Edison Miracle of Light- June Sri

From watching the documentary “Edison: Miracle of Light”, I learned more about Edison himself and what he invented. His inspiration, his personality, and his way of thinking changed the world.

Edison came from a poor family. He was self-taught and began work from a very young age. All of his work was related to technology. He knew the ways to improve things, invent things, and make things better. When he worked at the telograph industry, he invented a stock ticker and the electric vote recorder. The invention that first made him famous was the phonograph. He found a way to record sound. Edison showed us that he could always invent something new from basic, everyday items, that we might not think of.

He taught people that invention can be useful to others. He thought that it would help to make the world the better place to live so, he invented things. Since people always want what they don’t already have, there will always be something new to invent. Edison decided that he want to replace the gas light with electric light. He worked very hard, and he did not give up though media critics said that he was a liar when he underestimated the time needed to create the electric light. He was called a liar because he said that the electric light would finished in three weeks, but he finished it in three years. He was very stubborn, but at that time, his stubbornness made him to become successful because he continued his work until it was finished.

He became famous because his hard work paid off. Menlo Park, which was where his laboratory was,became better and better. However, life wasn’t always stable, this meant high risk brings high return. When George Westinghouse made the alternating current usable, Edison had not been wanted by many companies anymore. The alternating current was created to help with the growth of railroads. Edison was not ready give up the thought that direct current was the safest one and that an alternating was very dangerous. He even used the electricity in his experiment to see which current would kill animals faster. He tried everything he could to get his status back, to prove his own beliefs. After he knew that the direct current was not as useful as alternating current, he understood that he could not win the status over Westinghouse. He decided to invent something new, something that was not related to electricity.

The material in the documentary was thought to be well presented. It showed the good and bad parts of Edison’s life. The movie showed both Edison’s achievements and Edison’s life story. The way the documentary was presented was well-organized.

From the Hats of the Problem-Solver rubric, I think that Edison had all those four qualities in him. These qualities being Explorer, Artist, Judge, and Warrior. Edison balances all these qualities very well, but it seems to be that warrior fits him best. As a warrior, he was very persistent, and he was willing to follow his goals all the way through to the end.

Miracle of Light-Thomas Edison-Kevin Smith

What I liked most about the movie is that it showed Edison as a great inventor and thinker but also a great business man. He wasn’t born into a wealthy family and took every opportunity to learn something to the fullest. It showed me that Thomas Edison was more than ‘that guy who invented the light bulb’. He was also the inventor of the phonograph, the wizard of Menlo Park, and also owner of over 1000 patents. I was pulled into his world of a entrapenur. He founded company after company. Ranging from Edison Light company to the Black Maria movie studio. It showed us future engineers that not only do we have to have a great problem solving mind but it also takes good people skills and knowing the right people to become great.

Out of all the hats i believe that Edison was an Explorer and also a warrior. My reasoning behind this is that he always went the extra mile to see what he could do to fix a problem. He was also a warrior because of his work on the light bulb. The main reason he took on the duty of making the light bulb is because of William Wallace bet him on it. He said, “I believe i can beat you making the electric light”, and the rest is history.

Thomas Edison had many inventions such as the light bulb and the phonograph but the invention i want to stress is the motion picture camera. The movie that we watched on him wouldn’t have been possible without him. Every show you’ve ever seen is because of Thomas Alva Edison and doesn’t really get the credit he should deserve for that. Edison’s role after this invention was creating a movie studio and puting out the worlds first motion pictures. I believe this invention has opened up so many jobs. Without it, we probably don’t ever see that Hollywood(land) sign and we would still be watching plays at broadway. Thank you Edison.

Miracle of Light – Joey M

After watching Edison’s Miracle of Light I understand how Edison became the great engineer and inventor he is known as today. I didn’t realize Edison was only interested in inventing things that he thought would be profitable and successful on the market, but I guess that is the reason he was able to keep inventing. The movie talked about how Edison’s love for inventing was so great that every dollar of profit from one invention would fund the next one. Its rare to find someone so in love with their career that they are willing to spend their entire living on it, but it is really rare to find someone with this passion as well as a good eye as to what would be profitable on the market. It’s this combination as well as Edison’s intellect as an engineer that made him the great inventor he was.

