95: "Several Thousand Things that Won't Work:" Thomas Alva Edison and His Electric Light

History That Doesn't Suck

ProfGregJackson

Education, History, Society & Culture

4.5 • 5.1K Ratings

🗓️ 16 August 2021

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

“I have got so much to do and life is so short, I am going to hustle.” This is the story of trial and error, of determination, and science merging with business. Electric lights have been around since the early 1800s. Unfortunately, they’ve also been impractical. The energy it takes to operate an arc light makes it little more than a novelty. Likewise, newer lights called “incandescents” burn out far too quickly to be of value. But what if someone could make incandescents last hundreds of hours? What if someone could figure out how to power them safely and economically … on such a scale that an entire neighborhood could be electrified–like a major section of Lower Manhattan? It sounds like a pipedream, but one inventor with incredible business savvy thinks he can do it. All he’ll need is a large team willing to make every error in the book until they can figure out how to do it right. This is the story of Thomas Alva Edison and his electric light. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You know what's better than listening to history that doesn't suck?
0:02.5	Experiencing it live from New York City.
0:04.8	Join me, Professor Jackson, under the lights for storytelling with video and live musicians.
0:09.3	This show won't be recorded for the podcast and can only the experienced live-in person
0:13.9	or view live stream.
0:15.1	Shows are January 14th, 15th and 16th.
0:17.6	Go to htdspodcast.com and click the live-in NYC link for more info and tickets.
0:23.0	That's htdspodcast.com to experience history live.
0:27.0	History that of course doesn't suck.
0:30.4	History that doesn't suck is a bi-weekly podcast delivering a legit, seriously researched
0:34.3	hard-hitting survey of American history through entertaining stories.
0:37.6	If you'd like to support htds or enjoy some perks, like add free early releases or patron
0:42.7	exclusive mini episodes, please consider giving at patreon.com forward slash history that
0:48.3	doesn't suck.
0:49.3	To keep up with htds news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
1:00.6	It's Sunday morning, October 19th, 1879.
1:04.0	We're in a quiet rural New Jersey neighborhood called Menlo Park.
1:09.0	We're a handsome, two-story, grayish white, clappered-sided building with two chimneys
1:15.1	sits on a hill.
1:16.9	It's a securely elongated structure, the building measures over 100 feet in length,
1:22.3	but more curious still is its upper level.
1:25.2	The whole floor is a single, massive room.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from ProfGregJackson, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of ProfGregJackson and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.