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10 Fascinating Facts About Edison

neatorama.com — In honor of his birthday (he was born in February 11, 1847, Neatorama has cobbled up 10 fascinating facts about Thomas Edison, the world’s most famous and prolific inventor:

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  • decepticrat, on 02/12/2008, -8/+11Happy Birthday, Tommy Boy!
  • prosayik, on 02/12/2008, -0/+121I thought Tesla invented Edison?
    • reddfox321, on 02/12/2008, -0/+31And Edison made his life hell.
    • trogdor282, on 02/12/2008, -7/+7Conan O'Brien invented Edison.
      • blinktude, on 02/12/2008, -2/+3jon stewart invented Conan
        • daliminator, on 02/12/2008, -0/+1And Xenu dropped 'em all off here on Earth. Or something like that.
    • oo7akbnd, on 02/12/2008, -2/+811. Edison is just another of Tesla's Hugh Jackman clones.
    • yuluo2, on 02/12/2008, -6/+2But who made Huckabee?
    • BlueStarr, on 02/12/2008, -0/+15How is Tesla not more known? He was a brilliant man and towered over Edison.
      • jezsik, on 02/12/2008, -0/+4It's all about public relations and marketing.
      • PizzaPops, on 02/12/2008, -0/+4Tesla immigrated to America. He also had "visions" and a lot of "crazy" ideas.

        I still wonder why Tesla is not more known even though he did come up with a lot more stuff than Edison. I would even go so far as to say that Tesla's genius surpassed Einstein's. But I guess I am simply looking at technology vs scientific discovery.
        • prosayik, on 02/12/2008, -0/+3Tesla actually thought many of Einstein's ideas were rehashed and not that novel.

          The thing is, for better or worse, a great mind is nothing without a great mouth. As in the ability to explain ones ideas in an interesting, inspiring, and clear way.

          Einstein solved and explained many things in a clear way. That is a talent not not to be doubted.

          Of course, there are many examples in history where a great mouth triumphed over a great mind (Beta v. VHS, Windows v. Whatever, Reality TV v. What Any Normal Person Does, etc).
  • tehbored, on 02/12/2008, -2/+33Also, Edison didn't invent the light bulb. He merely improved on its design. Many scientists toyed with the idea of heated coils of metal being used for lighting before Edison.
    • Richandler, on 02/12/2008, -8/+3Leonardo da Vinci toyed around with robots but that doesn't mean he should be given credit for inventing any modern ones.
      • tehbored, on 02/12/2008, -2/+7Well if you want to look at like that, then Edison didn't invent the light bulb at all. His used a carbon filament and a vacuum, and was vastly inferior to modern tungsten and noble gas filled light bulbs.
    • Pthalio, on 02/12/2008, -1/+4He didn't invent the lightbulb at all, he just bought the patent for the light bulb from some Canadians. He actually invented very little of what he was credited with.
    • farrellj, on 02/12/2008, -1/+7Actually that is very true. He ended up having to buy the Patent for the Lightbulb from a couple of Canadian inventors. Here is a quote from WIkipedia:
      "In North America, parallel developments were also taking place. On July 24, 1874 a Canadian patent was filed for the Woodward and Evans Light by a Toronto medical electrician named Henry Woodward and a colleague Mathew Evans. They built their lamps with different sizes and shapes of carbon rods held between electrodes in glass cylinders filled with nitrogen. Woodward and Evans attempted to commercialize their lamp, but were unsuccessful. They ended up selling their patent (U.S. Patent 0,181,613 ) to Thomas Edison in 1879[4]." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incandescent_light_bu ...
    • sgtbutterscotch, on 02/12/2008, -0/+1It said that in the article but it didn't really elaborate.
    • ellisgl, on 02/12/2008, -1/+2Actually one of his assistants discovered the light bulb.
    • MonarchWastxD, on 02/12/2008, -0/+1Joseph Swan. Google it.
  • evernerve, on 02/12/2008, -0/+29poor elephant
  • 2h3px, on 02/12/2008, -1/+29Where's the chair with the hinged-legs?
    • BEloftyIRONS, on 02/12/2008, -0/+20Marge: I don't think women will like being shot in the face.

      Homer: Women will like what I tell them to like.
    • ostracize, on 02/12/2008, -0/+2Everyone knows Edison was an amazing man. Probably because he didn't spend every waking hour talking about THOMAS EDISON!!!

