In 1879, the rich man John Pierpont Morgan, with the keen intuition of a businessman, decided that the whole world would change dramatically because of Edison's invention, so he took a stake in the "Edison Power Company", and after getting Morgan's support, Edison became invincible in the industry, and as a result, he finally went bankrupt because of his character.
Thomas Alva Edison, born on February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio, usa, from an early age he showed a unique personality, and a clever mind, coupled with the excellent education given by his mother, and finally made his life.
As we all know, Edison was a great inventor, and on October 21, 1879, in his laboratory, Edison successfully made the world's first light bulb - this light bulb emitted about 10 gas lamps for about 13 hours, and then Edison's name was known to the whole world.
Childhood Edison
However, the textbooks do not tell us that the real light bulb was not invented by Edison, but bought a patent from two Canadians, and that in 1878, a British scientist, Swann, invented the light bulb, applied for a patent, and opened an electric power company.
In 1883, Edison tried to promote electric lights to England, only to be sued by Swann Company, and finally the two sides reached an agreement, Edison's electric lights obtained the right to promote in Britain, but Swann served as a partner in Edison's British company. This has always haunted Edison, and he eventually spent a lot of money to buy Swann's patent.
So how could he have so much money to buy a patent? In 1879, the American super-rich realized a business opportunity, he thought that Edison's invention would benefit the bridge of the world, and that with it came great wealth, so he invested in Edison's company and gave him full support and cooperation.
Elderly Edison
With Morgan's support, Edison began to "spend money", finding that any valuable patent could be bought, as long as a slightly talented engineer was recruited, and in 1882, Edison recruited a more talented engineer than him, Tesla, as his assistant.
Morgan can be said to be obedient to Edison, for example, considering that Edison's power company must lay a power grid to popularize electric lights, so Morgan immediately formed a copper company.
Subsequently, Morgan through his social status and influence, with the help of the power of the media to build Edison into a genius inventor, at the same time, in order to make Edison's company go well, he also used the media to publish negative reports of competitors, with Morgan's full support, Edison's influence expanded to countries around the world, whether in the business world or in the field of scientific research, Edison was like a fish, until a later incident happened, let Edison discredited.
In 1884, Edison found in the process of research that direct current is extremely limited, with the increase of the transmission distance the stability of direct current will decline and other shortcomings, so he gave this insurmountable problem to the assistant Tesla, and promised to give Tesla a reward of $50,000 if he succeeded in researching it.
Perhaps in Edison's heart, he never thought that Tesla would succeed, after all, he was the most successful businessman and scientist at that time, and in his company, he collected the world's top talents, and even they were helpless, let alone a Tesla.
However, something unexpected happened to Edison, Tesla took over shortly after, successfully developed 20 programs, but also successfully solved Edison's problem, Edison got Tesla's research results, immediately concealed Tesla to apply for a patent, later, Tesla asked him to cash in on the promise of $50,000, as a result, Edison said a sentence that made Tesla particularly speechless, he said that it was just a kind of humor he had as an American.
tesla
Tesla never thought that this world-famous scientist would actually renege on his word, but this is not the thing that makes Tesla most disgusted, but he is not accustomed to the efficiency of Edison's doing things, Tesla feels that some experiments can easily know the results through calculation, but Edison likes to do experiments repeatedly, even if Tesla calculates it for him, Edison does not buy it, still stubborn.
In 1885, Tesla developed alternating current, he believes that alternating current is more reliable than direct current, and the future people will use alternating current in large quantities, but Edison thinks that this is nonsense, and all assets are bet on direct current, so the contradiction between the two people broke out at this time, and the final result was that Edison insisted on his own opinion, and Tesla left the company in a negative atmosphere.
In order to prove that his judgment was correct, Edison did a lot of experiments, for example, using direct current to kittens and puppies, and later even used it on people, at this time, Morgan also seemed to identify more with alternating current, so he no longer supported Edison, and acquired Edison's company, becoming the current "General Electric", which had nothing to do with Edison.
However, this was not an event that bankrupted the Edison Company, and in 1891, Edison had another extremely significant invention, the cinema camera, and obtained a patent, in order to monopolize the invention of "film", hired many lawyers and did not allow others to make films, which led to a large number of film companies leaving Ohio and going to Los Angeles.
Edison's monopolistic behavior not only did not develop the film industry rapidly, but the quality of the film also fell sharply, if this is one of his failures, then the next thing directly led to the bankruptcy of his company.
This matter is similar to the dispute between direct current and alternating current, when Edison recorded sound with a wax cylinder - this cylinder is the most powerful, but the wax cylinder is expensive to manufacture, efficient, and not high enough, and the film companies he "rushed" to Los Angeles have begun to use "recording discs" (later vinyl), which are cheaper than wax cylinders, and light and efficient, but he still stubbornly believes that he is right, and finally, in 1929, His company declared bankruptcy.
But why didn't he invent the electric lamp, and we are still willing to say that Edison invented the electric lamp? That's because Edison was the one who really put the electric light on everyone, and he was a bigot, but that didn't stop him from being a great scientist.