TIL In 1930 Thomas Edison was at the controls for the first departure of a regular-service electric multiple unit train from the Hoboken Terminal to Montclair New Jersey! by whatilearned May 14, 2022, 11:50 pm 3 Points Upvote Downvote
5 Comments TIL Thomas Edison was so upset with his son’s ineptitude in business, that he paid him $35/wk to use a different name (Jr to then use Thomas Willard). by whatilearned March 5, 2022, 9:11 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
5 Comments TIL that Thomas Edison had nothing to do with the electrocution of Topsy the Elephant. In reality, the “war of currents” ended a decade prior to the Topsy’s execution. by whatilearned January 21, 2022, 12:46 am 12 Points Upvote Downvote
5 Comments TIL: Thomas Edison thought that humans were inhabited by swarms of millions of ghosts that, upon a persons death, would seek to inhabit another lifeform or maybe create new life. He attempted to devise a telephone to contact these spirits. by whatilearned January 11, 2022, 2:28 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
TIL Wilhelm Röntgen discovered X-rays in Nov, 1895. The very next month, he took the first X-ray image using his wife’s hand; 2 months after that, X-rays were being used in multiple hospitals across the globe. By May, Thomas Edison developed the first mass-produced X-ray imaging device. by whatilearned December 8, 2021, 10:33 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
3 Comments TIL There is a 1910 film version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein that was produced by Thomas Edison by whatilearned November 24, 2021, 5:36 am 12 Points Upvote Downvote
7 Comments TIL of Eugen Sandow, 1st bodybuilder. From 1889 forward he toured the world. Edison Studios filmed him. He opened gyms and published a magazine. In 1901 he organized the 1st bodybuilding competition. He influenced yoga. He coined the word bodybuilding. The Sandow is the statue awarded Mr. Olympia. by whatilearned August 20, 2021, 3:26 am 12 Points Upvote Downvote
5 Comments TIL a large reason why Los Angeles became the filmmaking capital of the US was to avoid paying royalties to Thomas Edison who was on the East Coast and who held the patents for the majority of the technology used to make films, as the distance made it difficult to enforce patent laws at that time. by whatilearned July 16, 2021, 11:24 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
4 Comments TIL that Thomas Edison proposed to his future wife in morse code, she accepted in the same way. by whatilearned June 4, 2021, 7:38 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
2 Comments TIL Angelo Mariani was awarded a gold medal by Pope Leo XIII for inventing Vin Mariani, a cocaine and wine drink. The drink was popular with President Grant, Thomas Edison, Prime minister Méline, and hundreds of celebrities endorsed it. Mariani never gave the recipe and production ended when he died by whatilearned March 26, 2021, 12:08 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
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