We analyze the advances of electric telegraphy and of wireless telegraphy in the world and, in particular, in Portugal, based on articles of the periodical O Instituto, published by the Instituto de Coimbra, a scientific society, founded in 1852, that gathered many Portuguese personalities of science and arts. We review the main articles on telegraphy: the paper by José Maria de Abreu in 1855, less than a month after the adjudication of the first telegraphic lines in Portugal; the assessment by the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Coimbra on the deliberations of the Congress and Conferences of Paris for the unification of electric units, where Santos Viegas, the President of the Coimbra's Institute was present; and the paper of Álvaro Silva Basto in 1903 on wireless telegraphy. Special mention is made to the article by Adriano Paiva Brandão in 1978 on telescopy.
electric telegraphy; Instituto de Coimbra; wireless telegraphy; telescopy; history of physics; University of Coimbra
