Baron Paul (Pavel Lvovich) Schilling von Kanstadt was born on April 5 (April 16, new style) 1786 in Reval (Tallinn) into the family of a Russian army officer. He spent the first eleven years of his life in Kazan, where his father commanded the 23rd Nizovsky Infantry Regiment. After the death of his father, Pavel Lvovich entered the cadet corps, which he graduated from in 1802.

Despite a promising appointment to the General Staff, after only a year of service, 17-year-old Pavel leaves the army and goes to serve with the rank of provincial secretary at the Russian embassy in Munich. The young diplomat was not overloaded with routine work; however, he used his free time for activities that were not entirely usual at this age. Pavel prefers the so-called “Museum”, which served as a scientific club for researchers of various fields, to dinner parties and the company of Munich young ladies. Communication with them replaced universities for Schilling and gave a lot for his formation as a scientist. It was in Munich that Schilling first thought about transmitting messages using electricity, participating in the experiments of the anatomist Semmering with an electrolytic telegraph.

Schilling conducted his first independent research in the most advanced field of applied physics of that time - electrical engineering, studying the nature of “electrogalvanism” and the possibilities of its practical use. Two years of work on improving chemical current sources and conductor insulation - and the first serious invention. Schilling was the first to propose using electric current obtained from a voltaic column for remote detonation of mines. This method was much more reliable than the canvas sleeves filled with gunpowder used at that time. Schilling's system operated at a distance of up to five hundred meters, and the reliably insulated wire could, according to the inventor, be laid under water. Munich professor Semmering, who closely followed the successes of the young amateur scientist, writes in his diary in May 1812: “Schilling rejoices like a child in his electrical conductor.”

Before the end of 1812, Schilling had the opportunity to demonstrate another of his discoveries - the Semmering telegraph, which he had somewhat modernized.

Pavel Lvovich celebrated the new year of 1813 already in the army, in the ranks of the 3rd Sumy Hussar Regiment. He shows remarkable courage in battles, marked by orders and a personalized saber “For Bravery.”

In 1814, as part of the Russian troops, he entered Paris. But Paris for Schilling is not so much the capital of the defeated Napoleon as the largest scientific center. Schilling uses the six-month wait for demobilization in the French capital to get closer to such natural scientists as D. Arago and A. Ampere. A short stay in Paris gave impetus to another passion that lasted throughout his life - the friendship he formed with some Orientalist scholars awakened in Schilling his interest in studying the East and oriental languages.

The next decade was almost entirely devoted to oriental studies, work both in Russia and among French, Italian, and British orientalists. The result is widespread recognition: Schilling was elected a corresponding member of the national corporation of French orientalists and a member of the British Society of Asian Literature. And in 1828 - corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. By this time, he was a generally recognized authority in Russia in the study of written monuments of Eastern literature, the owner of a large collection of rare Tibetan, Mongolian, Chinese, and Japanese works.

In addition, in 1814-15, Schilling found an unusual occupation for himself - he began to prepare the opening of lithography in St. Petersburg - a new production facility in Russia at that time for the reproduction of topographic maps and other military documents.

Organized by Schilling upon his arrival in St. Petersburg in the fall of 1816, civil lithography at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs quickly became an exemplary institution and attracted great attention among educated St. Petersburg society. Here he reproduced the Chinese texts of the “Treason” translated by N. Ya. Bichurin.

The first literary work lithographed by Schilling was the poem “Dangerous Neighbor” by Vasily Lvovich Pushkin, the uncle of the great poet. Soon Schilling meets Alexander Sergeevich himself. The first reliable news of their meeting dates back to the autumn of 1818, when both of them, in the company of mutual friends, among whom were Zhukovsky, Gnedich, Lunin, were present at Batyushkov’s farewell to Italy. The first meeting was followed by others, the relationship grew stronger, but in the early 20s the acquaintance was interrupted: while Pushkin was in exile in the south, Schilling traveled a lot abroad, enthusiastically devoting himself to oriental research. At the end of the decade, this acquaintance will be renewed and then develop into friendship.

Meanwhile, Schilling's addictive nature does not allow him to isolate himself in any one area for long. And so, during a break between studying ancient Buddhist manuscripts, the researcher begins to think about the problem, in the first clumsy attempts to resolve which he participated a decade and a half ago in Munich. During this time, electrical engineering has moved far forward - a book by V.V. has already been published. Petrov about galvanism - Schilling’s own scientific horizons also expanded. In any case, by 1825 (so, at least, the English historian of communications technology John Faye believes) he had a completely complete understanding of the principles of operation and the necessary components of the electromagnetic telegraph.

Now Schilling faces mainly practical tasks: developing the optimal design of the apparatus, developing a device and method for laying telegraph lines and other large and small issues; The difficulties of overcoming them are well known to today's inventors, but without solving them, the invention cannot be put into practice.

Schilling, however, was lucky with working out the elements. The war with Turkey that began in 1828 sets the command of the Russian army the task of quickly capturing a number of powerfully fortified Turkish fortresses. Schilling's noisy experiments with explosions of electric mines on the Neva and in the suburbs of the capital were remembered by the St. Petersburg generals, and suddenly the scientist received broad government support for his electrical experiments. Considerable funds have been allocated from the treasury, Schilling has a sapper team headed by several officers at its head, and several training grounds are available to choose from. Orders for parts, wire, components of batteries - all this is immediately transferred to the Izhora and Aleksandrovsky plants, and, if necessary, sent to England.

The war, however, ends the next year with the victory of Russian weapons without the help of the Schilling mine. Even in the war with Napoleon, the emperor himself rebelled against its use. But field tests of mines continue, and General Schilder, who did not have time to use the “ultra-modern” weapon near Silistria, chooses it as the main means of attack for his submarine project. (It was assumed that this submarine would secretly thrust a harpoon with a mine attached to it into the bottom of the enemy ship and, having retreated to a safe distance, explode it through a wire unwound underwater.)

Schilling's first telegraph apparatus began to operate already in 1828, but it did not come to a public demonstration. His passion for Oriental studies, combined this time with official necessity, forces him to change his plans again: from 1829 to 1831, Schilling actively participates in an expedition to Eastern Siberia to “survey the situation of the local population and the state of trade on the northern and western borders of China.” Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences P.L. Schilling returned to St. Petersburg only in the spring of 1832.

