
Thomas Edison
© Wellcome Collection
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Have you heard of the American scientist, inventor and businessman Thomas Edison? He lived from 1847 to1931.
The Science Museum has some great Thomas Edison stuff.
During the museum's Wallace & Gromit: A World of Cracking Ideas exhibition (now closed), the Science Museum made a film about the telephone Thomas Edison designed.
You can watch it here:
A light bulb moment
Not only does The Science Museum have Edison's telephone, they also have his light bulb in its collection.If you click on the link, you can see more objects on the Science Museum website.© Science Museum
On 27 January, 1880 Edison was granted a patent for his electric light bulb.
The light bulb, or Edison filament lamp as it was known, has one loop of carbon filament which glows when a current of electricity passes through it.
This lamp in the Science Museum collection was made one year after Joseph Swan's original 1878-1879 electric light bulb.
However, both lamps were already out of date by 1883 when Swan and Edison started their successful Edison and Swan United Electric Light Company in Britain.
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Have you heard of the American scientist, inventor and businessman Thomas Edison? He lived from 1847 to1931.