Today in History: First around-the-world telegram sent
Before technologies such as online instant messaging, SMS and emails, which made communication an extremely immediate process across the globe, there was the telegram, and it was not nearly as fast as the tools we use today.
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On this day in 1911 the first telegram was sent around the world via a commercial service from the New York Times' office to test how fast a message could travel through a dedicated cable. According to HIstory.com the content of the message was simply "This message sent around the world" and it was sent from the newspaper's office in NY at 7 p.m. on August 20. The telegram started traveling and was relayed by 16 operators across the globe and circled back to its origin in 16.5 minutes.
See the gallery below showing the evolution of communication technology:
We've gone a long way from the very first forms of communication and a number of milestones mark this wonderful path of technological evolution. We went through achievements such as the invention of paper, Gutenberg's printing press in 1450, the Morse code in 1835, Graham Bell's telephone in 1879, Marconi's radio in 1901, television in 1925, cellphones and satellite communications, emails, the Internet, all the way to the most current social media channels such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, and the iPhone.
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