Foreword

We were delighted when the Science Museum was approached about a new publication that would look at the technical aspects of the telecoms industry, with a nod to the developments and experience of the past.

The ambition of this publication fits with our own development of a major new gallery in information and communications technology. Our planned gallery will trace the dramatic change since the invention of the telegraph, the laying of the first transatlantic cable, the creation of the first digital electronic computer, the development of mobile communications and the advent of the World Wide Web.

This publication, and the gallery, will provide an important record for questioning the speed of change and developing broader narratives on telecommunications history.

Tilly Blyth
Curator of Computing and Information
Science Museum, London
October 2011