BACKGROUND TO THE MORSE TELEGRAPH. The development of electromagnetism since the discovery of magnetite, the use of this in navigation through the compass and the subsequent discoveries of the magnetic and electric field, with the consequent development had as scholars William GILBERT (1544-1603), doctor of the British court who in 1600 publishes a book, De magnete, in which he describes the experiments he performs with a small magnetized sphere (terrella), on which he placed magnetized needles: he comes to distinguish between magnetism as a property of matter, and electricity that was generated by friction.