Edison: Genius. Showman. Executioner.Episode 161:45
The Night America Recreated His Miracle
Congress, Henry Ford, and the public transform the elderly Edison into the national embodiment of invention.
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Transcript
In 1929, the nation celebrated the incandescent light’s golden jubilee.
A year earlier, Congress awarded Edison a special Medal of Honor.
Edison was dubbed the Wizard of Menlo Park.
Far from ceremonies, Edison’s legend began with his 1847 birth in Milan, Ohio.
He had little formal education; his mother taught him reading, writing, and arithmetic.
Sources called Edison’s Menlo Park lab the first research-and-development lab of its kind.
Edison’s electric-light work sought an economical bulb to rival candles, gas, and lighting oils.
Edison examined metal wire, human hair, coconut husks, then chose a carbon filament.
A carbonized sewing-thread filament burned for 13.5 hours.
December 1879 saw Menlo Park light publicly with Edison’s incandescent system.
In 1929, Henry Ford hosted a banquet honoring Edison at Greenfield Village.
The banquet placed Edison beside the very story the nation was celebrating.
I never quit until I get what I’m after.
Edison received more than 1,000 U.S. patents during his lifetime.
His archives hold about 5,000,000 pages: notebooks, letters, patents, drawings.
The celebration fixed Edison’s image in place—but the record was still moving.
Edison died on October 18th, 1931 in West Orange, New Jersey.
Where it leaves off
Two years after the jubilee, Edison’s life ended at West Orange—but millions of pages were waiting to challenge the legend America had just celebrated.
Sources
- Edison Biography - Thomas Edison National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)nps.govsecondary
- The Papers of Thomas A. Edison | National Archivesarchives.govsecondary
- November 2017: Thomas Edisoncensus.govsecondary
- Life of Thomas Alva Edisonloc.govsecondary
- Research - Thomas Edison National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)nps.govsecondary
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