The Wizard of Menlo Park, 1878 (The Papers of Thomas A. Edison) - Hardcover

Edison, Thomas A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0801858194 ISBN 13: 9780801858192

Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999

Synopsis

This newest volume in the acclaimed Papers of Thomas A. Edison covers one year in the life of America's greatest inventor―1878. That year Edison, whom a New York newspaper in the spring first called "the Wizard of Menlo Park," developed the phonograph, one of his most famous inventions; made a breakthrough in the development of telephone transmitters, which made the instrument commercially viable; and announced the advent of domestic electric lighting, with only a few weeks' worth of tinkering necessary to complete its design (the announcement sent gas-company stocks plummeting; the research and development went on for four years).

These inventions brought Edison financial support for his work and attention from the public. In January investors in the Edison Speaking Phonograph Company agreed to fund development work on the phonograph. The invention made Edison internationally famous and in May he traveled to Washington, D.C., to show the phonograph at the National Academy of Sciences, to Congress, and to President Rutherford B. Hayes at the White House. That same month Western Union agreed to pay Edison an annual salary of $6,000 for his telephone inventions, although other support from the company declined following the death of its president, William Orton. The stress of unceasing public attention, including a trans-Atlantic dispute over the question of who invented the microphone, led an exhausted Edison to travel west during the summer to witness a solar eclipse but also to seek rest. His six-week trip took him to San Francisco and the Yosemite region of California. Edison began working on electric lighting after his return and in October the Edison Electric Light Company was formed to support his research.

About this title

About the Author:

Paul B. Israel, Keith A. Nier, and Louis Carlat are volume editors for Volume 4 at the Thomas A. Edison Papers at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

Review:

"The essence of the volume is Edison's technical notebooks, a window onto the inventor's workshop. His lucidity comes through everywhere... His writing and drawing come together as a single, vigorous thought process."

(Russell McCormmach New York Times)

"A mine of material... Scrupulously edited... No one could ask for more... A choplicking feast for Edison biographers―well into the next century, and perhaps beyond."

(Fred Howard Washington Post)

"A triumph of the bookmaker's art, with splendidly arranged illustrations, essential background information, and cautionary reminders of the common sources on which Edison's imagination drew."

(David Joravsky New York Review of Books)

"In the pages of this volume Edison the man, his work, and his times come alive... A delight to browse through or to read carefully."

(Thomas J. Misa Science)

About this edition

• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0801858194
• ISBN 13: 9780801858192
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 966
• Editor: Israel Paul B., Nier Keith, Carlat Louis