Schilling, following Ampere and Fechner, based his telegraph on the “pointer” indication of transmitted symbols. By 1832, the principles of needle indication of the magnetic field had already been developed very carefully. Back in 1821, Andre Ampere proposed a surprisingly elegant astatic arrow, consisting of two coaxially fixed magnetic arrows oriented in opposite directions. Such an arrow is completely insensitive to the Earth's magnetic field. If you place one of the arrows of an astatic pair inside the turns of the coil, and the other above them, then the arrows will deflect only under the influence of the magnetic field of the coil (directed in opposite directions in the areas where they are placed).

The German scientist I. Schweigger invented a device that increases the deflection of the needle and is called a multiplier (multiplier). It was a frame consisting of several turns of wire, inside which a magnetic needle was placed. Experiments have shown that increasing the number of coil turns increases the effect of current on the needle. In 1825, the Italian physicist L. Nobili combined the astatic couple of A. Ampere with the multiplier of I. Schweigger and thereby increased the sensitivity of the device. All these technical solutions to some extent influenced the design of the Schilling telegraph, without, however, depriving it of its originality.

The basic design of the Schilling telegraph had six multipliers. The seventh multiplier served to activate the ringing bell with a clock mechanism. In this design, the transmitter was made in the form of a keyboard manipulator, consisting of eight keys (4 white and 4 black). The transmission line had eight wires. Six pairs of keys were connected by wires to the corresponding six multipliers, one pair to a ringing device. There was another “common pair” of keys for switching the polarity of the galvanic battery.

The work of the Schilling telegraph proceeded as follows. If it was necessary to transmit a “white” signal, the operator pressed a white key connected to the corresponding multiplier. In this case, you should also press the white “common pair” key. Accordingly, when pressing the black key (and the same one in the “common pair”), the “black” signal was transmitted. Unpressed keys corresponded to the “neutral” position.

However, Schilling did not just attach a black and white disk to the hands to facilitate visual indication - he was the first in the world to use a binary code to transmit information:

Each of the six indicators could take one of two working positions; the combination of these provisions made it possible to transmit 2 to the 6th power of code units, i.e. 64 units, which was more than enough to represent all the letters of the alphabet, numbers and special characters.

The first public demonstration of Schilling's electromagnetic telegraph was carried out in the fall of 1832 in his apartment on Tsaritsyn Meadow (now Field of Mars, building 7). The prominent scientist B.S., who was present at one of the first demonstrations of the telegraph. Jacobi, who himself soon became famous for his work in the field of electromagnetism, assessed the contribution of P. L. Schilling as follows: “Shilling had the special advantage that, due to his official position, he was well aware of the country's needs for communications. Satisfying these needs constituted a problem that he sought to solve throughout his life, on the one hand, drawing on the successes of natural science to help, on the other hand, directing his exceptionally sharp mind to the creation and compilation of the simplest code. In the latter case, his special knowledge of oriental languages ​​served as a significant help. Two completely different areas of knowledge - natural sciences and oriental studies - merged together to help the emergence of the telegraph ... "

The apparatus of Baron P. L. Schilling described above “with six indicators and eight wires” allowed telegraphy technology to make a huge leap - from several dozen pairs of wires carrying information to just six. The date October 21, 1832 went down in the history of technology as the birthday of the first practical design of an electromagnetic telegraph, and the design itself forever glorified the inventor.

But for Schilling this was a deliberate step back. Back in 1825, he developed a system with one indicator and, most importantly, one (!) pair of wires. Schilling's binary code had already been invented by that time, and in his first design the author decided to transmit code symbols sequentially. This means that to recognize each letter or number, it was necessary to read a code sequence of 5-6 black and white binary symbols. In today's opinion, this is a simple task, but the gain in the number of conductors and in simplifying the laying of the line itself is enormous. The way to the practical use of the telegraph was open. But the author for a long time refrained from publicly demonstrating this design. Why?

The fact is that among Schilling’s predecessors, determining the transmitted letter was an extremely simple task: it was read directly from the device. The appearance of a bubble in the electrolyte and the movement of the arrow in the corresponding indicator clearly indicated the transmitted letter. A peculiar stereotype had already developed in the small company of telegraph operators of that time: letter recognition should be instant and simple. In the Schilling system, the receiving station operator was required to first register (write or remember) a six-character code message, and then decrypt it. In a very critical analysis of his first system, P.L. Schilling suggested that the difficulty of remembering the message would overshadow the many advantages of this system. And to please the stereotype, he takes a step back: he complicates his telegraph, bringing the number of multipliers and signal wires to six. Unfortunately, it was this more cumbersome, “six-geared” version of the telegraph system that became for the history of technology “the first practical electromagnetic telegraph by P.L. Schilling", served as the starting point for subsequent improvements in the telegraph.

More than one inventor after Schilling became famous by reducing the number of linear wires to two, on the path on which the baron himself voluntarily took a step back. After all, if he had settled on a single-indicator version of the system with sequential transmission of symbols, only one step would have separated him from the Morse apparatus - solving the issue of graphically recording signals.

The government is also paying attention to the invention, which has received high praise from Russian natural scientists. The first line connects the Winter Palace and the Ministry of Railways. The second, which uses an eight-core cable, is laid five miles long and connects the outer premises of the Admiralty, passing along the surrounding streets and, partially, along the bottom of the canal. During tests, Schilling uses a single-multiplier apparatus and, by connecting two pairs of wires at the end of the cable, increases the actual length of the line to 10 miles.

In May 1837, Nicholas I organized a special commission for the construction of a telegraph line between Peterhof and Kronstadt. In a letter to the Minister of Naval Affairs, Prince A.S., who headed it. Menshikov Shilling, having given a detailed description of the design of his telegraph and the prospects for its use, notes: “Having described my telegraph, it remains for me to point out some of its advantages over those currently in use: 1) that its speed is incomparably greater; 2) that it works in rainy and foggy weather; 3) that during the action he does not arouse the attention of the public; 4) that it does not require the construction of special high towers and is maintained by a very small number of people; and, finally, 5) that the initial establishment of it costs less than in ordinary telegraphs.”

The inventor proposed to abandon underground wires and place them above the ground on poles. The commission members literally laughed at him. In 1857, B. S. Jacobi wrote in a report to the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences: “This prudent proposal was greeted by the members of the commission with unfriendly and mocking exclamations. Later, one of the commission members said to him in my presence: “My dear friend, your proposal is madness, your overhead wires are truly ridiculous.”

