Английский для бакалавров. Валиулина Т.Н - 229 стр.

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10. Первым действительно научно-техническим исследованием было
исследование Фарадея.
11. История человеческого общества - это, в некотором смысле, история
развития науки и техники.
Text B. THE TELEGRAPH
Benjamin Franklin, an
American who is famous for his
interesting and useful
inventions, published his ideas
about electricity in 1752.
Scientists in many countries
became interested in this
wonderful form of energy. They
wanted to find the answer to a
very important question: Could
electricity be used to develop a fast, efficient system of long-distance communication
?
Experiments proved that electricity could travel instantly over a very long piece
of wire. But a note that was written on a piece of paper couldn't be put into a wire!
How could electricity be used to send a message?
A Danish scientist discovered that electricity could move a needle from left to
right, and that the needle could be pointed at letters on a piece of paper. Then a Ger-
man government worker made up a code system that could be used with an electric
needle. In 1837, two English scientists sent a message by electric telegraph from
Camden Town to Euston, a distance of more than 1.6 kilometres.
In the United States, Samuel Morse, a portrait painter, was experimenting with
an electric telegraph, too. At first, he connected a pencil to an electric wire. When the
electricity came through the wire, the pencil made wavy lines. Then Morse invented a
code that used dots and dashes for the letters of the alphabet. The pencil wrote the dots
and dashes on a narrow piece of paper. Finally, he discovered that telegraph messages
did not have to be written; they could be sent in sound.
At one end of the telegraph wire, the sender pressed a key. At the other end of
the wire, another key went down and made a clicking sound. The telegraph operator
used a short touch for a dot and a longer one for a dash. When the receiver heard the
clicking sounds, he could figure out the message.
On May 24, 1844, the first long-distance message was sent by telegraph -
from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, Maryland - 64 kilometres!
Telegraph companies were formed in many cities. By 1861, telegraph wires
stretched across the United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In Europe, too,
Samuel Morse's system became popular.
But telegraph wires couldn't be hung over an ocean. Messages to and from
Europe had to be sent by ship — a journey of two or three weeks. A new method was
needed.

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