Thomas Edison
1847 – 1931 American inventor, businessman
Prolific inventor and founder of the first industrial research laboratory, central to electric light and power.
- Affiliations
- Edison Electric Light Company, General Electric (predecessor firms)
Thomas Edison built the first industrial research laboratory at Menlo Park and held over a thousand patents across the phonograph, motion pictures, and electric power. He developed a practical incandescent lamp and, more importantly, the whole system of central generation and distribution that made electric lighting commercial, opening the Pearl Street station in New York in 1882. His backing of direct current put him on the losing side of the current war against alternating current. His laboratories became a model for the corporate research that followed.
Connections
- associate of Henry Ford — Ford was once his employee and became a close friend.
- associate of Henry Ford — Worked as an engineer for the Edison Illuminating Company and became a close friend of Edison.
In the timeline
- 1877 Edison invents the phonograph mentioned
- 1877 Edison invents the phonograph mentioned
- 1879 The practical incandescent light bulb the inventor
- 1879 Edison demonstrates a practical incandescent lamp the inventor
- 1882 Central electric power station the builder of the first system
- 1882 Edison opens the Pearl Street power station the builder of the station
- 1884 IEEE founded mentioned
- 1929 Light's Golden Jubilee stages a tribute to Edison mentioned