Cyrus W. Field
Cyrus West Field (born November 30, 1819 in Stockbridge , Massachusetts , † July 12, 1892 in New York City , New York) was an American businessman.
Cyrus W. Field was a merchant in New York and quickly became very prosperous. In 1854 he turned his attention to transoceanic telegraphy (see submarine cables ) and acquired the exclusive right from the Newfoundland government to lay a cable from the United States there and then on to Europe . From then on he devoted his whole life to the cause - the first successes achieved in this field are largely thanks to him. Together with his brother and four other business partners, his company finally managed to lay the first transatlantic cable in 1858. Cyrus W. Field accompanied the expeditions of 1857 and 1858. Since the first cable only worked for a few weeks, a second cable was laid after further improvements in 1866, and Field participated in the expeditions of 1865 and 1866. In the following years Field devoted his interest to the underwater telegraph and in 1871 he was one of the main promoters of the line through the Pacific Ocean via Hawaii to China and Japan .
literature
- John Steele Gordon: A Thread Across the Ocean: The Heroic Story of the Transatlantic Cable . Publisher: Harper Perennial (July 1, 2003) ISBN 978-0-0605-2446-3
- William Thompson: The Cable: The Wire that Changed the World . Publisher: Tempus (May 28, 2007) ISBN 978-0-7524-3903-7
- Chester G. Hearn: Circuits in the Sea. The Men, the Ships, and the Atlantic Cable . Publisher: Praeger (August 30, 2004) ISBN 978-0-2759-8231-7 (English)
- Stefan Zweig : The first word about the ocean. in: Sternstunden der Menschheit , Insel Verlag, Leipzig 1927 ( Insel-Bücherei 165/2); Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag , Volume 595, ISBN 3-596-20595-6
- Christian Holtorf: The first line to the New World: Laying the transatlantic telegraph cable. Printed with the support of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2013 ISBN 978-3-8353-1242-5 , 350 S. - "Abridged and revised version of his dissertation accepted by the Berlin Humboldt University in 2009"
Web links
- "Repeat, please" - The laying of the first telegraph cable across the Atlantic by Christian Holtorf on Telepolis on August 5th, 2008
- Details and photos on www.atlantic-cable.com (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ History of the Atlantic Cable & Submarine Telegraphy - Cyrus Field. Retrieved November 2, 2018 .
- ^ Robert Radu: C. Holtorf: The first wire to the New World - Review. In: H-Soz-Kult, October 15, 2013.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Field, Cyrus W. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Field, Cyrus West |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American entrepreneur |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 30, 1819 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Stockbridge, Massachusetts |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 11, 1892 or July 12, 1892 |