Unfortunately, Schilling did not have time to begin construction of the Peterhof – Kronstadt line. Unexpected death on August 6, 1837 interrupted his plans.

P.L. Shilling and the first steps of telecommunications in Russia

175 years of telecommunications

M.S. Vysokov

Great and unforgettable moments are rare. Most often, history, with the dispassion of a chronicler, notes fact after fact, adding a link to a gigantic chain that stretches through millennia, because every step of the era requires preparation, every genuine event ripens gradually. Out of the millions of people who make up a nation, only one genius will be born, out of millions of wasted hours, only one becomes truly historical - the finest hour of humanity.

Stefan Zweig

In the capital of the Russian Empire, St. Petersburg, on October 9, 1832 (October 21, new style), an event occurred that was destined to mark the beginning of a new era in the millennia-long history of transmitting information over a distance. On this day, the prominent Russian diplomat and scientist Pavel Lvovich Schilling, in his large apartment, which he rented in a house on the Champ de Mars, staged the first public demonstration of the electromagnetic telegraph he had invented. This day can and should rightfully be considered the birthday of Russian telecommunications.

In order to understand how the world's first electromagnetic telegraph suitable for practical use appeared in Russia, we need, first of all, to at least briefly get acquainted with the biography of the inventor.

P.L. Schilling von Canstadt was born on April 5 (16), 1786 in the city of Reval (now Tallinn). Just two years earlier, his father Baron L. Schilling von Kanstadt, in search of a better life, moved to Russia and entered the Russian military service. He soon married the daughter of a Russian general, Catherine Charlotte von Schilling and Estland, and in 1786, the first son Pavel was born into the Schilling family.

L. Schilling von Kanstadt was an officer, and it was quite natural that he chose a military career for his first-born. In 1795, nine-year-old Pavel Schilling was enlisted in his father's regiment with the rank of ensign. However, at the beginning of 1797, L. Schilling dies, and Pavel is immediately sent to St. Petersburg, where he is assigned to the first cadet corps.

Upon completion of his studies in the cadet corps, 16-year-old second lieutenant P. Schilling von Kanstadt was sent to serve in the Russian General Staff. But even here he did not stay long. The fact is that after the death of his father, P. Schilling’s mother married the Russian diplomat Baron K.Ya. von Buhler, who soon received an appointment to the post of Russian envoy at the court of the Bavarian Elector in Munich. In this regard, P. L. Schilling was transferred from the War Ministry to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in May 1803 and sent to Bavaria as a translator. It was in Munich that a meeting took place that largely determined his future fate. In 1805 P.L. Schilling met a member of the Munich Academy of Sciences, Samuel Thomas Semmering, who was invited to the family of the Russian envoy as a family doctor.

Scientific interests of ST. Semmering's work was not limited to medicine. In 1809, he became interested in the idea of ​​​​creating an electric telegraph apparatus. The project is based on S.T. Semmering laid down the principle of decomposition of water by electric current. The telegraph receiver consisted of a glass vessel filled with acidified water. 35 gold-plated electrodes were placed in this vessel (25 to represent the letters of the German alphabet and 10 to transmit the numbers from zero to nine). A resin-insulated conductor was attached to each electrode. Conductors assembled into a cable connected the receiver electrodes with the corresponding transmitter sockets. To transmit the desired letter or number, it was necessary to insert two plugs into the corresponding sockets, connected by conductors to the poles of the voltaic battery. Reading of the sent information was carried out through bubbles, which immediately began to be released in the receiver after the circuit was closed. In subsequent years, S.T. Semmering significantly improved his apparatus. As a result, the number of electrodes was reduced from 35 to eight, and the plug transmitter was replaced by a keyboard. In 1810 S.T. Semmering created an ingenious calling device for his telegraph, which powered an ordinary alarm clock with a clock winder.

It was at this time that a rapprochement between a young employee of the Russian diplomatic mission, P. L. Schilling, and an elderly German doctor takes place. First P.L. Schilling simply observed the experiments of S.T. Semmering, and then began to take an active part in them. Soon the young researcher begins to formulate the problems that he would like to solve with the help of an electric telegraph. He is very interested in the question of how the device will behave if the conductors are placed in water. And in June 1811, such experiments were carried out: telegraph signals were sent along a wire stretched through water.

Then S.T. Semmering discussed with his young colleague an article by Nuremberg professor I.H. Schweigger, in which he advised the creator of the electric telegraph to use a calling device, which was a capsule with hydrogen. When an electrical signal was sent along a telegraph line, the hydrogen would detonate and attract the attention of the receiving party. This proposal was extremely interesting to P.L. Shilling. However, he did not think about the calling device of an electric telegraph, but about the possibility of creating an electric fuse for detonating gunpowder mines. In the spring of 1812, Schilling introduced his senior comrade to the project of creating mines with an electric fuse. However, experimenters then failed to implement this project. In July 1812, in connection with the invasion of Napoleonic army into Russia, the Russian mission was recalled from Munich in its entirety, and joint research by Semmering and Schilling in the field of electrical telegraphy was stopped.

When leaving for Russia, P.L. Shilling took with him telegraph instruments S.T. Semmering. Immediately after arriving in St. Petersburg, he immediately began experiments, during which he wanted to find out the question that interested him. And in the fall of 1812, for the first time, using an electric fuse, he managed to explode a mine that was in the water. True, this invention did not immediately find application in practice. It will be appreciated only in the 30s of the 19th century, when many ideas of P.L. Schilling's ideas for the use of electric fuses in mines were implemented by the outstanding military engineer K.A. Schilder.

From the spring of 1813 to the summer of 1814. P. L. Schilling was in the active army, where he proved himself to be a competent and brave officer. Soon after the end of the war with Napoleon, P.L. Schilling returns to the Foreign Office. Here he was entrusted with the management of the lithography he created, which copied and reproduced state documents. At the same time P.L. Schilling was included in the staff of the digital department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This unit was responsible in the ministry for the work on compiling ciphers. From 1829 until the end of his life, Actual State Councilor P. L. Shilling was the head of this key division of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Admittedly, P.L. Schilling was one of the most outstanding cryptography specialists not only in Russia (where he had no equal), but also in Europe. So, colleague P.L. Schilling for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs F.P. Fonton wrote about him in 1829: “He composed such a secret alphabet for the ministry, that is, the so-called cipher, that even the Austrian, so skillful secret cabinet, would not have time to honor it in half a century.” K.V. also writes about the same thing. Chevkin: “He invented various signal systems, very ingenious and respected for their simplicity and convenience, and especially cryptographic and key (digital) writing... In this matter, the late baron was perhaps the first person in all of Europe.”