Edison has characteristics of each of the four problem-solver categories, but the one that defines him is the warrior. After watching the movie, it became clear that the reason Edison made it so far was because of his completely unflinching desire to keep inventing. The definition of a warrior is to be persistent and to never hold back which is exactly what Edison was good at.

Edison’s Miracle of Light

  While watching Edison’s Miracle of Light  i learn quite a few new and interesting facts. I did not know that Edison was so young when he began to invent. It is interesting that such a young individual could change the scientific world so radically. His invention of the practical eletric light bulb change modern society to an extent that is immeasurable. It was also interesting that he had no formal training or instruction. He was a self taught telegraphist and inventor. I also did not understand just how stubborn or argumentative. He was so suborn that he let untold wealth slip through his fingers. He Had the opportunity to become the ” King of Light” but because he refused to accept A/C electricity;  he became a purveyor of outmoded technology. This lead to his fall from prowess in the electric power industry.

  Edison was a genius but his problem solving skills are still not perfect. Although he did create many good inventions his techniques were most about trial and error. As Edison said ” One percent inspiration, Ninety-nine percent perspiration.” He relied heavy on the explorer and the warrior. This was his greatest flaw. Because he could not effectively judge his invents with an objective viewpoint. it could also be argued that he was uninventive in his invention because he could not visualise a better solution; he had to try and try again to come up with the best solution.

Edison’s Miracle of light

Edison’s Miracle of light was not a movie just about the invention of the light bulb, but all of the things it took to get there.  The movie explains other inventions that came before the light bulb and the struggle it was to create it and become the biggest name in electric history.  The movie was almost like a biography of Edison showing the process of his success.  I didn’t know that Edison had over a thousand patents for his inventions.  Having this many inventions means for many of his ideas he set out to create them.  The hat that shows this characteristic the most is the explorer hat.  This is because he goes out looking for a new way to discover and then the warrior hat comes in to make it real.  Another of the hats that is used is the artists hat which helps complete the inventions when there is a problem or something wrong.  He will look at the problem in a different way and figure out what wrong.  The hats the Edison posses are the balance that made him one of the greatest inventors in history.

Also in the movie it mentioned that Faraday was the creator of the DC generator.  He created the DC generator, but Edison used it to be the generator to provide electricity into people’s house at a safe level.  He backed this technology no matter how flawed it was or the fact that the Tesla AC generator was better.  The idea was to have a DC generator every couple of miles to give low levels of electricity to homes throughout the city.  This was crushed by the AC generator that could be just one unit outside of town.  Even though Edison knew this he continued because of his warrior hat, he persevered no matter the cost.  The battle between AC and DC was lost to Edison.  Edison’s role in the AC/DC war has contributed to the greatest invention today the electrification of the world.

Edison’s Miracle of Light – Robert

As I watched Edison: Miracle of Light, I learned many new things about Edison and his inventions that I did not know before. For example, i didn’t know until i watched the movie that Edison was partially deaf. I had no idea that he had made such a large number of inventions or that his workshop, which was also the first research lab ever made, was located so far from the city. I also never knew that, in addition to the light bulb, Edison created the DC generator, all of the parts needed to install light bulbs into buildings, and a company to produce and distribute all of these inventions.

Although Edison showed traits of all four hats, I believe that the hats that most describe him are the Warrior and the Explorer. The Explorer hat fits him because he was always creating new inventions and coming up with new solutions to problems. The Warrior hat describes him because he was very persistant and wouldn’t stop trying to invent something, no matter how many times he failed. He also used the Artist’s and Judge’s hats whenever he failed at an invention because he had to figure out what he did wrong and he had to think up ways of solving his problems that had never been thought of before.

Alternate Assignment – Keith F

Of all the inventions that Edison developed, their was one discovery that lead to the electronic valve, a technology used as commonly as the light bulb up until the invention the Transistor at Bell Laboratories, NJ. Still today, it is utilized by both high-end audio enthusiasts for its mellow sounds and the military which touts it’s resistance to the EMP effect created by nuclear bombs.