      Oh that's where you're wrong Marge. Edison was a shameless self promoter...
  • scoottie, on 02/12/2008, -0/+72at least they included his backstabbing of Nikola Tesla, who is the person we actually owe most of our electronic world to due to the invention of alternating current
    • fyre2012, on 02/12/2008, -0/+3Yah, i mean the man built the Niagara Falls power station which powers a good chunk of the northeast US and Central thru Eastern Canada, and hardly anyone I know recognizes his name.
      If he had the funding, the man was on the way to producing wireless electricity, and who knows what else.
      • PizzaPops, on 02/12/2008, -0/+2Agreed. He would have continued to do amazing things. If only he had kept a little money for himself...And it's amazing that the only things that he is remembered for nowadays are magnetism (Teslas the units named after him) and Tesla coils.
    • Jordan117, on 02/12/2008, -0/+5"11. Kind of a douchebag."

      Fixed that for them.
  • 919kwjc, on 02/12/2008, -6/+1This is not Edison
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot-JbW64r-w
  • AllYourBase3, on 02/12/2008, -0/+18He also invented the electric hammer
  • imanj12, on 02/12/2008, -4/+71Edison is a hack. Tesla was the greatest inventor of our time in terms of electricity and its uses.
    • fasda, on 02/12/2008, -5/+1and did that work get done before or after he started saying he could make doomsday devices?
      • RationalXubrnce, on 02/12/2008, -0/+1 First of all stop listening to the organized and decades long smear campaign of his memory. And second of all who says he couldn't make a Doomsday device?
      • crackedlogic, on 02/12/2008, -0/+1Way to buy into the exact rhetoric that Edison wanted everyone to believe when he was alive.
    • MasterGrief, on 02/12/2008, -0/+19Edison was not a hack. He was, however, a jerk, and Tesla was better.
  • Vodka2389, on 02/12/2008, -0/+22I'd be more fascinated by the bad things about Edison people rarely dare to talk about.
    • Amazetbm, on 02/12/2008, -0/+12Like what? Him being a patent thief? LOL. Tesla was the true innovator of that time.
    • RobotBuddha, on 02/12/2008, -0/+2The thing about history as taught in schools is that you either get the good things a person did, or the bad. There's a certain horror about presenting the people of the past as, well, actual people.
  • vwvan, on 02/12/2008, -0/+56Edison was a greedy jerk, an ass. He tried to patent everything for his own fortune and excluded others from the creative process by his monopolistic tactics. Principle among these misdeeds was his attempt to monopolize motion pictures. He believed DC current was the future until Steinmetz proved him wrong. He manipulated the press to become the darling, but his memory will always be soiled in my mind by his greed.
    • Lephtovermeet, on 02/12/2008, -0/+5Dugg for Stientmetz. Only invented AC current and the math to control it. No big deal, not enough for the text books at least. Go to Union College?
    • Bulletbillx, on 02/12/2008, -0/+2Wow. He sounds worse than Microsoft. I already knew about him screwing over Tesla though.
    • Grolsch, on 02/12/2008, -6/+1Yeah... because you knew Edison personally and can talk ***** about him at free will? Give him SOME credit at least.
    • KingGorilla, on 02/12/2008, -2/+1Happy Birthday!
    • bitcloud, on 02/12/2008, -0/+3He was also master of PR, painting himself (a businessman) as some kind of amazing genius..

      He WAS a genius.. a genius of PR...
  • Iamironman, on 02/12/2008, -0/+21Edison became a money grubbing ***** and actually had people severely beaten if they used things he "invented"
  • z3r0c0O1, on 02/12/2008, -0/+73Tesla > Edison.
    • BEloftyIRONS, on 02/12/2008, -0/+2I forgot where I heard this(It might have been a documentary on the History channel) but didn't Edison recommend Tesla's AC for the electric chair? He thought it would scare people away from AC but it completely backfired.
      • bagelmaster, on 02/12/2008, -0/+1It didn't really backfire. We still use AC today and also DC. So they both succeeded...
        • BEloftyIRONS, on 02/12/2008, -0/+2I know we still use DC. But Edison and Tesla were competing for what current would be used for powering cities.
          • diggduggjoe, on 02/12/2008, -0/+3In the end, transformers were key. DC was too inefficient for long distance transmission.
      • grrrrrrrrrrrrrr, on 02/12/2008, -0/+1It's a sordid history: http://www.ccadp.org/electricchair.htm

        Probably a sign of things to come: A lobbyist so slimy the SPCA stepped in and an appeal by Westinghouse to try and get a stay of execution to protect a convicted axe murderer. And behind it all, Edison...