Responsible work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not interfere with P. L. Schilling’s other hobbies. We have already talked about his work on creating electric fuses for mines. In addition, he studied oriental languages, organized a huge and incredibly complex work on the publication of oriental texts in Russia, collected a rare collection of books, lithographs and manuscripts in Chinese, Mongolian, Tibetan and other oriental languages. He collected a large collection of museum objects associated with the Buddhist cult. It is precisely as the orientalist P.L. Schilling in 1829 was elected corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

P.L. Schilling was what is called a secular man. As one contemporary recalled, P. L. Schilling “was a friend of the entire top circle of St. Petersburg.” He has perfectly mastered the art of pleasing both men and women. There was never a dull moment with him: “wonderful stories, always smart, interesting anecdotes - endlessly.” With stories about his adventures, he knew how to make “the whole large society laugh diligently.” In addition, he was an excellent listener. P.L. Schilling “had the art of leaving confidence in everyone that ... finds him an intelligent person.”

Among acquaintances and friends of P.L. Schilling had many celebrities of that era. He was on friendly terms with K.N. Batyushkov, V.A. Zhukovsky, P.A. Vyazemsky, and other famous writers.

Special mention should be made of his relationship with A.S. Pushkin. According to the famous Russian literary critic Academician M.P. Alekseeva, most likely P.L. Schilling A.S. Pushkin dedicated his famous lines:

Oh how many wonderful discoveries we have
They are preparing the spirit of enlightenment,
And experience is the son of difficult mistakes,
And genius is a friend of paradoxes,
And chance, God is the inventor...

These lines were written by Pushkin in December 1829, when P.L. Schilling was preparing to travel to Eastern Siberia and further to China. A.S. Pushkin really wanted to be part of this expedition, and at that time his interest in P.L. Schillingu was especially great.

Around the same days, Pushkin wrote another poem directly addressed to Schilling:

Let's go, I ready; Where would you go, friends?
Wherever you want, I’m ready for you
Follow everywhere, arrogantly running away:
To the foot of the wall of distant China...
Is it boiling Paris...

And finally, a wonderful portrait of P.L. has survived to this day. Schilling, who A.S. At the end of 1829 or the beginning of 1830, Pushkin drew in the album of his good Moscow friend E.N. Ushakova.

Numerous cases related to work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, oriental studies and mine affairs did not allow P.L. Schilling to complete his research in the field of telegraphy, which began back in 1810 and was resumed by him after 1825. Only in 1832, having returned from his East Siberian expedition, was he able to complete work on the telegraph apparatus. We have at our disposal a description of the invention of P. L. Schilling, made by the author himself in 1836 or 1837. “The telegraph, invented by me ... is based on the property discovered by Oersted that the magnetic needle deviates from its direction when the flow of a closed voltaic column moves in the very direction of this arrow.

This property, however, was not enough for the construction of a telegraph; it was still necessary to think about it:

1st. A way to multiply electrical force.
2nd. To dull the oscillation of the magnetic needle, for only through this dulling could one hope to achieve undoubted clarity in the readings and prevent any kind of confusion. I achieved this goal in the following way.
1st. A special multiplier device in which the electric flow swirls several hundred times and deflects a pair of magnetic astatic arrows in one direction or another, looking in the direction of the flow.
2nd. A device of a special method, invented by me, which, allowing the magnetic needles to deviate from their direction by almost 90 degrees, dulls their vibrations and, after the end of the action of the electric flow, brings these arrows to their original position in the direction of the artificial magnetic meridian.

Having outlined... briefly the properties on which my telegraph is based, I finally begin to describe it:

It consists:

1st. From a voltaic column.
2nd. From conductors.
Ze. From the multiplier and in connection with this switch.
4th. From the alarm clock."

As can be seen from the description, P.L. Schilling was able to creatively use almost all the discoveries in the field of electromagnetism made in previous decades. He was greatly influenced by the discovery of G. - X. Oersted, as well as various design solutions and specific devices designed and created by A. Volta, S.T. Semmering, F. Ronalds, A. -M. Amper, H.S. Schweigger, L. Nobili. Without all of them there would have been no telegraph P.L. Shilling.

However, the creation of a device with which it would be possible to send and receive messages would be impossible without solving the problem of the telegraph code. After 1825, the creation of an electromagnetic telegraph was, in general, a matter of time. However, professional physicists from the very beginning were faced with a problem that was insoluble to them. It was extremely expensive to build telegraph lines, where the number of conductors was equal to at least the number of letters of the alphabet. And it was very difficult to find another solution for people who have been involved in more technical issues all their lives. A number of good physicists have never been able to find an acceptable solution.

In such conditions, well-prepared amateurs had an advantage. P. L. Schilling was just such an amateur. Until the mid-30s of the 19th century, he was perceived by those who knew him, first of all, as an orientalist, a specialist in oriental writing, who at the same time dealt with problems of electricity. This situation was quite typical for that era. The time for narrow specialists will come a little later.

This is what the successor P.L. wrote about this in the article “Electromagnetic Telegraphs” specially prepared for the German-speaking reader. Shillinga B.S. Jacobi: “Schilling had the special advantage that his official position allowed him to fully appreciate his country’s needs for communications. Satisfying these needs constituted a task that he sought to solve throughout his life, on the one hand, drawing on the successes of natural science to help, and on the other hand, directing his exceptionally sharp mind to the creation and compilation of the simplest telegraph alphabet. In the latter matter, his special knowledge of oriental languages, which he had the opportunity to familiarize himself with from primary sources, served as a remarkable help. Two completely different areas of knowledge - the natural sciences and the study of oriental writing - merged together to help the emergence of telegraphy."

Indeed, it was P.L.’s inclination. Schilling's interest in oriental languages, as well as the experience in cryptography acquired while working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, helped him solve the problem of creating a telegraph code, which made electromagnetic telegraphy possible at that time. Finally, P.L. Schilling spent several decades collecting information about all the alarm systems that existed at that time.

