A Brief History
On January 7, 1894, Ohio born uber-inventor Thomas Edison made and demonstrated a kinetoscope, a sort of device using multiple photos or drawings to show the illusion of movement, in this case of a man sneezing. Although Edison is often given credit for inventing the “motion picture,” his own employee, William Kennedy Dickson, actually received the patent for motion picture film on that same day.
Digging Deeper
Edison is often cited as the most prolific inventor in history, and it is his name on 1,093 patents, although more modern inventors have dramatically eclipsed this number. Edison’s real genius lay in his ability to coordinate a team of inventors and engineers working on a variety of projects to come up with novel or more workable solutions. Many of his “inventions” were team efforts for which he got primary credit.
While Edison was undoubtedly brilliant and was the force behind many great inventions, credit should be shared by his talented employees.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Hourly History. Thomas Edison: A Life From Beginning to End. Independently published, 2017.
Spehr, Paul. The Man Who Made Movies: W.K.L. Dickson. John Libbey Publishing, 2008.
The featured image in this article, a Thomas Edison commemorative stamp, first issued on the 100th anniversary of his birth in 1947, is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person’s official duties under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code.
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