Thomas Edison

Everyday people all around the world walk in to a room and flick on a light switch, not even thinking  about the miraculousness that is happening right above their head. Today, we have the lightbulb, thanks to Thomas Edison.
The light bulb was created in 1879 by Thomas Edison, the world famous scientist. History gives Edison all of the credit for dreaming this invention up, but many people do not know that it wasn't originally his idea.  The idea was actually created 50 years before Edison came across it, by scientist Joseph Swan. Swan wanted to created a light bulb that also used a carbon filament. Unfortunately, in his experiment failed in 1878 due to excessive current.
Swan first publicly demonstrated his experiment in 1879, he successfully demonstrated his working lamp to a crowd of over seven hundred people in the Lecture Theatre of Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne, Sir William Armstron Presiding.
So why do people give Edison the credit for inventing the Incandescent light bulb, when it wasn't even his idea? The reason is because he was the first inventor to build power stations and distribution cables so that everyone could actually use his light bulb. He did it by paying people to dig up New York to put in the copper wires to carry electricity from his Pearl Street Power Station. He also was the first inventor, of many who attempted this project, to create some thing that the average person could use it in their home.
Thomas Edison and Joseph The Edison and Swan Electric company was established in 1883. More commonly known as "Ediswan", the company sold lamps in invented in 1881.
Edison is not known just for inventing the light bulb, though. He also invented the Telegraph, which is what he really made his fortune off of. However, like the light bulb, the Telegraph was not entirely his invention. Much of the credit goes to W.K.L Dickson.
Even though Edison did not originally think of the ideas for his main inventions, he was the genius that carried it out and made it successful. His contributions to the world have changed how we think. He played a significant role in the Industrial Revolution, and a significant role in society.

Edison's first working light bulb, lasted approximately 13.5 continuous hours, which was a huge scientific break through for the Industrial Revolution.














Sources:
http://www.nps.gov/edis/forkids/images/lightbulb.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Swan

Electricity, why is it important

       Electricity is the thing that makes the world go round. Thomas Edison was the man who discovered electricity. He was very famous for what he did.

       A lot of things came in the Industrial Revolution because of him and his discovery. He invented the high quality light bulb and it was a replacement for oil lamps so that was very good for the environment.

       Also the first automobiles were invented by Henry Ford by combining an oil combustion engine and an electric one to give the car a strong enough motor to go faster.Assembly lines were also invented which was a couple of stations were the car would get serviced.

      Thomas Edison also created the telegraph which allowed people to communicate from  long distances. If electricity had never been discovered we probably wouldn't have a lot of things today.

Source 1: https://www.google.com/search?um=1&hl=en&newwindow=1&client=firefox-a&tbo=d&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&biw=1280&bih=658&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=revolution+tv+series+overgrown+city&oq=revolution+tv+series+overgrown+city&gs_l=img.3...5749.8186.0.8525.10.10.0.0.0.0.83.570.10.10.0...0.0...1c.1.3.img.WIvcLef7Wtg