The first example of an electromagnetic telegraph, which was made by P.L. Schilling no later than 1828, there was a two-wire, single-pointer (i.e., with one multiplier) device. For the successful operation of such a telegraph P.L. Schilling developed a special code based on the use of combinations of different numbers of consecutive signals. The number of signals indicating each sign ranged from one to five. In this case, when the direction of the current changed, the magnetic needle could turn to the right or to the left. As a result, using this code it was possible to transmit all letters of the Latin alphabet, numbers from zero to ten, as well as the commands “give”, “stop”, “end”. It would seem that the problem has been successfully solved. However, then this code seemed too complex for practical use.

In this regard, P.L. Schilling, striving to simplify the code (i.e., to make the use of his telegraph more accessible), went to complicate the receiving device. By 1832, he had manufactured a six-pointer telegraph apparatus. This device consisted of a transmitting device in the form of a keyboard with 16 keys (eight white and eight black) and a receiving device. The receiving device consisted of six multipliers with magnetic needles, which were suspended horizontally on threads. On the same threads above the arrows were attached paper disks, painted white on one side and black on the other. The transmitting and receiving devices were connected by eight conductors. Various combinations of white and black disks in different multipliers corresponded to individual letters of the Russian alphabet and numbers from zero to nine. This code was much easier to understand even for a not very well-prepared person.

So, the work was generally completed, and on October 9 (21), 1832, P. L. Schilling, as already mentioned, staged a demonstration in his house of the world's first ready-to-use electromagnetic telegraph. To demonstrate the capabilities of the new means of communication, the transmitter was installed in one wing of the house (the invitees gathered there), and the receiver was installed in the opposite wing (where P.L. Schilling’s office was located). The distance between the transmitter and receiver was about 100 meters. The first telegram of 10 words was sent by one of the guests and almost instantly received by P.L. Shilling.

From that moment on, a real pilgrimage began to the house on the Champ de Mars. As Kh. Ya. Lazarev, who knew P. L. Schilling well, recalled, “in order to provide more guarantees in the certificates, Baron Schilling suggested and insisted to visitors that they replace his baron in conveying words and expressions, and he himself moved from one end of the rooms in the other, in order only to indicate and direct the actions of telegraph transmission."

One of those who showed great interest in the invention of P.L. Schilling, was Emperor Nicholas I. In the fall of 1836, in accordance with the imperial decree, a special committee was created to consider the electromagnetic telegraph. The Committee carefully studied the invention of P.L. Shilling. To carry out the tests, the inventor was asked to build a small telegraph line in the Main Admiralty building. Three telegraph machines were installed in the building (one of them was in the office of the Minister of the Navy). The length of the line was five miles. Part of the wire was passed through the internal Admiralty channel.

Tests of the first electromagnetic telegraph line in Russia were successful. The uninterrupted operation of that part of the line that was under water for five months was especially noted. In the future, this made it possible to raise the question of constructing a telegraph line that would connect St. Petersburg with Kronstadt.

Upon completion of the tests, P.L. Shilling, no earlier than April 1837, addressed Admiral A. S. Menshikov with a letter in which he expressed the hope that the committee formed to consider the electromagnetic telegraph would give this invention “favorable approval.” In addition, P.L. Schilling asked the Minister of the Navy to draw the emperor’s attention to his invention and that he “seek funds from His Majesty to arrange such a telegraph on a larger scale worthy of the importance of the invention itself.”

The response to this letter was the decision to build “for experiment” a telegraph line between Peterhof and Kronstadt. About this decision P.L. Schilling was notified on May 19, 1737 by Admiral A.S. Menshikov. At the same time, the Minister of Marine turned to P.L. Schilling with a request “to take the trouble to draw up detailed considerations and estimates for the construction of the highest telegraph intended between Kronstadt and Peterhof.”

P.L. Schilling immediately began this work, which was extremely interesting for him. However, he only managed to discuss his proposals at a committee meeting chaired by A. S. Menshikov. He did not have time to do more - on July 25, 1837, P. L. Schilling died.

It is difficult to overestimate the merits of P.L. Schilling in the creation of telecommunications in our country. It was he who was the first to creatively use almost all the discoveries in the field of electromagnetism made in previous decades. At the same time, he studied both the latest theoretical developments in the field of electricity and magnetism, as well as almost all the devices created by that time. It was only necessary to understand how to transmit messages using all these devices. And P.L. Schilling was able to do this. It was he who was the first who, in laboratory conditions, was able to transmit information using an electromagnetic telegraph. Use of the invention by P.L. Shilling, first in England and then in Russia, marked the beginning of practical telegraphy.

Literature

1. Alekseev M.P. Pushkin and the science of his time. (Reflections and studies)// Pushkin: Research and materials. - T. 1. - M.; L.: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1956.
2. Baron P.L. Schilling von Kanstadt// Journal of the Ministry of Public Education. -Ch. 15. -SPb., 1837. -No. 8.
3. Vysokov M.S. Telecommunications in the Russian Empire from its inception to the beginning of the 20th century.- Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk: Publishing House of Sakhalin State University, 2003.
4. Gamel I.H.Historical sketch of electric telegraphs in // Log of communication routes. - T. 32. - St. Petersburg, 1860. - Book. 6. - Department II.
5. Inventor of the electromagnetic telegraph, Baron Pavel Lvovich Schilling von Kanstadt.- St. Petersburg, 1886.
6. Description of the electromagnetic telegraph by P. L. Schilling// Questions of the history of natural science and technology. — Vol. 1. - M.: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1956.
7. Soboleva T. A. History of encryption in Russia.- M.: OLMA-PRESS-Education, 2002.
8. Stogov E.I. Notes of a gendarme staff officer from the era of Nicholas I.- M.: Indrik, 2003.
9. Fontov F.P. Memories. - T. 2. -Leipzig, 1862.
10. Zweig S. Humanity's Finest Hour: Historical Miniatures// Zweig S. Collected Works. - T.Z.-M.: Pravda, 1963.
11. Tsyavlovskaya T.G. Drawings by Pushkin.-M.: Art, 1986.
12. Chevkin K.V. Baron Pavel Lvovich Schilling// Northern bee. - St. Petersburg, 1838. - September 27.
13. Chuguevsky L.I. From the history of the publication of oriental texts in Russia in the first quarter of the 19th century// Countries and peoples of the East. - Vol. XI. — M.: Science. Main Editorial Board of Oriental Literature, 1971.
14. Yarotsky A.V. About the activities of P. L. Schilling as an orientalist// Essays on the history of Russian oriental studies. - T. 6. - M.: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1963.
15. Yarotsky A.V. The main stages of the development of telegraphy.- M.; L.: State. energy publishing house, 1963.
16. Yarotsky A.V. Pavel Lvovich Schilling.- M.: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1963.

