Thomas Alva Edison blev født den 11. februar 1847 og døde den 18. oktober 1931. Han var en entreprenant opfinder og forretningsmand. Blandt hans mange opfindelser står forbedringen af elpæren og fonografen som de formentligt bedste.
Her følger et længere citat på engelsk, som han gav til amerikansk TV i 1920:
"Before starting experiments on the incandescent electric light system, many memorandums were drawn up as to a general system that would permit a subdivision of the light into small units analogous to gas jets and with commercial economy superior to the prevailing gas system. The thought was, if it was to be successful, all the units must be worked in multiply. This necessitated the creation of lamps of very high resistance to diminish the enormous investment in copper if necessary, if lower resistance lamps were to be used. (For the safety??) This necessitated identifying hair-like filaments of high air-resistance material. On October twenty-first 1871, numerous experiments resulted in the production of a small unit lamp of comparatively enormous resistance. The filament being? under conditions of great stability after this result, I knew the problem approached commercial solution. As these lamp experiments continued, other parts of the general system was actively experimented upon. The dynamo, as then invoked, was extremely inefficient; the loss approaching fifty percent due to some misunderstanding among electricians which I never comprehended. However, these experiments produced a dynamo of which ninety percent of the energy was useful. Then meters for measuring the current were used by thousands of customers and also a host of accessories like underground conduit, circuits, sockets, et cetera were necessary to make a complete system of distribution, all of which was accomplish..."
Derudover er han især kendt for citeter: "Genialitet er 1 % inspiration og 99 % hårdt arbejde"
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