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The adventurousPozzi a Venezia story of the“Dolce mechanical e chiara co fa un specchio” Testo e foto InternetBruno Berti Chappe’s revolutionary optical telegraph Massimo Marchiori 17 17 Nella guerra t is generally believed that the first tel- di Crimea il 9 “I may lose a battle, but I settembre 1855, ecommunications system was the electric dopo la presa di Sebastopoli shall never lose a minute.” telegraph invented by Samuel Morse: this un telegrafo Ielectric cable carrying information then de- Chappe venne Napoleon's famous phrase allestito sulla veloped into the telephone and the modern cima Korlinoff. contains the key to his success Nel 1845 era stato Internet. In Napoleon’s day, Morse was still già trasmesso il – time. The French emperor a child and his invention had not seen yet primo dispaccio col seen the light. For years, however, the world telegafo elettrico. explained further: During the had actually already had a telecommuni- Crimean War, on cations system, the first real step towards 9 September 1855, “Strategy is the art of using after the capture of “connected humanity”. Sebastopol, a Chappe time and space well. system was set up That system was called the “telegraph”, on the Malakoff. and it was the first true telegraph, even de- In 1845 the first I am less interested in the latter dispatch had been scribed by Alexandre Dumas in the Count sent by the electric than the former: : telegraph. of Monte Cristo I can recapture space but never “Yes, a telegraph. I had often seen one placed at the end of a road on a hillock, and in the 18 Disegno di time.” Napoleon possessed and telegrafo ottico light of the sun its black arms, bending in durante le guerre used something of fundamental every direction, always reminded me of the napoleoniche. claws of an immense beetle, and I assure you Drawing of an importance that gave him an optical telegraph it was never without emotion that I gazed used during the Napoleonic wars. enormous time advantage over on it, for I could not help thinking how all the other armies: the first wonderful it was that these various signs, standing out against the grey of a cloud or telecommunications system. the blue of the sky, should be made to cleave the air with such precision, as to convey to the distance of three hundred leagues the ideas and wishes of a man sitting at a table at one end of the line to another man simi- larly placed at the opposite extremity, and all this effected by a simple act of volition on the part of the sender of the message.” This strange telegraph functioned in a world where there were still no electric bulbs or other appliances. It was the first ever tel- ecommunications system and so important that in our own age it has been renamed the “mechanical Internet”. The technology is similar to modern telecommunications because it is wireless and therefore obviates problems of rivers, trees and tricky terrain, unlike Morse’s telegraph which involved laying a cable between those wanting to communicate. This astonishing electricity- less technology has a secret: it uses light – that part of light which our eyes can see. The idea of using light to transmit informa- tion is nothing new and goes back to time immemorial: from smoke signals to signs placed in watchtowers visible from a great distance. One of the earliest examples is de- scribed by Aeschylus in Agamemnon: when Troy was captured, the news was spread by lighting fires in ten signal towers specially built to announce the anticipated victory. 18 In the 4th century BC an initial crucial breakthrough was made: the Alexandrine formation requirements. 19 La ricostruzione, a Stoccolma, engineers Cleoxenus and Democleitus in- The centuries passed and inventors rediscov- del telegrafo dell’inventore vented the pyrsia, a system based on two sig- ered the ancient secrets of telecommunica- svedese di origini nallers each with only two mobile torches tion. In the 15th century some Benedictine finlandesi, Abraham Niclas Edelcrantz which, according to the way they were held, monks re-elaborated the ancient Greek pyr- (1754-1821). Lo scienziato transmitted the letters of the alphabet. sia with the name steganografia trithemiana. sviluppò, This technology was fairly advanced but In 1646 the Jesuit Athanasius Kircher pub- modificandola, l’idea di Chappe. nothing much came of it, i.e. it did not be- lished his seminal treatise Ars Magna Lucis The replica of the come a true telecommunications system. et Umbrae, which in addition to various telegraph designed Mail still travelled on horseback or by ship, inventions such as the projector, described by Abraham Niclas Edelcrantz (1754- and this was fast enough: humanity still a telecommunications experiment that he 1821) in Stockholm; the Swedish didn’t feel the need for instant