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Talk:Thomas Edison

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

I have read that, similarly, the credit traditionally given to Thomas Edison for the invention of the Light Bulb is misplaced. I am not competent to assess this claim.

He did invent the filament for the light bulb...I know that.

No he didn't. He came up with one that extended the lifespan of the bulbs from 150 hours to 1200. Joseph Swan patented the carbon filament lightbulb a year before Edison. Wikipedia needs to get this right, and not rely on me either. --Belltower

Well read the change I have just made and you will see that even Swann wasn't first. I think it is OK to say that he is widely recognised as the inventor of the light bulb (which is true) but wikipedia should show the prior art as well.

By and large this isn't what happened, though. What Edison did was pioneer the concept of a research lab: he got a bunch of bright people together, so they could work together, and made sure their ideas were not (as oft happens) simply dropped. So he doesn't deserve credit for most of the ideas, but he does deserve credit for anyone using them. This shouldn't detract from his reputation, but it should make it different. -- Josh Grosse

Joshua, that's an interesting perspective! I had not thought of this before, but to me it actually enhances Edison's reputation. Because surely the pioneering of a research process is an invention of sorts, far surpassing the importance

Is this strictly true? He had a workshop of inventors. He mass produced the products of invention, but mass production to the process of invention seems somewhat contradictory. Mintguy

I agree with your objection here. Suggested rewordings? -- Infrogmation 01:37 Jan 25, 2003 (UTC)

It seems an unneccesary recent addition.

Could change it to "...one of the first inventors to mass produce the products of invention", but i'm not sure if he was truly one of the first. Mintguy

Re: Light bulb. It just isn't an Edison invention. He holds no valid patents on it, only the ones he bought from Swan. Mintguy

Something like: Edison did not invent the electric lightbulb, but it was Edison's relentless attention to detail that made the lightbulb a practical, commercial proposition. That sticks closely to the facts, and avoids all the tedious minor detals that get in the way of the flow of narrative. If desired, mention can be made of the actual inventors in a place where this will not distract, and will not make Wikipedia look like a place where partisans argue until the resulting text is so full of qualifications and carefully negotiated balancing opposites that the bones of the disagreement show through more clearly than the flesh of the entry. Tannin 01:45 Jan 25, 2003 (UTC)

I'd go along with that. Mintguy

Yes good; I put that in. -- Infrogmation 02:27 Jan 25, 2003 (UTC)

Pretty sharp.-Stevert

I'm trying to highlight the fact that when you ask most people in the US who invented the light bulb they will say Edison, which is actually far from the truth. Hence "Edison is often incorrectly named as the inventor of the light bulb" Mintguy

I'd say most people all around the world, Mintguy. Well, actually most people would say "who cares?" or "beats me", but you know what I mean. The question then, becomes how should we deal with this? Essentially, there are three approaches:

• Say "Most people believe X but they are wrong." The trouble with this approach is (a) that it's very difficult to do in such a way as not to imply that there are grounds for controversy (which, in this case, there are not), and (b) that by providing the reader with semi-conflicting information about two quite different questions at the same time, it is confusing. Come back and ask that same reader what he learned a little later (i.e., seek to discover what things have made it past his short-term and into his long-term memory) and chances are you'll be told: Edison? Something to do with lightbulbs wasn't it? Didn't he invent them or something?
• Simply ignore the misconception and get on with laying out the facts. This approach risks some clueless fool marching in a little later and adding the myth in big bold letters as an obvious improvememt, can't understand why you guys didn't know that!
• Try to provide the facts so simply and clearly that the reader can see for himself what the real triumph was, and is then in a position to (a) understand the facts of history, and (b) understand the reason for the myth, and thus be in a position to immediately refute it if he meets it elsewhere. One fact, two understandings is always better than two facts, misunderstanding.

No prizes for guessing that I am in favour of the third approach. Partly, this is a matter of taste. Mostly though, it is a matter of effective communication. Tannin 03:24 Jan 25, 2003 (UTC)

Tannin's version looks fine to me. I think some of the confusion may have been whether or not to note that a significantly improved version of something pre-existing can also be called an invention. -- Infrogmation 02:46 Jan 25, 2003 (UTC)

If anything then, the prize should go to William Coolidge who invented the tungston filament. Mintguy

Just so, Infrogmation, When is an invention an invention? Tannin

Charles F Brush's station was supplying power to street lights on Broadway in 1880. The April 1881 issue of Scientific American featured a cover story on the Brush system in New York. Tiles 00:09, 1 Oct 2003 (UTC)

The paragraph on the lightbulb seems to have become all balls'd up! There was no James Woodward and Matthew Evans. Ther was a Henry Woodward and Mathew Evans who are mentioned later in the text and I'm not convicned about this Heinrich Goebel bloke. Mintguy 18:13, 6 Dec 2003 (UTC)

"Though Edison did advocate executions via AC electrocution..."

"Ironically, Edison was against capital punishment, but..."

Which is correct? Anyone have any quotations to back it up? -- Omegatron 15:27, 23 Dec 2003 (UTC)

I'm not sure about this, but that does sound fishy. He did advocate executions via AC? is this a joke? I know that Edison's lightbulbs only used direct current, so why would he want to execute people with ac? Greenmountainboy 16:26, 23 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Apparently it's true, and there's even a whole book on the subject; Googling shows this at Amazon for instance. Stan 16:58, 23 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Rudolph Hunter

How to Get on Radio Talk Shows All Across America w/o Leaving Home		This Broad's Life: The Raucous, Riveting Autobiography of the Most Outrageous Radio Talk-Show Host in America Today		You Can't Say That : Common Sense From America's Number One Gay Radio Talk Show Host		How to Get On Radio Talk Shows All Across America
Talk Show Selects 1999: A Guide to the Nation's Most Influential Television and Radio Talk Shows		Talk Show Selects 1998: A Guide to the Nation's Most Influential Television and Radio Talk Shows (1998 Edition)		Talk Show Yearbook 2000: A Guide to the Nation's Most Influential Television and Radio Talk Shows (Talk Show Selects, 2000)		Conduct a National Radio Talk Show Tour Without Leaving Your Home or Office...Without Paying a Cent for Air Time (How to Make People Buy Whatever You)