Biographical profile of Samuel F. B. Morse, one of America's foremost painters and world-renowned inventor. A fresco in the U.S. Capitol building depicts three great American inventors, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Fulton, and Samuel F. B. Morse with Minerva, the goddess of the arts, apropos because Morse first became a famous American painter and sculptor with such works as Dying Hercules (Metropolitan Museum of Art collection) and the portrait of Marquis de Lafayette . Called the "American Leonardo" and the "Lightning Man," Morse went on to develop the first practical telegraphic system, a method of communication that quickly enveloped the United States and most of the globe, a revolutionary system that helped shrink the Earth. Award-winning author and syndicated columnist Daniel Alef, who has written more than 300 biographical profiles of America's greatest tycoons, brings out the story of Morse and his remarkable life of ups, downs and achievements. [1,293-word Titans of Fortune article]