Reference
- Thomas Alva Edison: Credo ReferenceUS electrical engineer and inventor. He took out more than 1,000 patents, the best known of which were the phonograph, the precursor of the gramophone, and the incandescent filament lamp.
Streaming Media
- Electric Light and PowerElectricity profoundly reshaped American culture and set the stage for the major inventions of the 20th century. This lecture introduces you to the history and science of electricity - arc lighting, the incandescent lamp, motors, and direct versus alternating currents. Learn about the inventions of Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla, and the rivalry between their electric companies.
- Edison: The Father of InventionBy the time he died in 1931, Thomas Edison was one of the most famous men in the world. The holder of more patents than any other inventor in history, Edison had amassed a fortune and achieved glory as the genius behind such revolutionary inventions as sound recording, motion pictures, and electric light.
Online Resources
- Practicing like Thomas EdisonFor many centuries, medicine has practiced in a vacuum, and the healthcare profession has been isolated from other scientific disciplines. Beginning in the 20th century, doctors and scientists have looked to others for ideas, suggestions, innovations, and new technologies. Probably no one in the past hundred years has done so much to change the world than Thomas Edison. This article will discuss eight principles of Edison and how they may apply to our profession and our practices.
- Thomas Edison's Creative Career: The Multilayered Trajectory of Trials, Errors, Failures, and TriumphsThomas Edison is widely considered to be one of the greatest inventive geniuses who ever lived. Therefore, his total output of 1,093 patents was used to study the trajectory of his creative career, including both failures and triumphs. The study specifically examined 2 hypotheses about how the creative process operates across the career course. First, creativity will incorporate some form of blind-variation and selective-retention. Second, creative productivity will be enhanced by engagement in a "network of enterprises." To test these 2 hypotheses, the 1,093 patents were first assigned to 8 separate subject areas: (a) miscellany, (b) telegraphy and telephony, (c) phonographs and sound recording, (d) electric light and power, (e) mining and ore milling, (f) batteries, (g) motion pictures, and (h) cement. The patents were then tabulated into both 1- and 5-year age periods according to Edison's chronological age at the time each was executed. Quantitative analyses were then applied to determine the age-wise trends and clustering of the patents across the course of his 64-year career. In addition, direct comparisons were made to a nomothetic baseline predicted by a mathematical model of creative productivity. The quantitative analyses were complemented by qualitative treatments of Edison's creative career. All told, the 2 hypotheses received considerable empirical support. Tellingly, the inventor's phenomenal triumphs notwithstanding, he could not avoid even catastrophic failures.
Perspectives
Edison
Regarded as the classic standard biography on Thomas Edison. It is the only biography written in the last 40 years to be recommended by the official voice of the caretakers of the Edison Laboratory National Monument in New Jersey which houses all of Edison's original records, sketches, notes, correspondence and memoranda. Depicts Edison as a pivotal figure in America's economic and industrial revolution success and at the same time as a human being, including his exploitative and, at times, crude qualities.
Thomas Edison and the Lightbulb
Tells the story of Thomas Edison's involvement in the development of the incandescent light bulb. Written in graphic-novel format.
Thomas Edison and Modern America
Thomas A. Edison remains rooted in the popular imagination primarily as the inventor of the practical electric light, but he also continues to function in the lexicons of advertising and politics as a symbol of American individualism, ingenuity, and know-how. Introduced here with a broad range of primary sources for discussion, the American inventor emerges as a prolific mind, a tireless worker, and an inveterate self-promoter. Examples of Edison’s own experimental notes, his personal correspondence, as well as press accounts provide an opportunity to explore the themes of modernization and the American ideology of progress. The volume includes an extended introduction, headnotes to the documents, illustrations, a chronology, discussion questions, a bibliography, and an index.
Edison's Electric Light
In September 1878, Thomas Alva Edison brashly--and prematurely--proclaimed his breakthrough invention of a workable electric light. That announcement was followed by many months of intense experimentation that led to the successful completion of his Pearl Street station four years later. Edison was not alone--nor was he first--in developing an incandescent light bulb, but his was the most successful of all competing inventions. Drawing from the documents in the Edison archives, Robert Friedel and Paul Israel explain how this came to be. They explore the process of invention through the Menlo Park notes, discussing the full range of experiments, including the testing of a host of materials, the development of such crucial tools as the world's best vacuum pump, and the construction of the first large-scale electrical generators and power distribution systems. The result is a fascinating story of excitement, risk, and competition. Revised and updated from the original 1986 edition, this definitive study of the most famous invention of America's most famous inventor is completely keyed to the printed and electronic versions of the Edison Papers, inviting the reader to explore further the remarkable original sources.
O/P Edison and the Rise of Innovation
Edison presents, in intimate detail, the man who helped engineer the modern world. One of history's most prolific inventors, and perhaps America's first celebrity, Thomas Alva Edison did more than bring incandescent light into every household and industry; he created a world-renowned brand, raised capital to support research and business, and pursued patents for his 1,000+ inventions. Leonard DeGraaf, archivist for the Thomas Edison National Historical Park, chronicles Edison's life and work, making lively and lavish use of never-before-published primary sources, including Edison's personal and business correspondence, lab notebooks, drawings, and advertising material, along with both historic and modern photographs.
At Work with Thomas Edison
Seeks to revive his forgotten business legacy by giving modern managers the tools they need to break loose from Corporate America's innovation-squelching mantra of efficiency, standardization, and control.