Thomas Edison - HISTORY

Thomas Edison's most famous invention, the lightbulb, paved the way for modern life.

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Over the course of his life, Thomas Jefferson developed a list of ideas for those wishing to be on their best personal behavior. A Dozen Canons of Conduct in Life, is a list he sent to his granddaughter, Cornelia Jefferson Randolph.

On April 9, 1860, 17 years before Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, Parisian inventor Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville made a recording on a "phonautograph," which worked by tracing sound waves onto paper blackened by smoke. Unplayable for more than a century, the recording was recently brought to life by new audio technology. On the recording, Scott is heard singing a snippet from the French folksong "Au Clair de la Lune."

Croatian-born Nikola Tesla was a genius inventor who discovered the electric alternating current. Learn more about this rival of Thomas Edison and his impact on the modern world in this video.

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