communica- called cryptogamia catoptrica, again based on inventor of Finnish tions. And when required, communications the principles of the pyrsia. origin devised a system based on were very simple – all that was needed was Then in 1684 Robert Hooke gave a lec- Chappe’s idea. a fire. In 1455, for example, Scotland’s line ture at the Royal Society in London, il- of defence had a communication system lustrating his latest invention, the first with four fires: one lit fire signified that the effective telecommunications system, also English had been sighted, while the level because it employed a fundamental discov- of danger increased up to four fires, which ery which scientific progress had recently signalled the enemy’s imminent arrival. In made available: the telescope. Thanks to 1588 it was the English who were warned the telescope, used instead of normal hu- of the arrival of the Spanish Armada by a man vision, signalling relay stations could series of fires from the Portsmouth coast to be set very far apart, even as far as 50 to London. Primitive means for primitive in- 60 km. According to Hooke, the transmis- 19 The adventurous story of the mechanical Internet | 179 180 | Titolo dell'articolo 20 Titolo dell'articolo | 181 20 “Scotland sion time was practically instant, and with ed a rudimentary system for signalling Forever!”, la carica degli Scots Grey two or several stations, the time employed messages with a pole and a ruler, which contro l’esercito di Napoleone would always be very brief: two or a hand- his brothers were able to see from home nella battaglia di ful of seconds. And, with a little practice, through a telescope. And so a piece of Waterloo. Dipinto di Elizabeth Thompson he added, there could be rapid communi- child’s play marked Claude's life for ever. (Lady Butler), 1881. cations even between Paris and London. Time passed and he perfected his sema- Scotland Forever!”, Hooke also mentioned the important is- phore system, convinced that it could be- the Scots Grey charge Napoleon’s sue of security in telecommunications. come a real communications system. But, army at the Battle of Waterloo, painting by While using visual signals was handy and as had usually been the case until then, Elizabeth Thompson wireless, anyone could see the message. He the rest of the world was not convinced: (Lady Butler), 1881. thus had another idea and became the first what was the point of a telecommunica- person in history to use encrypted wireless tions network? An exceptional event was 21 La statua dedicata a Claude Chappe. communications by means of a secret code required, and on the crossroads of history, L’opera di Louis Emile which enabled him to vary the meaning of one did happen – the French Revolution Macé - Boulevard Saint Germain, in the signalled signs when translated into in 1789. The new government, which had una foto del 1910 circa - venne fusa letters. to fight other states bent on restoring the dai tedeschi durante So in 1684 everything was ready and, monarchy, needed all the help possible. In l’occupazione. thanks to the telescope, telecommunica- 1791 Chappe managed to build a simple The statue of Claude Chappe by Louis tions were possible and highly advanta- telecommunications system with two sta- Emile Macé once geous. But despite this, nothing further tions, one in the town of Brûlon, where he on Boulevard Saint Germain, Paris, happened, and Hooke’s new technology lived and the other in Parcé, ten kilometres photograph, around 1910; the sculpture remained latent since no one took it up. away. The following year, Ignace Chappe, was melted down by Clearly the world still didn’t need or want one of Claude’s four brothers, became a the Germans during the occupation. to be connected at high speed. And anoth- member of the Legislative Assembly in er century passed before there were some Paris. He put forward his brother’s idea: a 22 La tomba fresh developments. telecommunications network that would dell’ingegner As often happens in crucial moments in give a considerable advantage, especially in Claude Chappe al cimitero history, change can come about thanks to circumstances when speed of action was es- Père-Lachaise. one individual’s genius and passion. In this sential. The Assembly, which later became Claude Chappe’s case it was Claude Chappe, a Frenchman. the National Convention, was sceptical, gravestone in Père- Lachaise Cemetery. Claude had a famous astronomer uncle however, and asked Claude for proof that from whom he had caught his passion for this new technology really worked. 23 La chiesa di telescopes. One day at school he construct- In the span of a year, Chappe constructed Saint Pierre a Montmartre, utilizzata come supporto del telegrafo; la prima torre in assoluto in Francia, allestita nel 1794.

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