Misconception #6: Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb.
The Truth: Ask any elementary school student who invented the lightbulb, and you're likely to hear the name "Thomas Edison". This is untrue. In 1802, about 45 years before Edison was ever born, Sir Humphrey Davy created the first incandescent light by passing an electrical current through a thin strip of platinum. This light, however, was far too dim and did not last long enough to be at all practical.
Then, in 1835, still 12 years before Edison's birth, James Bowman Lindsay demonstrated a constant incandescent light in Dundee, Scotland.
In 1840, British-born Warren de la Rue created an even longer-lasting incandescent light by enclosing a platinum filament in a vacuum tube and passed a current through the filament.
Then in 1845, American John W. Starr patented an incandescent lighbulb that used carbon filaments. He died shortly after the patent was issued, and his invention was not made commercial.
It wasn't until 1880 that Thomas Edison finally patented the first practical, commercial incandescent lightbulb.
