What Do We Know About Thomas Edison?

5. The First Light Bulb Patent

Although electric lighting is often associated with Thomas Edison's name, he did not invent the first light bulb. He did, however, develop the technology that brought artificial light to the masses.

Edison perfected the incandescent light bulb, improving upon British inventor Humphry Davy's first electric arc lamp invention from the early 1800s. Many other inventors tried unsuccessfully to do the same, but Edison received a patent for his light bulb in 1879. By 1880, he'd founded a company that would bring the electricity needed to deliver light and power to cities around the world: the Edison Illuminating Company, later known as General Electric.