"People fear that which is different. We've got to, for example, why in God's name don't we teach history in history classes? A Black man invented the light bulb, not a White guy named Edison," Biden said. "There's so much — did anybody know before what recently happened that Black Wall Street in Oklahoma was burned to the ground. Anybody know these things? Because we don't teach them. We've got to give people facts."

It was Edison who first invented the light bulb and a filament that could last 1,200 hours. According to the Department of Energy, Edison secured patents for the incandescent light bulb in 1879 and 1880. Biden was likely referring to Lewis Howard Latimer, who, according to a biography by MIT, patented an improved version of an incandescent light bulb in 1881 that could last even longer than Edison's. For perspective, 1,200 hours is 50 days -- far less time than modern incandescent bulbs last.

Latimer at the time worked for one of the companies competing with Edison's. Latimer was a child of former slaves, a Union Navy veteran, a member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame and eventually the only Black member of the research team known as "Edison's Pioneers," according to MIT, after he began working with Edison in 1884.

But he was not the original inventor of the light bulb.

Latimer was also claimed by some to have been the original inventor of the telephone. But he said in court that it was, in fact, Alexander Graham Bell, according to MIT.

Film at 11... 🤔

Little known fact: Lewis Howard Latimer was shot and killed by a cop. The cop thought he had a weapon but it was just a lightbulb.

fascinating.... 😟

I love the way some politicians try to rewrite history to promote identity politics.

Next...Joe Biden will claim he is the descendent of slaves.

I heard he was born a poor black child... 😟

Al Gore invented the interwebs.

Hey! Poor kids are just as smart as white kids - Joe Biden

I just heard from reliable sources that he's just a Jerk. Have a good weekend. 🍺

:-k

To be fair, Edison did not make the first light bulb. His was the first to be commercially viable because of the longer lasting filament than the previous ones. There were ones created as early as 1800, one using platinum if i recall correctly, they just did not last for any real length of time.

And Drafter, that really makes me want to watch the jerk. Been too long since seeing that.

Joe Biden's most honest statement.

“I am a gaffe machine,”

Was Lewis smoking crack outta the lightbulb though?

illuminating.

Edison was a pretty ruthless businessman and got a lot of credit for ideas that weren't necessarily his own.

yep....happens a lot in fields of advancing technology and pharmacology...

Agreed.

Most of the time when you sign on to a tech, research, or any company where your ideas or designs may lead to patents or trade secrets you sign a waiver to give up those rights to the employer. It's understandable, they are paying and giving you the resources to do your work that made the idea come to fruition.

Rights to intellectual property is standard language in most contracts between parties that share funding and resources.

and in research universities as well...they and their professors feed off the brainpower of their grad students

#2 le hockeydad

L.M.A.O. !!!! BIGTIME

Very true. Generally once the the big heads of university research departments earn a name for themselves, their main focus it to keep funding coming in.

As an undergrad, I worked in one of the bigger named university research labs for superconductivity. The director of the center was pretty good at keeping his funding coming in. Not saying it was by design but he had students that worked under him sprinkled all around at the various companies and national labs working on the same stuff. I can't bad mouth him though, he helped me find my first professional job after graduation. I generally liked the guy, others have a real hatred for him.

Are there any Edison statues that need to be torn down..?? 😕