Rutgers University
Guide to Motion Picture Catalogs: The Peephole Kinetoscope
A brief description of the peephole kinetoscope which Thomas Edison unveiled at the Columbian Exhibition in 1893.
Science4Fun
Science4 Fun: Light Bulb
Learn about the early developments of the invention of the incandescent light bulb and Thomas Edison's development of the first practical light bulb.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mit: Inventor of the Week: Granville T. Woods: The Multiplex Telegraph
A description of Granville Woods' successful invention, the multiplex telegraph, which greatly improved railroad safety. From the Lemelson-MIT Project.
Great Idea Finder
Great Idea Finder: Lewis Howard Latimer
An extensive biography of the life of African-American inventor, Lewis Latimer. Find out about his primary claim to fame in the development of an incandescent light bulb, but be sure to read about his many patents, and his importance to...
Other
Black Inventor Online Museum: Lewis Latimer
The biography of the fascinating African-American inventor, Lewis Latimer. In addition to finding out about his development of the carbon filament for the incandescent lamp, you can read about his expertise in patent law, his association...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Lighting a Revolution
This website is part of a bigger exhibit exploring the history of invention. This looks at Edison's invention of the light bulb and many other electrical inventions from the following century.
Read Works
Read Works: Electricity & Energy the Light Bulb
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about the invention and use of the light bulb. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Other
African American Inventors and Their Inventions: Granville T. Woods
Here is a thorough biography of inventor Granville T. Woods, who is credited with improving railway safety for bot the trains and trainmen. Find out what concepts in railroad safety are still being used today.
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Education: Spotlight Biography Inventors
This site provides information on American inventors Benjamin Franklin, Robert Fulton, Eli Whitney, Thomas Jefferson, Isaac Singer, Wilbur Wright, Thomas Alva Edison, Elias Howe, and Alexander Graham Bell. It offers pictures from and...
Library of Congress
Loc: Everyday Mysteries: Who Invented Christmas Lights?
Do you love looking at Christmas lights? At this Library of Congress site, the question is answered on who invented the first strand of lights that now light up the Christmas season.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: James Watt
The Scottish instrument maker and inventor James Watt had a tremendous impact on the shape of modern society. His improvements to the steam engine were a significant factor in the Industrial Revolution, and when the Watt engine was...
PBS
Pbs: American Experience: George Eastman: The Wizard of Photography
American Experience offers a comprehensive look at George Eastman and his development of photography. Included are a timeline, biographies of important people in Eastman's personal and professional life, discussions in the history of...
Great Idea Finder
The Great Idea Finder: Inventor Granville Woods Biography
A detailed biography of Granville T. Woods, who was known as "the Black Edison" because of his many inventions. He is best known for greatly improving the safety of railroads by his invention of the Multiplex Railway Telegraph.
Other
The Birth of the Recording Industry
Here is a very interesting article about the birth of the recording industry. It primarily deals with the invention and improvement of the phonograph beginning in 1877.
Florida State University
Florida State University: Magnet Lab: Electric Meter 1872
The invention of the light bulb quickly created the need to track people's electricity usage. In 1872, Samuel Gardiner built the first simple power meter: a lamp with an attached clock that recorded the time the light was on.
Curated OER
Educational Technology Clearinghouse: Clip Art Etc: Thomas A. Edison
Thomas Edison invented the automatic repeater, duplex telephone, phonograph, the electric pen, the microphone, the megaphone, kinetoscope, the microtasimeter, and the quadruplex and sextuplex transmitters.
Council for Economic Education
Econ Ed Link: Economic Spotter: Inventors and Entrepreneurs in the Industrial Age
The Industrial Age has also been called the Age of Edison. Edison patented more than 1000 inventions and gave rise to three industries: electric utilities, phonograph and record companies, and the film industry. This instructional...
Other
Ced Magic: 1906 Deforest Audion Vacuum Tube
This is a one page presentation of the historical development of the audion tube. An image of DeForest's invention is included.
ClassFlow
Class Flow: Who Am I?
[Free Registration/Login Required] This is a review of famous inventors and people of the Second Industrial Revolution. Activotes questions are included. There is a citation for a United Streaming video clip at the end that could be...
Curated OER
Electric Lamp Image Courtesy General Electric
This site from The Great Idea Finder presents a lengthy biography of Thomas Edison, followed by a wealth of suggested resources including books, movies, and the Internet.
University of Houston
University of Houston: Engines of Our Ingenuity: No. 869: 1876 Technology
Learn about the information that can be found in an 1876 issue of a magazine, The Manufacturer and Builder, about the tools, machines, and innovations of that era, including a reference to a young Thomas Edison. This is a transcript of a...
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: John Ambrose Fleming
John Ambrose Fleming was an electronics pioneer who invented the oscillation valve, or vacuum tube, a device that would help make radios, televisions, telephones and even early electronic computers possible. A brilliant innovator,...
Curated OER
Educational Technology Clearinghouse: Clip Art Etc: Thomas Alva Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was born at Milan, Ohio, February 11, 1847, but the family soon after moved to Port Huron, Michigan. He had to earn his living from early boyhood, and was a train boy on a railroad. A station master, whose child's life...
Country Studies US
Country Studies: Technology and Change
Brief historical description of the technology introduced in the U.S. after the Civil War and the changes new technology and inventions brought about.