Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison was an American inventor and industrialist whose work included the phonograph, practical incandescent lighting, and motion-picture technology. He built a research laboratory and companies that developed inventions into commercial systems.

Phonograph: A device that records sound as physical traces and reproduces it by tracing them. Edison’s 1877 version recorded sound on a tinfoil cylinder and made him internationally famous.
Milan, Ohio: A village in northern Ohio where Thomas Edison was born in 1847. Edison’s birthplace anchors the early life that preceded his move to Michigan.
Lewis Howard Latimer: An African American inventor and engineer who improved carbon filaments and helped install electric lighting systems. Latimer contributed expertise to the development and adoption of incandescent lighting associated with Edison.
Edison Electric Light Company: A company founded in 1878 to develop and commercialize Edison’s electric-lighting system. It organized investment, manufacturing, and installations around Edison’s lighting inventions.
Incandescent lamp: An electric lamp that emits light from a heated filament or other incandescent material. Earlier and independent lamp developers complicate claims that Edison alone invented incandescent lighting.
Incandescent light bulb: An electric lamp that produces light by heating a filament until it glows. Edison’s lighting work improved the lamp and addressed the system needed to use it widely.
Port Huron, Michigan: A Michigan city where Edison spent much of his childhood and began working as a newsboy. Its railway and telegraph networks gave the young Edison access to work and technical experience.
William Kennedy Dickson: A Scottish inventor and filmmaker who led much of the early motion-picture work at Edison’s laboratory. Dickson designed and developed key equipment behind Edison’s early motion-picture system.
General Electric: An American industrial corporation formed in 1892 through the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston. The merger carried forward part of the business structure built around Edison’s electrical enterprises.
Direct current: Electric current that flows in one direction through a circuit. Edison promoted direct-current networks against competitors’ alternating-current systems.

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