Does anyone know any funny or interesting facts about Thomas Edison?
The most interesting fact about Thomas Edison is that he was overrated as an inventor. He was also a most ungrateful person. Edison was considered one of the most prolific inventors of his time, holding a record 1,093 patents in his name. One must read between the lines, however. While it is true that Edison held the 1,093 patents, many of the underlying inventions themselves were not his. He had many scientists and engineers on staff at his laboratories in Menlo Park and subsequently in West Orange, NJ. It was these employees who also had a direct hand and were responsible for many of the patents held in Edison’s name. As employees of Edison’s company, the employees could not file for the patents in their own names and rightly so. In addition, most of “Edison’s inventions” were not completely original but rather improvements of earlier patents. Again, it was Edison’s employees who played the largest role in these improvements and patents. Most of Edison’s inventing was done at Menlo P