Edison was a relentless man and in his quest to perfect the light bulb, he noted that he could detect electrons flowing from the bulb’s filament across a vacuum, this he dubbed “The Edison Effect”. Although Edison was the first to discover this effect, he did not understand the underlying physics or the value of the discovery. It was not until 20 years later that John Flemming created the first electronic valve, four years later the amplifying valve was constructed following this device’s creation, the radio industry took-off becoming a cultural icon of that century.

Edison: Miracle of Light – Keith F

Apparently many people believe that learning about Thomas Edison is very dry and boring, but this is not the case. In “Edison: A Miracle of Light”  he was portrayed as a ruthless inventor, standing down for nothing, even after sending expeditions through the world to simple hundreds of exotic filament materials, eventually finding them in an unlikely place. A man working in such a highly volatile field at his time, needs the focus and persuasion techniques that only a genus like him could accomplish.
Edison’s extremely unique personality makes it easy to categorize him with the following hats, the Judge and the Warrior. I can see him as a Judge because of Edison’s ability to make decisions even though he was aware of the endless development and the great costs of developing the light bulb. Also, I can see a Warrior in him. Tireless marketing was required to capture the public’s imagination of electric lighting. People always resist change, Edison exploited the public’s imagination at expos by electrifying them.

Edison Miracle of Light – Wes Vullo

During my public schooling the name Edison was only mentioned for one invention. The light bulb. A great invention, but Edison should be known for more than that. Way more. The determination of Edison with his experiments really should be known to ALL venturing scientists and engineers. I appreciate this class for teaching people about the great Inventors of the world. It’s crazy how many people use remotes and don’t know who Tesla is. Edison was one of the founders, and he paved the way for much of the electrified present. The determination put forth by Edison shows what a TRUE explorer is. That is the definition of explorer. The will to succeed and keep trying to find solutions.

Edison’s determination to electrify the world is shown through the competition with rival companies as well. The steps he took to make sure his works were better than the companies promoting Alternating Current were crucial to understanding the willpower of Edison. J.P. Morgan was the main investor for Edison, so I’m sure Morgan had more of an influence on Edison in the business aspect of things. Although Edison wanted to get paid for all of his work and ultimately control the industry, Tesla won the battle. Edison held 1093 US patents which electrified the world, but the battle of the currents was decided to be won by Tesla. When Alternating Current won the battle, Edison was still determined to compete, but it  eventually led to the merger of Edison General Electric and Thompson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric.

I think Edison’s determination and willpower shows that he is the definition of an Explorer. Of course, he had to be the Artist, Judge, and Warrior, but the one that took precedent was Explorer. Edison shows crucial strength in the Artist hat as well, as he did hold 1093 US Patents. The Judge hat comes into play when edison’s many expirements failed, and he had to revamp, which led to his Warrior hat as well. Edison was a great engineer, using ALL aspects of problem solving as a way to invent the future.

Edison’s Miracle of Light

 The Edison story was really interesting to me personally. I have to say that even thou the movie was not the best movie that I have seen but the content of the movie was compelling because men like Edison are really really rear, people like that at truly brilliant. They are blessed with visions and work ethic and persistence. One o f the most interesting parts of the movie was the part with the light bulbs because there was so many attempts to find the right shape and there was so much work done and so many failed experiments that any other person would have given up, but not Edison. He kept going until he reached his goal. Even thou his first prediction of 6 weeks were not correct no one really realized how much work needed to be done. People needed to not doubt his brilliance because he really was a miracle worker. To invent a whole system of circuits and tools and machines that was required to bring electricity to people’s house. He was the one that did all of the work, he was the one with the so called unreachable dream. He not only made what was once a dream a reality he did much more he made it possible for other people to be able to use this dream. I learned that it takes enormous amount of effort to do something great and when people doubt you have to keep going and you need to fallow your dreams no matter what anyone says.  Edison was a great Explorer a great Artist a great Judge and a great warrior. Men like him are great Engineer.