This fascinating biography celebrates the bicentenary of Wheatstone’s birth, and draws on information about the family business as well as letters, including correspondence with Cooke and Faraday, which were not available for the first edition. Charles Wheatstone was one of the leading electrical engineers of the mid-nineteenth century, and began his career in the family musical instrument firm where studying the workings of musical instruments gave him a taste for physics. He was responsible for the introduction of the electrical telegraph where his scientific understanding enabled him to turn it into a practical technology. This book will be of particular interest to scientists and historians interested in the work of this pioneering engineer.