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.
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