After the war, Pavle Lvovich Schilling served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He studied lithography and created the first civil lithography in Russia for printing geographical maps.

Schilling's hobby - oriental studies - made his name widely known. On a trip to Eastern Siberia, Pavel Lvovich collected a huge collection of Tibetan-Mongolian literary monuments. In 1828, he was elected a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences in the field of literature and antiquities of the East.

But Schilling went down in history thanks to his work in the field of electricity. While researching ways to transmit signals using electricity, he came up with the idea of ​​​​using electromagnetic devices for this.

Long-term experiments led him to the creation in 1832 of a keyboard telegraph apparatus with indicators made on the basis of a pointer galvanometer.

Good knowledge of languages ​​and encryption systems allowed Pavel Lvovich Schilling to create a special 6-digit code for telegraphic purposes. This code determined the number of dial indicators in his telegraph system (six pieces).

Later, Schilling created a one-pointer two-wire telegraph with a binary signal coding system.

Successful tests of Schilling's telegraph apparatus made it possible to build a service telegraph line between the Admiralty buildings in St. Petersburg in 1836.

In 1837, Schilling developed a project for an underwater electromagnetic telegraph line between Krontadt and Peterhof.

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Chinese esotericism + Russian German =+ SOS?

On October 21, 1832, Pavel Lvovich Schilling demonstrated the world's first electromagnetic telegraph. The five-room apartment turned out to be too small for the demonstration, and the scientist hired the entire floor. The transmitter was installed at one end of the building, where the invitees had gathered, and the receiver was installed at the other, in Schilling's office. The distance between the devices was over 100 m.

Baron Pavel Lvovich Schilling von Kanstadt (1786-1837)

The interest in the invention was so great that the demonstration lasted until the Christmas holidays. Among the visitors were Academician Boris Semenovich Jacobi (see PC Week/RE, No. 40/2001, p. 17), Count Benckendorff, Emperor Nicholas I, Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich.

Today we can evaluate the scheme of the telecommunications pioneer. Six pairs of main keys, a pair of calling keys and a pair of general keys. Each pair is connected to the receiving station by one wire. The wires of the main and calling keys at the station are connected to the windings of the corresponding multipliers, the other ends of which are connected to the common return wire. The keys of each pair differ in appearance by color. When you press the main or call key of one color, the line wire is connected to one pole of the battery, and when you press a key of a different color - to the other. A common pair of keys is included in the circuit in such a way that pressing a key of a common pair of the same color as the color of the main or call key always connects the common line wire to the opposite pole of the battery. In order to send a current in one direction through a specific multiplier, you must simultaneously press the corresponding main and general keys, and both of them must be the same color.

Telegraph apparatus of P. L. Schilling (1832)

The background to the creation of this telegraph is extremely interesting. After all, information about the telegraph as a completely completed invention can be found even before 1830. For example, Schilling’s colleague F. P. Fonton wrote in May 1829:

“Very little is known that Schilling invented a new type of telegraph. By means of an electric current conducted through wires stretched between two points, he carries out signs, the combinations of which make up the alphabet, words, sayings, and so on. This seems of little importance, but with time and improvement it will replace our present telegraphs, which in foggy, unclear weather or when sleep attacks the telegraph operators, which just as often as fogs become mute.”

The conventional alphabet was already used in the semaphore telegraph. There was no need for a minimum number of working characters. Ivan Kulibin used two signs for each letter or syllable, which required more than 100 signals. Claude Chappe's ABC contained 250 signals for 8464 words, written on 92 pages, 92 words each.

The task posed by P. L. Schilling was to create a telegraph code that would allow the simultaneous transmission of each letter with a minimum number of wires, i.e., with the smallest number of working characters denoting a given letter. And the solution to this problem, which determined success, was found in China (!).

Schilling’s choice of exactly six working multipliers and main linear wires for the device was not accidental. In 1828, he received the rank of full state councilor and from that moment became a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences for Literature and Antiquities of the East.

In May 1830, P. L. Shilling went on special orders from the government to the borders of China. In addition to searching for rare manuscripts, the researcher is studying the Chinese language and getting acquainted with the life and philosophy of this country. He was shocked by the ability of Chinese predictors to guess the future using a simple system of 64 figures. Each such figure (hexagram) consisted of six lines of two types - continuous and intermittent. Today this system - I Ching - is widely known in the world.

Upon his return to St. Petersburg in March 1832, Schilling set about implementing his project with renewed vigor. “If with the help of a combination of six lines it is possible to tell the whole fate of a person, then it is even more sufficient to convey the alphabet!” - this is probably how he reasoned. We already know about the results of “crossing” Eastern wisdom, German practicality and Russian ingenuity.

A contemporary of Pushkin and Gogol, Schilling was the first in the world to prove the possibility of practical application of electromagnetic phenomena for communication needs and opened the way for the work of Morse, Cook and Wheatstone. He rejected numerous lucrative offers to sell his telegraph to England or the USA, and considered it his duty to install telecommunications in Russia.

The fruits of Pavel Lvovich Schilling's creativity are presented in the exhibitions of the Moscow Polytechnic Museum and the Central Museum of Communications in St. Petersburg.

November 9th, 2015

How a friend of Alexander Pushkin invented the world's first telegraph, electric mine detonation and the most resistant code

Inventor of the world's first telegraph and author of the first mine detonation in the history of mankind via an electric wire. Creator of the world's first telegraph code and the best secret cipher in the 19th century. Friend of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin and creator of the first lithography in Russia (a method of replicating images). The Russian hussar who stormed Paris, and Europe's first researcher of Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhism, scientist and diplomat. All this is one person - Pavel Lvovich Schilling, an outstanding Russian inventor of the Pushkin era and the Napoleonic wars. Perhaps one of the last representatives of the galaxy of encyclopedists, “universal scientists” of the Enlightenment era, who left a bright mark in many often distant spheres of world science and technology.

