page_title: Pavel Schilling
hierarchical_section_title: Pavel Schilling
caption_attribution_description: English: 19th century portrait of Pavel Shilling, Russian diplomat and inventor
context_page_description: Baron Pavel Lvovitch Schilling, also known as Paul Schilling, was a Russian military officer and diplomat of Baltic German origin. The majority of his career was spent working for the imperial Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a language officer at the Russian embassy in Munich. As a military officer, he took part in the War of the Sixth Coalition against Napoleon. In his later career, he was transferred to the Asian department of the ministry and undertook a tour of Mongolia to collect ancient manuscripts.
  Schilling is best known for his pioneering work in electrical telegraphy, which he undertook at his own initiative. While he was in Munich, he worked with Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring who was developing an electrochemical telegraph. Schilling developed the first electromagnetic telegraph that was of practical use. Schilling's design was a needle telegraph using magnetised needles suspended by a thread over a current-carrying coil. His design also greatly reduced the number of wires compared to Sömmerring's system by the use of binary coding. Tsar Nicholas I planned to install Schilling's telegraph on a link to Kronstadt, but cancelled the project after Schilling died.
context_section_description: Baron Pavel Lvovitch Schilling (1786–1837), also known as Paul Schilling, was a Russian military officer and diplomat of Baltic German origin.  The majority of his career was spent working for the imperial Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a language officer at the Russian embassy in Munich.  As a military officer, he took part in the War of the Sixth Coalition against Napoleon.  In his later career, he was transferred to the Asian department of the ministry and undertook a tour of Mongolia to collect ancient manuscripts.
  Schilling is best known for his pioneering work in electrical telegraphy, which he undertook at his own initiative.  While he was in Munich, he worked with Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring who was developing an electrochemical telegraph.  Schilling developed the first electromagnetic telegraph that was of practical use.  Schilling's design was a needle telegraph using magnetised needles suspended by a thread over a current-carrying coil.  His design also greatly reduced the number of wires compared to Sömmerring's system by the use of binary coding.  Tsar Nicholas I planned to install Schilling's telegraph on a link to Kronstadt, but cancelled the project after Schilling died.
  Other technological interests of Schilling included lithography, remote detonation of explosives, and submarine cables.
caption: Pavel Lvovitch Schilling
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