The Merchant of Power: Sam Insull, Thomas Edison, and the Creation of the Modern Metropolis JOHN F. WASIK. Palgrave McMillan, $24.95 (288p) ISBN 1-4039-6884-5
Light Bulb Is 125 Years Old
American Ceramic Society. American Ceramic Society Bulletin,
07/2004, Letnik:
83, Številka:
7
Trade Publication Article
The practical incandescent, electric light bulb that was improved upon but not invented by Thomas Edison, celebrates its 125th anniversary. In 1879, Edison used a low current electricity, a small ...carbonized filament, and an improved vacuum inside the globe that produced a long-lasting source of light for duration of 40 hours. When Edison Electric Co and Thomson-Houston Co merged, General Electric Co was formed thus sharing the pioneering work of Edison by developing the bulb.
In 1879, by winding three overlapping armature coils, Thomson developed the world's first three-phase alternating current (ac) generator, or alternator. The ThomsonHouston Co. employed 3,800 people ...in 20 buildings on a 23-acre site. Besides dynamos and alternators, Thomson-Houston also manufactured motors, electrical distribution systems, and equipment for electric railways. The Thomson-Houston Co. merged with the Edison General Electric Co. in 1892 to form the General Electric Co. For the rest of his life, Thomson remained General Electric's consultant in technical matters and patent litigation.
"Marie Curie" by Liz Gogerly, "Galileo Galilei" by Mike Goldsmith, "Thomas A. Edison" by Paul Mason, and "Alexander Graham Bell" by Stewart Ross are reviewed.
Key concepts of more than passing relevance to the wars in the Middle East (Iraq and Afghanistan notably, so far) are defined in Prothero's eighty-page "Dictionary of Religious Literacy": "Sunni ...Islam," for example, is the majority branch in the Moslem world, except in Iraq and Iran, where "Shiite Islam" is the majority (at issue here is an ancient schism that developed after the death of the Prophet); the current conflict was influenced by "Wahhabism," a faction of ultraconservative Sunnis, and by the "Taliban," Islamic militants disguised as "students" of religion and the radical core of Al-Qaida, blamed for the attacks of 9/11 and driven by force out of Afghanistan by our avenging army. An intelligent first step would be to teach "The Bible as Literature," especially since the King James version of the Bible is, arguably, next to Shakespeare and John Milton, the greatest literary achievement in the English language, and, of course, Milton's "Paradise Lost" itself is spiritually and intellectually grounded in Genesis.
