#Exhibit of the Month

One of the great technical achievements that revolutionized the idea of time and space, opening a new era in the history of communication, is telegraphy. It is based on the transmission of electrical signals through a cable over long distances, allowing people to communicate instantly. The telegraph spread very quickly and a network of wires stretched around the world.

In 1837, the American painter and physicist Samuel Morse invented the first electromagnetic device for telegraphy, patented in 1840. To send messages by wire, Morse developed in 1838 a simple code of dots and dashes, which represented the letters of the alphabet, known as "Morse code ".

Both Morse code and the telegraph machine were improved over time, with the telegraph becoming the most widespread system of communication and information transmission for more than a century, until the advent of the Internet. The telegraph system consisted of a series of stations repeaters along the transmission line route. Each station had an operator who received and transmitted messages by telegraph. The Morse machine transmitted about 25 words per minute, which were recorded in code on a paper tape. The operator in charge of transmitting the message would decode it and write it on paper using a special typewriter.

In Bessarabia, the telegraph entered in 1860: on April 8, the Bender telegraph station began its activity, and on April 24, the one in Chisinau, following the construction of the first Odesa-Chisinau-Leova telegraph line. Currently, telegraph services have been discontinued. The only ones who still use coded communication are radio amateurs.

The Morse telegraph machine shown comes from the Osinoostrovsky electrotechnical plant, Soviet Union, and dates back to 1934. The exhibit was restored by Mihail Culașco.

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Research Research Projects

GDRE (Groupement de Recherche Européen) „Trouvailles monétaires" (2007-2010)

During 2007-2010 the Museum developed the international project of numismatic research GDRE (Groupement de Recherche Européen) „Trouvailles monétaires"

Members of GDRE:

France, CNRS: Paris (Centre de recherches historique) - Georges Depeyrot - GDRE coordinator; Musee des Terreaux, Lyon;

The Republic of Moldova, Academy of Sciences of Moldova: National Museum of Archaeology and History of Moldova (A. Boldureanu- coordinator) and the Institute of Cultural Heritage (S. Tabac);

Poland, Warsaw University: Institute of Arhaeology;

Romania, Romanian Academy: Institute of Archaeology; Cabinet of Medals of Academy Library;

Slovenia, National Museum: Cabinet of Medals.

Mission of GDRE:

- Facilitate and encourage contacts and exchanges of researches;
- Promote co-operation actions;
- Coordinate research programs for many partners for the purpose of supporting of research and technological development;
- Find opportunities to harmonize and complement the programs through seminars, congresses devoted to scientific themes of GDRE, etc.

Work plan and schedule for the Republic of Moldova

1. In 2009, complete and publish the book "Corpus de tresors de Moldavie".

2. Publication of the book "Tresors majeurs de Moldavie".

Activities in the framework of GDRE:

1. The round table "Discoveries of Coins" organized by the European Research Group in the framework of the 8th Symposium of Numismatics held on May 29-30, 2007 in Chisinau.

2. Participation in the session of the European Research Group in the framework of the 9th Symposium of Numismatics held in Chisinau on September 17-18, 2008.

3. Participation in the international conference organized by the Jagellonian University in Krakow, Poland, where the participants of GDRE met in the framework of inter-academic exchange on April 21-26, 2008. In the course of the work there were summed up the activities for 2007 and planned the activities for the next period.

4. Participation in the International Congress of Numismatics, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom, August 31- September 4, 2009.