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My history event post is on PSB: American Experience; a television program that I watched on the inventor extraordinaire Thomas Alva Edison. The link for the 2-hour documentary is http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/edison/player/ .I have always been interested in the life, achievements, successes and failures of Thomas Edison (1847-1931), but since I was able to see artifacts that were part of his creative process I have a deeper sense of a connection to him. Despite thousands of failed invention attempts, Edison maintained a resilience that distinctly set him apart as a visionary in the field of creativity and note-worthy inventions that changed the way the world operated. This past summer I had the opportunity to visit the Smithsonian: National History Museum in Washington D.C.; which had an exhibit on Edison called Lighting a Revolution. Information on the exhibit can be found here http://americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/lighting-a-revolution. I was fascinated by the amount of failed Edison experiments that were on display. Walls of light bulbs, gadgets and experiments that were unsuccessful, but that propelled Edison to continue the processes where he eventually achieved successes. The television program was interesting to me because it provided insight into the life of a man that I have a great respect for. On a personal there is also a Thomas Edison National Historical Park in West Orange, New Jersey (my birth state) that includes his laboratory complex and house (mansion) that Edison and his wife resided in at the time of his death, which I hope to be able to visit in the future; which can be found at https://www.nps.gov/edis/planyourvisit/index.htm . I will end with one of my favorite Edison quotes “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”.
