Wheatstone, Charles (1802-1875)

A telegraph receiver invented by the British physicist Charles Wheatstone in about 1840. In addition to the telegraph, Wheatstone also invented the rheostat (variable electrical resistor), and carried out experiments in underwater telegraphy. He also invented the concertina and the symphonium, a chromatic mouth organ.

English physicist and inventor. With William Cooke, he patented a railway telegraph in 1837, and, developing an idea of Samuel Christie (1784-1865), devised the Wheatstone bridge, an electrical network for measuring resistance. He also invented the concertina.

In 1834 Wheatstone made the first determination of the velocity of electricity along a wire. He also improved on early versions of the dynamo so that current was generated continuously. He was knighted in 1868.

Wheatstone was born in Gloucester and joined the family business making musical instruments. His work in acoustics led to his appointment as professor of experimental physics at King's College, London, in 1834, a position he retained for the rest of his life.

In 1827 Wheatstone invented a device called the kaleidophone, which visually demonstrated the vibration of sounding surfaces by causing an illuminated spot to vibrate and produce curves by the persistence of vision. He went on to investigate the transmission of sound in instruments and discovered modes of vibration in air columns in 1832 and vibrating plates in 1833.

Wheatstone showed in 1835 that spectra produced by spark discharges from metal electrodes have different lines and colours formed by different electrodes. He predicted correctly that with development, spectroscopy would become a technique for the analysis of elements.

In 1860, he demonstrated how the visual combination of two similar pictures in a stereoscope gives an illusion of three dimensions.