, N.H. The American Geologist. Geological Pub. Co., 1897. Print.

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