Oh, how many wonderful discoveries we have

Prepare the spirit of enlightenment

And Experience, the son of difficult mistakes,

And Genius, friend of paradoxes...

These famous Pushkin lines, according to most researchers of the great poet’s work, are dedicated specifically to Pavel Shilling and were written in those days when their author was going with him on an expedition to the Far East, to the borders of Mongolia and China.

Everyone knows the genius of Russian poetry, while his learned friend is much less known. Although it rightfully occupies an important place in Russian science and history.

Profile of Pavel Schilling, drawn by A.S. Pushkin in the album of E.N. Ushakova in November 1829

The world's first electric mine

The future inventor of the telegraph was born on the lands of the Russian Empire in Reval on April 16, 1786. In accordance with origin and tradition, the baby was named Paul Ludwig, Baron von Schilling von Kanstadt. His father was a German baron who switched to Russian service, where he rose to the rank of colonel, and received the highest military award for bravery - the Order of St. George.

A few months after his birth, the future author of many inventions found himself in the very center of Russia, in Kazan, where his father commanded the Nizovsky infantry regiment. Paul spent his entire childhood here, here he became Pavel, and from here, at the age of 11, after the death of his father, he went to St. Petersburg to study in the cadet corps. In the documents of the Russian Empire he was recorded as Pavel Lvovich Schilling - under this name he entered Russian history.

During his studies, Pavel Schilling showed an aptitude for mathematics and topography, so upon graduating from the cadet corps in 1802, he was enrolled in the Quartermaster part of His Imperial Majesty's retinue - the prototype of the General Staff, where the young officer was engaged in the preparation of topographic maps and staff calculations.

In those years, a big war was brewing in the center of Europe between Napoleonic France and Tsarist Russia. And General Staff Pavel Schilling was transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he served as a secretary at the Russian embassy in Munich, then the capital of the independent Bavarian state.

Schilling became an employee of our military intelligence - at that time the functions of a diplomat and an intelligence officer were even more mixed than in our time. Bavaria was then a de facto vassal of Napoleon, and St. Petersburg needed to know about the internal situation and military potential of this kingdom.

But Munich at that time was also one of the centers of German science. Moving in the circles of high society, the young diplomat and intelligence officer became acquainted not only with aristocrats and military men, but also with outstanding European scientists of his time. As a result, Pavel Schilling became interested in studying oriental languages ​​and experiments with electricity.

At that time, humanity was only discovering the secrets of the movement of electric charges; various “galvanic” experiments were viewed rather as amusing entertainment. But Pavel Schilling suggested that a spark of an electric charge in wires could replace a powder fuse in military affairs.

Meanwhile, the great war with Napoleon began; in July 1812, the Russian embassy was evacuated to St. Petersburg, and here Pavel Schilling immediately offered his invention to the military department. He undertook to detonate a powder charge under water so that minefields could be made that could reliably cover the capital of the Russian Empire from the sea. At the height of the Patriotic War, when Napoleon's soldiers occupied Moscow, several of the world's first experimental detonations of powder charges under water using electricity were carried out in St. Petersburg on the banks of the Neva.

Maps for the Russian army

Experiments with electric mines were successful. Contemporaries called them “long-range ignition.” In December 1812, the Life Guards Sapper Battalion was formed, in which further work on Schilling's experiments on electric fuses and explosions continued. The author of the invention himself, having abandoned the comfortable diplomatic rank, volunteered to join the Russian army. With the rank of headquarters captain of the Sumy Hussar Regiment, in 1813-1814 he went through all the major battles with Napoleon in Germany and France. For the battles on the outskirts of Paris, Captain Schilling was awarded a very rare and honorable award - a personalized weapon, a saber with the inscription “For bravery.” But his contribution to the final defeat of Napoleon’s army lay not only in the courage of cavalry attacks - it was Pavel Schilling who provided the Russian army with topographic maps for the offensive in France.

"The Battle of Fer-Champenoise". Painting by V. Timm

Previously, maps were drawn by hand, and in order to supply all the numerous Russian units with them, there was neither time nor the required number of skilled specialists. Hussar officer Schilling at the end of 1813 informed Tsar Alexander I that the world's first successful experiments in lithography - copying drawings - were being carried out in Mannheim, Germany.

The essence of this new technology for that time was that a drawing or text was applied to specially selected and polished limestone using a special “lithographic” ink. Then the surface of the stone is “etched” - treated with a special chemical composition. The etched areas not covered with lithographic ink after such treatment repel the printing ink, and in the places where the design was applied, the printing ink, on the contrary, easily sticks. This makes it possible to quickly and efficiently make numerous prints of drawings from such a “lithographic stone”.

By order of the Tsar, Pavel Schilling and a squadron of hussars arrived in Mannheim, where he found specialists who had previously participated in lithographic experiments and the necessary equipment. In the rear of the Russian army, under the leadership of Schilling, they quickly organized the production of a large number of maps of France, which were urgently needed on the eve of the decisive offensive against Napoleon. At the end of the war, the workshop created by Schilling was relocated to St. Petersburg, to the Military Topographic Depot of the General Staff.

The strongest cipher of the 19th century

In Paris, captured by the Russians, while everyone is celebrating the victory, hussar Schilling first meets French scientists. Especially often, due to his interest in electricity, he communicates with Andre Ampere, a man who went down in the history of world science as the author of the terms “electric current” and “cybernetics”, after whose name his descendants will name the unit of measurement of current strength.

Andre Ampere

But in addition to the “electrical” hobby, the scientist-hussar Schilling has a new big task - he studies captured French ciphers, learns to decrypt other people’s and create his own cryptography techniques. Therefore, soon after the defeat of Napoleon, hussar Schilling takes off his uniform and returns to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

At the Russian Foreign Ministry, he is officially engaged in the creation of a lithographic printing house - a significant part of diplomatic activity at that time consisted of lively correspondence, and technical copying of documents helped speed up the work and ease the work of many scribes. As Schilling’s friends joked, he became interested in lithography because his active nature could not stand the tedious copying by hand: “Shilling, impatient by nature, groaned at his desk and once said that this lengthy copying of papers could have been avoided by using lithography, which at that time was hardly known to anyone...”