        1887 - Edison publishes pamphlet A Warning, comparing AC and DC, including of AC victims.

        June 4, 1888 - New York Legislature passes Chapter 489 of Laws of New York of 1888 establishing
        electrocution as the state's method of execution. Medico-Legal Society of New York is designated to
        recommend how to implement new law.

        June 5, 1888 - Inventor Harold P. Brown writes a very compelling editorial letter to the New York Post,
        describing the death of a boy who touched a straggling telegraph wire running on AC current. Brown
        recommends limiting AC transmissions to 300 volts, which negates economic advantage.

        July, 1888 - Brown goes to Edison's West Orange, New Jersey lab to do research.

        July 30, 1888 - Brown and his assistant Dr. Fred Peterson of Columbia show experimental results
        at the School of Mines at Columbia University by administering a series of DC shocks to a large Newfoundland mix dog. By 1,000 volts DC, the dog is agonized but not killed. Finally, Brown finishes
        the off with a charge of 330 volts AC. On a follow-up demonstration, SPCA steps in and second dog becomes first creature ever publicly reprieved from execution by electrocution (although it was later
        killed at another demonstration).

        December 5, 1888 - Brown and Peterson electrocute two calves and a 1,230-pound horse. The New
        York Times account ends with the observation that "alternating current will undoubtedly drive the
        hangmen out of business in this state." This PR is probably engineered by Brown or Edison.

        December 13, 1888 - Westinghouse writes letter in NY Times accusing Brown of acting "in the interest
        in and pay of the Edison Electric Light Company."

        January 1, 1889 - World's first Electrical Execution Law goes into effect.

        March, 1889 - Brown meets with Austin Lathrop, superintendent of New York prisons, to arrange for
        purchase of Westinghouse AC generators to power the electric chair. Because Westinghouse will not
        sell directly to the prisons, Brown and Edison resort to subterfuge to acquire three generators for $7,000
        to $8,000.

        March 29, 1889 - William Kemler kills his lover Matilda ("Tille") Ziegler with an axe in Buffalo, New York,
        which was then known as :the "Electric City of the Future."

        May, 1989 - William Kemmler is sentenced to death.

        1889 - 1890 - Westinghouse funds appeals for Kemmler on the grounds that electrocution is cruel and
        unusual punishment. Edison and Brown are witnesses for the state. The appeal is denied, as are two
        subsequent appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court.

        August 6, 1890 - Kemmler is executed in the electric chair at Auburn Prison, the first person ever to be
        executed by electrocution. The first application of current is botched and Kemmler does not die until the
        current is fired up a second time.

      • sgtbutterscotch, on 02/12/2008, -0/+2Maybe it was in the article in the paragraph about the elephant.
    • Kenzan, on 02/12/2008, -10/+1Tesla never had brilliant ideas but never got the chance to implement the most of them.

      As far as who had the most perceived impact on American pop culture, at the end of the day,

      Edison FTW
      Tesla FAIL.
      • Vodka2389, on 02/12/2008, -1/+4The result doesn't justify the means.
        • Kenzan, on 02/12/2008, -3/+1Reality says it does.
          Sad fact, Tesla was a genius. He died Penniless, most of his brilliant inventions never realized.
          Ergo, regardless of you feel about Edison, he is remembered more prominently, and only recently in the West is Tesla is now getting his due in popular culture.
          • grrrrrrrrrrrrrr, on 02/12/2008, -1/+1Ask the MIC how many were realized...
    • RationalXubrnce, on 02/12/2008, -0/+6Tesla > Everybody
  • Pake, on 02/12/2008, -0/+4"The chairman of the committee, unimpressed with the speed with which the instrument could record votes, told him that "if there is any invention on earth that we don’t want down here, that is it." The slow pace of roll call voting in Congress and other legislatures enabled members to filibuster legislation or convince others to change their votes. Edison’s vote recorder was never used. "
    Good ol' Congress. Glad to see they haven't changed a bit.
  • UNDERSTAR, on 02/12/2008, -2/+14Edison is a big ***** & loves to blast rock music in his house.
  • method77, on 02/12/2008, -2/+11Innacurate. The most famous inventer was Leonardo Da Vinci
    • Kenzan, on 02/12/2008, -1/+1Phhhsst.
      B.S. Everybody knows the most famous investor of our time was Phineas J. Whoopie.
      He was the *Greatest!*
  • JointVenture, on 02/12/2008, -9/+0Typical Digg. Bunch of punks who have "invented" NOTHING bashing on someone who has.

