31–40 of 57 posts
>While Edison’s contribution to the lightbulb was significant, he did not “invent” the lightbulb. At most he put the last piece into place..... So he did invent it. Being the first that puts stuff together to get a working result is exactly what everyone means if they say someone invented something. That it builds on existing inventions is the norm.
Related: the Pleasanton fire department has the oldest still functioning lightbulb. Apparently it was manufactured in the late 1890's, and has been in service with the fire department since 1901. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Light
Not the oldest still functioning light. But the oldest in normal use - there are older bulbs in museums that are turned on for special occasions (by experts doing their best to ensure it won't burn out). This bulb is installed and used as a bulb. (though mostly it is there as a historical element - modern bulbs produce more light and would have replaced it if there wasn't a historical reason to keep it around)
If questions like this become political within a US-specific persepctive, they can have an element of nationalism when considered with a more global perspective. Many people in the UK know the story of UK-based Joseph Swan developing his own bulb, patenting it, setting up a company and selling it, supplying homes and businesses such as The Savoy, and then a US marketer called Edison later coming along and taking cred…
It's generally "known" that the Altair was the first personal computer. However, from reading Wikipedia, I found that the first microprocessor based PC seems to have been a French system a couple years before the Altair:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micral
On the other hand, relaxing the criteria might mean that wasn't the first either.
The Kenbak-1 didn't have a microprocessor, but was arguably a personal computer:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenbak-1
Perhaps this is a better choice for the first personal computer since it was a little earlier and more ancestral to modern x86, but it was also so expensive that it was not anything an ordinary person could have owned:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datapoint_2200
Information from:
If questions like this become political within a US-specific persepctive, they can have an element of nationalism when considered with a more global perspective. Many people in the UK know the story of UK-based Joseph Swan developing his own bulb, patenting it, setting up a company and selling it, supplying homes and businesses such as The Savoy, and then a US marketer called Edison later coming along and taking cred…
Bill Bryson's book Made in America , although mainly about language (US v British English), also deals with many false and/or disputed claims about who invented what. On the language side, it also points out that many "Americanisms", oft-derided by certain sorts of English people, are actually nothing of the sort, but rather original English retained in American usage. An entertaining and informatie read, in my opini…
>While Edison’s contribution to the lightbulb was significant, he did not “invent” the lightbulb. At most he put the last piece into place..... So he did invent it. Being the first that puts stuff together to get a working result is exactly what everyone means if they say someone invented something. That it builds on existing inventions is the norm.
No, the article makes it clear that he "invented" the first commercially viable light bulb, not the first light bulb, period.
>While Edison’s contribution to the lightbulb was significant, he did not “invent” the lightbulb. At most he put the last piece into place..... So he did invent it. Being the first that puts stuff together to get a working result is exactly what everyone means if they say someone invented something. That it builds on existing inventions is the norm.
Being the one to make a version of an existing thing that's good enough to actually use regularly, and developing a supporting infrastructure, is important, but isn't really invention.
If questions like this become political within a US-specific persepctive, they can have an element of nationalism when considered with a more global perspective. Many people in the UK know the story of UK-based Joseph Swan developing his own bulb, patenting it, setting up a company and selling it, supplying homes and businesses such as The Savoy, and then a US marketer called Edison later coming along and taking cred…
Politicians before: "Vote for me, we will do xyz, create a great future and change history!" Politicians today: "Vote for me, we will do xyz and change history ...books"
>While Edison’s contribution to the lightbulb was significant, he did not “invent” the lightbulb. At most he put the last piece into place..... So he did invent it. Being the first that puts stuff together to get a working result is exactly what everyone means if they say someone invented something. That it builds on existing inventions is the norm.
On that basis, Apple invented the smartphone, and Zoom probably invented video conferencing. Being the one to make a version of an existing thing that's good enough to actually use regularly, and developing a supporting infrastructure, is important, but isn't really invention.
If questions like this become political within a US-specific persepctive, they can have an element of nationalism when considered with a more global perspective. Many people in the UK know the story of UK-based Joseph Swan developing his own bulb, patenting it, setting up a company and selling it, supplying homes and businesses such as The Savoy, and then a US marketer called Edison later coming along and taking cred…
It was entirely discovered by Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier in France, when in the US, Robert Gallo of NIH was given all the credit.