It’s remarkable to think about a century later. An assemblage of brilliance, living like kings while pretending to be ...

Learn about Thomas Edison, the prolific American inventor known for his revolutionary inventions like the light bulb, ...

A wizard from the start, Thomas Edison had a thirst for knowledge, taste for mischief, and hunger for discovery—but his success was made possible by his ...

This media is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's ...

Sure, you can read about the Wright brothers in a book and learn how they converted their knowledge of bicycles into the world’s first airplane. Or you can head to suburban Detroit to tour the Wrights ...

Jacques designed and patented a talking doll, and Edison’s New Jersey factory—the Edison Phonograph Works—manufactured talking machines for inside the dolls. After numerous unsuccessful attempts to ...

“If you had been given the money you would have been six years ahead of us,” von Ohain told Whittle when they met years later. Both inventors happened to move to the U.S.—von Ohain in 1947 and Whittle ...