EDISON GIVES FIRST PUBLIC DEMO OF INCANDESCENT LIGHT
Menlo Park, New Jersey (JFK+50) On December 31, 1879, Thomas Alva Edison gave the first public demonstration of the incandescent light* here in Menlo Park.
With gas, oil and electric arc lighting** the only options available at the time, Mr. Edison promised to develop a "safe, reliable and inexpensive electric light."
With the help of Princeton graduate Francis Upton***, Edison delivered on his promise and in doing so cemented his reputation as "the world's greatest inventor."
*Incandescent light has a filament, or thread-like object, which gives out light when heated to incandescence, or hot enough to emit light by electric current.
**Electric arc lighting connects lights in a series circuit. It was the only lighting available for large areas from 1800-1901. Although cheaper than gas, its drawback is that if one light failed all the lights in the circuit failed.
***Francis Robbins Upton (1852-1921) was born in Peabody, MA. FRU became a physicist & mathematician who worked with Edison to develop electric lighting, generators & power distribution.
