Today! Thomas Edison perfects the carbonized cotton filament light bulb in 1879.
The year is 1878 and the setting is Menlo Park, New Jersey. Thomas Edison, fresh off the triumph of his phonograph, has his eyes set on the light bulb. He estimates that he and his team of 40 researchers will be able to create a working incandescent bulb in three or four months. But it wasn't until more than a year later, on October 22, 1879 (after working all day on October 21, 1879), that Thomas Alva Edison and his colleagues "perfected" the incandescent light bulb. The bulb cost USD 40,000 (about USD 850,000 in today's money) and lasted barely more than a half-day.
Related On This Day
Amit Shah, an Indian politician who was born on October 22, 1964, has been the country's first Minister of Co-operation since 2021
In 1975, the Soviet spacecraft Venera 9 soft-lands on Venus, becoming the first lander to return photos from another planet's surface.
Today! In 1906, Henry Ford is appointed President of Ford Motor Company.
Robin Williams (60), an actor and comedian, married graphic designer Susan Schneider in 2011 at the luxury Meadow Wood Resort in the Napa Valley town of St. Helena, California.
Today! The Smurfs originally appeared in the story "Johan and Pirlouit" by Belgian artist Peyo in 1958.
Marcus Junius Brutus, Roman senator and the most renowned of Julius Caesar's killers, commits himself in 42 BC.
Today! Pelé [Edson Arantes do Nascimento], Brazilian footballer, was born in Três Coraçes, Brazil, in 1940.
Today! Chandrayaan-1, India's first unmanned lunar mission, is launched in 2008.
A strange fire destroys the temple of Appolo at Daphne outside the Antioch in 362
Today! Apple unveiled the iPod in 2001.
Morgan Freeman marries in 1967. Bradshaw, Jeanette Adair
Alfred Nobel, the Swedish scientist who developed dynamite and established the Nobel Prizes, was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1833.
In 1918 Actor Charlie Chaplin married Mildred Harris
Today! Emilia Clarke, an English actress, was born in London in 1986.