The Wizard of Menlo Park: How Thomas Alva Edison Invented the Modern World

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Robert Friedel: There would be a set of tables just filled to the gills with apparatus of all sorts: chemical apparatus, mechanical devices, measuring devices, but especially electrical meters for batteries, other experimental devices. It was just a playland, if you will, for the inventor at work.

Over his desk Edison displayed a placard with Sir Joshua Reynolds' famous quotation: "There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking." [38] This slogan was reputedly posted at several other locations throughout the facility. Baldwin, Neil. 2001. Edison: Inventing the century. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 97–98. Historians have called the research and development laboratory Edison 's greatest invention. In time, other companies such as General Electric built their own laboratories inspired by the West Orange lab. Edison, Harvey, Hughes and Other Leading Men Refute Senator Martine". Passaic Daily News. October 7, 1915. p.12. Archived from the original on August 2, 2021 . Retrieved August 2, 2021– via Newspapers.com. During the 1911 New York Electrical show, Edison told representatives of the copper industry it was a shame he did not have a "chunk of it". The representatives decided to give a cubic foot of solid copper weighing 486 pounds with their gratitude inscribed on it in appreciation for his part in the "continuous stimulation in the copper industry". [87] [88] [89] Other inventions and projects FluoroscopyMary Edison died at age 29 on August 9, 1884, of unknown causes: possibly from a brain tumor [123] or a morphine overdose. Doctors frequently prescribed morphine to women in those years to treat a variety of causes, and researchers believe that her symptoms could have been from morphine poisoning. [124] Gabriela: That's Jill Jonnes, the author of “Empires of Light.” As she says, even things like dynamos for the electrical system, which are generators that convert mechanical energy into electrical energy, even those had to be created. Jill Jonnes, Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, And The Race To Electrify The World, Random House – 2004, pp. 54–60. Edison Botanic Research Laboratory – Edison & Ford Winter Estates – (239) 334-7419". Archived from the original on February 3, 2017 . Retrieved December 30, 2016. This mismatch between history and fantasy has led some to turn the conventional view of Edison on its head. If he cannot be cast as the hero of invention, he must be recast as its villain. Instead of the masterful inventor, we have Edison the dodgy dealer, the media manipulator, the appropriator of other people’s work.

Jill Jonnes: So there was a great deal you had to do and I actually would like to read you something Edison himself said: "Everything is so new that each step is in the dark. I have to make the dynamos, the lamps, the conductors, and attend to a thousand details the world never hears of."Shulman, Seth (1999). Owning the Future. Houghton Mifflin Company. pp. 158–160. ISBN 9780395841754. Baron, David (June 6, 2017). American Eclipse: A Nation's Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World. Liveright. p.223. ISBN 978-1631490163. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021 . Retrieved October 7, 2020.

The patent described several ways of creating the carbon filament including "cotton and linen thread, wood splints, papers coiled in various ways". [55] It was not until several months after the patent was granted that Edison and his team discovered that a carbonized bamboo filament could last over 1,200hours. [56] U.S. Patent #223898: Electric-Lamp, issued January 27, 1880 Israel, Paul. "Edison's Laboratory". The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Archived from the original on February 25, 2013 . Retrieved February 24, 2013. a b Hope, Adrian (May 11, 1978), "100 Years of Microphone", New Scientist, Vol. 78, No. 1102, p. 378. ISSN 0262-4079. Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. Thomas Edison". Radiopaedia. June 30, 2017. Archived from the original on September 23, 2019 . Retrieved February 1, 2020. Radiology Legacy, invention of fluoroscopyGE emerges world's largest company: Forbes". The Indian Express. April 9, 2009. Archived from the original on March 28, 2010 . Retrieved February 7, 2010.

The Life of Thomas A. Edison". The Library of Congress. Archived from the original on January 20, 2011 . Retrieved February 24, 2013. GE emerges world's largest company: Forbes". Trading Markets.com. April 10, 2009. Archived from the original on August 5, 2009 . Retrieved February 7, 2010.This matters now in particular – and this is perhaps one reason why Edison’s reputation is currently taking a battering. As we face up to existential challenges like climate change, the way we think about innovation and those with the skills to drive it, has rarely mattered more. The stories we once told about how to navigate the future safely and who we should trust with getting us there are starting to look less convincing. Does the responsibility for inventing (and reinventing) the future belong to certain heroic individuals, or does it fall upon us all? Edison Biography". National Park Service. Archived from the original on June 24, 2017 . Retrieved May 28, 2017. His Life". The Thomas Edison Birthplace Museum. Archived from the original on August 4, 2020 . Retrieved May 31, 2020. Gabriela: Even though the Menlo Park team was primarily divided into machinists and inventors, workers were allowed and even encouraged to move from position to position, project to project, depending on where the help was needed and what you were best at. Kind of like a workplace “musical chairs.” Here’s Paul Israel, the director of the Thomas Edison Papers at Rutgers University, with a great example of this team superpower, how roles could shift and change Gabriela: So, yeah, how do you get the electricity into people's houses to power the bulbs? And once there, where do people plug in their light bulbs? How do they turn them on and off? What if there's a power surge? All the stuff you and I take for granted when we flip the switch.