Watch a silent short of Thomas Edison, who invented the phonograph and incandescent electric light
Thomas Edison, seen late in life in this video, was the most famous inventor in American history. Though he is best known for his invention of the phonograph and incandescent electric light, Edison took out 1,093 patents in a variety of fields, including electric light and power, telephony and telegraphy, and sound recording. His public image as a homespun, untutored genius actually concealed a thinker who was quite systematic and methodical and who collaborated closely with machinists, designers, and scientists in his laboratory at Menlo Park, N.J.
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Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, MainzA 2009 profile of Son Masayoshi as SoftBank began to expand beyond Japan.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Packing cans of fish in Prospect Harbor, Maine.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Learn about mining and refining copper from the Atacama Desert, northern Chile.
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Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, MainzLearn about lightning and thunder.
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© Chicago Architecture Foundation (A Britannica Publishing Partner)Learn how cutting-edge construction methods and amenities helped make Chicago's Monadnock Building (first half, 1891; second half, 1893) a prototype for the modern office high-rise.
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Public Domain VideoMark Twain at Stormfield, his home in Connecticut, with his daughters Clara and Jean; excerpt from a silent movie shot by Thomas Edison, 1909.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Conducting electric current in a solution of electrolytes.
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This was once Edison Day. We re-visit his creepy talking doll
• Oct. 21, 2026, 4:42 PM ET (NPR)
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