Edison Gets the Bright Light Right

On October 21, 1879 Thomas Edison crowns 14 months of testing with an incandescent electric light bulb that lasts 13 hours. The New York Herald announced “the great inventor’s triumph in electric illumination” in producing a light “like the mellow sunset of an Italian autumn.” over a full page article on December 21, 1879. On New Year's Eve, 3,000 people visited the lab in Menlo Park to witness 40 electric light bulbs glowing merrily. Edison switched them on and off at will, dazzling and delighting his guests. These bulbs used carbonized cardboard.