Other Crap

9 Inventions Edison Did Not Make

The article avoids the question of how to properly identify the inventor. Is it the scientific genius who first tames the technology, or is it the practical engineer who determines a method to take the technology to the public? Is it the man who proves that something theretofore considered impossible is possible, or the one who actually makes it possible? Edison was never the former, but he was a genuine wizard at the second, and managed to convince people he was the former as well. Perhaps that ability at self-promotion was his greatest genius.

The article is a bit misleading in one sense. It is common knowledge that Edison did not invent the electric light bulb. In fact, he purchased the patent from some other guys! And even his famous refinements were made by his entire team, so his personal contribution is not quite clear. But his lab was the first to give the technology any practical mass-market application outside a laboratory. If he didn't invent the first light bulb, his team did develop the first light bulb that lasted long enough and was inexpensive enough to have any practical application. If he scored his basket by standing on the shoulders of giants, at least he got the ball through the hoop. In that very real sense, he was the inventor.