    Im surprised nobody has called him a neocon or a zionist (which would be really funny considering...) yet.
    • scoottie, on 02/12/2008, -0/+6same could be said about edison since he "stole" most of his inventions
      • davemartin7777, on 02/16/2008, -0/+1"Im surprised nobody has called him a neocon or a zionist (which would be really funny considering...) yet."

        Typical Reich-wingrant... makes a ***** statement, then goes on to prove it true by pulling more make-believe, fantasy, magical thinking ***** out of their ass.

        ***** on *****.

        Hilarious, and these crazy these off-the-bellcurvers want to run America?

        ***** that... Hillary or Obama 'O8
  • Ludwig, on 02/12/2008, -1/+311) Edison slept hanging upside-down, like Batman.
  • sourDee, on 02/12/2008, -0/+34Edison was hardly a scientist; he was a business man. It frustrates me how many people will look up to him because they're told to, without having actually examined the dude's record. The idea behind the lightbulb had been around for a while, as others have mentioned; the trick was finding the right filament. A scientist working for Edison came across the solution, but good luck figuring out who he was. Edison had no qualms taking all the credit. Now, in all fairness, he'd have the rights to something like that, but don't misconstrue the facts; Edison didn't invent the lightbulb any more than, say, Steve Jobs actually sat down and designed the architecture for the iPhone.

    Oh, and "War of Currents" mentioned in the article is exactly the kind of business that Edison practiced; DC was clearly the less favorable technology, but Edison had claims to the profit if it were to be adopted. He spread as much dirty misinformation as possible and threw around his weight to try to convince people that DC was the way to go. Sound like any companies we know and hate today?
    • mdman, on 02/12/2008, -1/+2it was more than a trick, long hours of trial and error..
      • Kenzan, on 02/12/2008, -0/+1If you get frustrated by people looking at Edison because they are told to, I have a ***** surprise for you when you get a job in the real world.
        • Derrekito, on 02/12/2008, -0/+2No surprise, only more disappointment.
    • dylangaine, on 02/12/2008, -0/+1history is written by the spinsters
  • greenblob, on 02/12/2008, -3/+6Edison was the quintessential "American" scientist/inventor. He wasn't particularly bright, but he was practical and had work ethic--he was more of a pragmatist than an intellectual.
  • firesphotons, on 02/12/2008, -2/+1The only thing that bothers me about Edison is his desire to corner the market on everything. I just saw his summer home a couple weeks ago, did you guys know he designed baby high chairs? Jesus no wonder GE makes airplane engines, dishwashers and MR scanners!! Oh and to the guy's point above those MR scanners are measured in Tesla strength..
    • fasda, on 02/12/2008, -0/+2they're measured in Tesla's because thats the SI standard since 1960
  • opiv421, on 02/12/2008, -0/+21would be infinitely cooler if it was about nikola tesla.
    • fasda, on 02/12/2008, -0/+2yeah cause then we get to talk about his cool doomsday weapons and ray gun (I'm kidding hes the original mad scientist)
  • DeadRooster, on 02/12/2008, -0/+6The elephant was the REAL genius, but he electrocuted it. After that, all he ever came up with were poorly designed doomsday devices.
  • birdly, on 02/12/2008, -1/+2Edison was also the gunman on the grassy knoll.
  • brbubba, on 02/12/2008, -0/+4Way to gloss over the elephant electrocution, as if the elephant had it coming. They also conveniently neglect to mention that he electrocuted other animals as well, including dogs.
    • fasda, on 02/12/2008, -0/+1so its curiosity's animal experimentation it accounts for I believe 10% of all animals used in research
    • hiPpymIck, on 02/12/2008, -0/+1oops
  • kitaljevich, on 02/12/2008, -0/+2"Edison himself said that he was injured when the conductor picked him up by the ears onto a moving train."
    Man, the nineteenth century was hardcore!
  • ghall, on 02/12/2008, -0/+2Homer: Edison smoked cigars regularly.
    Bart: Yeah, he invented stuff too.
  • nardo510, on 02/12/2008, -0/+2How come most of the comments people are leaving are not talking about animal cruelty?!!!! poor elephant..
    • dylangaine, on 02/12/2008, -0/+1the elephant killed and so was going to be put down. they did feed him cyanide first. thank goodness they didn't hang the elephant like they originally wanted to!
  • GoneGreen, on 02/12/2008, -2/+1Why do these ***** sites that cannot handle more than 10 visitors keep putting "DIGG THIS" on the god-damn website... /sigh
  • Murrdogg, on 02/12/2008, -0/+0Hah, they had cake at work. (General Electric)

