Ever since visiting Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MIchigan years ago, I have wondered how a genius like Edison changed America forever. After visiting Edison's transplanted replica laboratory, I wondered in visiting the facilities how many experiments Edison must have conducted to find the right filament. Later, I found out he achieved 1,093 patents. He showed America you never give up as an inventor and scientist. Edison could work up to 18 hours a day.
It is more than time to consider his contributions to America and his battles with Tesla. Can you imagine we even have a boardgame on Edison and Tesla and a game just on Edison'? Companies like Edison and Ford created an America that came into the 19th and 20th Century. Electricity was the key, and Edison knew what the people wanted.
As I remember, Edison started working his experiments out on the railroads. He, eventually, built his own laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. We will, however, approach Edison who was willing to build on the work of others. Certainly, he was the developer of the phonograph, the modifier of the telegraph, unified stock ticker, the miner's safety lamp, world's first motion picture studio, and the refiner of motion picture cameras, I also remember him as the possible inventor of the dictating machine. We do need to ask ourselves: should Edison receive credit for all these inventions? How much did Thomas Alva Edison build on the work of others? Our core book will read like a modern day novel about the life of a genius. Did you realize Thomas was deaf from the age of 12 and could not even hear a bird sing?
Did Edison invent the electric chair? Why was it necessary for the prison system to have such an instrument? Why did the public tend to accept alternating current of Tesla instead of Edison's direct current? Why was there such a feud between the two men? How did Edison intend to light entire parts of New York City (First District of lower Manhattan)? It was no doubt that Edison lived in controversial times.
Edison is also known for his adventures into science fiction. He was supposed to have speculated we would find a lost race of Mongolians when Antarctic is sufficiently explored. Thomas Alva Edison even experimented with manmade rubber (including goldenrod) and working with Harvey Firestone. Edison's mind went everywhere for the ultimate value to mankind. William Sumner, an early biographer of Edison, in expressing our debt to Edison talked about Darwin: If Thomas Edison had not existed, Charles Darwin would have had to invent him. The Wizard of Menlo Park will be remembered every time we flick the light switch. Edison would have phrased his contribution somewhat differently in defining invention: To invent all you need is imagination and a pile of junk.
