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GoochMcTaint007 13 points ago +13 / -0

He BOUGHT the lightbulb patent of two Canadian inventors Henry Woodward and Mathew Evans. He did get the idea of using a carbon filament from Swan, a British inventor, but he did not use cotton like Swan did, rather his first accepted patent used long lasting bamboo filaments. Also, his first idea had been to use tungsten, not carbon, but he lacked the technology to use tungsten. Only thing Edison should be credited with is that he realized their needed to be a vacuum in the bulb to keep the filament from burning out.

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Keln 11 points ago +12 / -1

The vacuum was a rather important realization...

That's like saying "The only reason the Americans beat the Russians to the Moon was the realization it would take a lot of money."

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Picador_20 -9 points ago +2 / -11

The Apollo Project was Cold War propaganda. We haven't flown higher than 500 miles off the surface of earth in fifty years because intense radiation prevents us from traveling further. Sadly, the moon landings were staged.

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RandomUzer 2 points ago +2 / -0

We didn't go back because Senator Gore basically killed the program in favor of the shuttle program. Money, graft and greed is why we never went back. We went there to show up the USSR. They were getting firsts in every stage of space flight. It was mostly a propaganda thing and a way to work out the bugs out of our ICBM systems. It showed we could put whatever we wanted anywhere on the earth by putting it exactly where we wanted on the moon.

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DNCwillbeTrumped 2 points ago +2 / -0

Space program was also to help nuke program. They and the technologies they invented are both very, very real partner.

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Tallsie 1 point ago +3 / -2

Edison pioneered the research and development industry that became the foundation of the American economy. Edison General Electric has changed the world in ways that are difficult to comprehend, because the foundation just feels like it has always existed.