The first widely adopted system for transmitting messages overland and first practical telecommunications system of the industrial age was developed around 1790 in France by Claude Chappe and his four brothers.
Claude Chappe was born on Christmas day (25 December) 1763, in the small French town of Brûlon, some 200 km southwest of Paris, to Ignace Chappe d’Auteroche and Marie-Renée de Vernay de Vert.
When Claude graduated from the college in 1783, he became an Abbe Commendataire and obtained two religious benefices, close to Paris—Saint-Martin de Châlautre and Baignolet, which provided him with few obligations and ample funds, which he used to create small home laboratory.
In his laboratory, Claude performed many experiments in physics (mainly in electricity), and published the results in several papers for Journal de physique, some written jointly with other physicists.