caption death_date death_place birth_place name birth_date known_for signature image article_title education birth_name occupation spouses
samuel finley breese morse , 1840 2 april 1872 5 new york west 22nd street , new york city , charlestown , massachusetts samuel morse 27 april 1791 the invention and transmission of morse code samuel morse signature.svg samuel morse 1840.jpg samuel morse
 yale college samuel finley breese morse painter , inventor lucretia pickering walker and sarah elizabeth griswold
samuel morse

samuel finley breese morse -lrb- april 27 , 1791 -- april 2 , 1872 -rrb- was an american painter and inventor .
after having established his reputation as a portrait painter , in his middle age morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system based on european telegraphs .
he was a co-developer of the morse code , and helped to develop the commercial use of telegraphy .
