Thomas Edison is credited as the inventor of the light bulb, but this marvelous invention was the result of the work of multiple people over the course of many years.
Who else contributed to the creation of the light bulb? How were early light bulbs different from those that we use today? How did Edison popularize the use of light bulbs, and how did his work contribute to the mass lighting of American homes?
This webinar features Paul Israel, Research Professor and Director of the Thomas A. Edison Papers Project at Rutgers University; Andre Millard, Director of American Studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham; Hal Wallace, Curator of the Electricity Collections in the Division of Work and Industry at the Smithsonian National Museum of American Energy. You can find books by the authors here.
The discussion is moderated by David Randall, Director of Research at the National Association of Scholars.
Photo: Thomas Alva Edison, -1931, half-length portrait, working in chemical laboratory. , ca. 1905.