  • Caiman, on 02/12/2008, -0/+3Edison the thief, inventor? LOL!
  • Kenzan, on 02/12/2008, -1/+1The missed the fact that he was Tesla's lover.
  • JFallon126, on 02/12/2008, -1/+811) He was a douchebag.

  • darkciti2, on 02/12/2008, -0/+4Uhm, at last check, Leonardo DaVinci was the worlds greatest inventor.

    To this day, new devices are being developed based on DaVinci sketched from hundreds of years ago.
  • kavaliro, on 02/12/2008, -1/+7Edison was to inventors what Bill Gates is to programmers. Meaning, he wasn't one, really, he just knew how to exploit them.
    • Hobofuzz, on 02/12/2008, -0/+1I think you mean Steve Jobs instead of Bill Gates. Gates got his start when he wrote BASIC for the Altair without having ever used the machine, and the code worked perfectly.

      Before that, he was a college student who helped drain his college's allotted hours to see some old supercomputer thing. Gates and a few of his friends would mess around with the machine and fix problems.

      Bill Gates is most definitely a programmer. Steve Jobs, on the other hand, is nothing more than a business man and salesman.
  • Nicosil, on 02/12/2008, -0/+0In case anyone is interested, what Edison typed out in Morse code was 'Will you marry me?' and she typed back 'Yes.'
  • Tikisam, on 02/12/2008, -0/+3oh that's where you're wrong Marge! Edison was a shameless self-promoter.
  • Greenergrass, on 02/12/2008, -0/+2What is the point killing this elephant! Just know that the inventor of the telegraph was French, Claude Chappe.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Chappe
  • groonk, on 02/12/2008, -0/+3fact #11: he was an inveterate cockbite.
    http://www.warrenellis.com/index.php?s=edison+hate ...
  • parker1105, on 02/12/2008, -7/+1What does this have to do with Ron Paul?
  • SleighBoy, on 02/12/2008, -0/+5Nuts to Edison!!
    Tesla, the real genius!
  • MrFlesh, on 02/12/2008, -0/+7Edison was second rate, Tesla was the true genuis and edison hamstrung him so his work would never see the light of day.
  • mCanada, on 02/12/2008, -1/+10Edison ate babies, hated Ron Paul, opposed the gold standard, was a Scientologist, voted for Hillary and used internet explorer.
    • PizzaPops, on 02/12/2008, -0/+2You just pulled an Edison on Edison! Misinformation FTW!
  • Artemisian, on 02/12/2008, -0/+6Nice to see that the Edison bashing had already commenced before I got here. Up Tesla, belated death to Edison!
    oo7akbnd: I think I love you.
  • netsql, on 02/12/2008, -0/+5Fact: Some good inventions he stole from Tesla.
  • rollerboy, on 02/12/2008, -2/+1I translated the Morse code at the end of Fact 6: Edison:Hey sexy lady you looking fine. Wanna be my wify? Mina response: OMG Totally!!1!
  • Fitzacarraldo, on 02/12/2008, -1/+0... and he never EVER wore pyjamas.
  • blinktude, on 02/12/2008, -2/+06000v to kill the elephant....it not over 9000
    • ellisgl, on 02/12/2008, -0/+1Volts don't kill things, Amperage does.
      You can have 110 Volts go thru you at 500 mA's and be tingled..
      But if you had 500 mV at 110 Amps.....
      • blinktude, on 02/12/2008, -0/+0obviously you didn't watch dragonball
  • nydwarf, on 02/12/2008, -0/+3I thought he stole all his ideas. Did he really "invent" anything or did he just make improvements etc. He was also a pederast.
  • SideShowMel0329, on 02/12/2008, -0/+1Proposing by morse code = badass
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