But the creation of lithographs for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs became only the external part of his work. In reality, Pavel Schilling works in the Secret Expedition of the Digital Unit - that’s what the encryption department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was called back then. It was Schilling who was the first in the history of world diplomacy to introduce the practice of using special bigram ciphers - when, using a complex algorithm, pairs of letters are encrypted with numbers, but not located in a row, but in the order of another given algorithm. Such fonts were so complex that they were used until the advent of electrical and electronic encryption systems during World War II.

The theoretical principle of bigram encryption was known long before Schilling, but for manual work it was so complex and time-consuming that it had not previously been used in practice. Schilling invented a special mechanical device for such encryption - a collapsible table glued to paper, which made it possible to easily encrypt bigrams.

At the same time, Schilling further strengthened bigram encryption: he introduced “dummies” (encryption of individual letters) and the addition of text with a chaotic set of characters. As a result, such a cipher became so stable that it took European mathematicians more than half a century to learn how to crack it, and Pavel Shilling himself rightfully earned the title of the most outstanding Russian cryptographer of the 19th century. Just a few years after Schilling’s invention, the new ciphers were used not only by Russian diplomats, but also by the military. By the way, it was precisely his hard work on ciphers that saved Pavel Schilling from being carried away by the fashionable ideas of the Decembrists and, perhaps, saved an outstanding person for Russia.

"Russian Cagliostro" and Pushkin

All his contemporaries who knew him and left memoirs agree that Pavel Lvovich Schilling was an extraordinary person. And first of all, everyone notes his extraordinary sociability.

He amazed the high society of St. Petersburg with his ability to play several games of chess at once, without looking at the boards and always winning. Schilling, who loved to have fun, entertained St. Petersburg society not only with games and interesting stories, but also with various scientific experiments. Foreigners nicknamed him the “Russian Cagliostro” - for his mysterious experiments with electricity and his knowledge of the then mysterious Far East.

Pavel Schilling became interested in eastern, or, as they said then, “oriental” countries as a child, when he was growing up in Kazan, which was then the center of Russian trade with China. Even during his diplomatic service in Munich, and then in Paris, where the leading European center for Oriental studies was then located, Pavel Schilling studied Chinese. As a cryptographer and cipher specialist, he was attracted by mysterious hieroglyphs and incomprehensible oriental manuscripts.

The Russian diplomat Schilling put his interest in the East into practice. Having established new encryption, in 1830 he volunteered to lead a diplomatic mission to the borders of China and Mongolia. Most diplomats preferred an enlightened Europe, so the tsar without hesitation approved Schilling's candidacy.

One of the participants in the eastern expedition was to be Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. While still engaged in lithography, Schilling could not resist a “hooligan act”; he hand-wrote and multiplied lithographically the poems of Vasily Lvovich Pushkin, the uncle of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, a well-known writer in Moscow and St. Petersburg. This is how the first manuscript in Russian was born, reproduced by technical copying. After the victory over Napoleon and return to Russia, Vasily Pushkin introduced Schilling to his nephew. Alexander Pushkin's acquaintance with Schilling grew into a long and strong friendship.

On January 7, 1830, Pushkin turns to the chief of gendarmes, Benckendorff, with a request to enroll him in Schilling’s expedition: “... I would ask for permission to visit China with the embassy going there.” Unfortunately, the tsar did not include the poet in the list of members of the diplomatic mission to the borders of Mongolia and China, depriving his descendants of Pushkin’s poems about Siberia and the Far East. Only the stanzas written by the great poet about his desire to go on a long journey with the Schilling embassy have survived:

Let's go, I'm ready; Where would you go, friends?

Wherever you want, I’m ready for you

Follow everywhere, arrogantly running away:

To the foot of the wall of distant China...

The world's first practical telegraph

In the spring of 1832, the Far Eastern embassy, ​​which included the future founder of Russian Sinology, Archimandrite Nikita Bichurin, returned to St. Petersburg, and five months later, on October 9, the first demonstration of the work of his first telegraph took place. Before this, Europe had already tried to create devices for transmitting electrical signals over a distance, but all such devices required a separate wire to transmit each letter and sign - that is, a kilometer of such a “telegraph” required about 30 km of wires.

Nikita Bichurin

The telegraph invented by Schilling used only two wires - it was the first working model that could be used not only for experiments, but also in practice. Data transmission was carried out by various combinations of eight black and white keys, and the receiver consisted of two arrows, the signals transmitted through the wires were displayed by their location relative to the black and white disk. In fact, Schilling was the first in the world to use binary code, on the basis of which all digital and computer technology operates today.

Already in 1835, the Schilling telegraph connected the premises of the vast Winter Palace and the palace itself with the Admiralty, and under the chairmanship of the Minister of Navy, a Committee was created to consider the electromagnetic telegraph. We began to carry out the first experiments on laying telegraph cables underground and under water.

At the same time, work did not stop on the method of electrical detonation of sea mines proposed by Schilling. On March 21, 1834, on the Obvodny Canal near the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg, the inventor demonstrated to Tsar Nicholas I the electric detonation of underwater mines. From that moment on, active work began in Russia to create underwater minefields.

In 1836, Shilling received a tempting offer for a lot of money to begin work on introducing the telegraph he had invented in England. However, the author of the invention refused to leave Russia and took up the project of constructing the first large telegraph between Peterhof and Kronstadt, the wires for which he planned to lay along the bottom of the Gulf of Finland.

Telegraph apparatus of Pavel Schilling

The project of such a telegraph was approved by the Tsar on May 19, 1837. For his submarine cable, Schilling was the first in the world to propose insulating the wires with rubber, natural rubber. At the same time, Schilling announced a project for connecting Peterhof and St. Petersburg by telegraph, for which he planned to hang copper wire on ceramic insulators from poles along the Peterhof road. This was the world's first proposal of a modern type of electrical network! But then tsarist officials perceived Schilling’s project as a wild fantasy. Adjutant General Peter Kleinmichel, the same one who would soon build the first railway between Moscow and St. Petersburg, then laughed and said to Schilling: “My dear friend, your proposal is madness, your overhead wires are truly ridiculous.”

Pavel Schilling never saw the realization of his visionary ideas. He died on August 6, 1837, having only briefly outlived his friend Alexander Pushkin. Soon after the death of the Russian inventor, telegraph networks began to envelop the globe, and the electrically detonated underwater mines he invented during the Crimean War of 1853-1856 reliably protected St. Petersburg and Kronstadt from the English fleet that then dominated the Baltic.

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