October 22, 1879: Thomas Alva Edison successfully tests his "incandescent lamp," with a carbon filament that glows for 13 1/2 hours at his lab in the Menlo Park section of Raritan Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey. Raritan would be renamed The Township of Edison in 1954.
Soon, he could make it last 1,500 hours -- over 2 months. So while Edison didn't really "invent the light bulb," he did make the 1st practical one, thus he gets the credit for its invention. (What credit he deserves for other things is debatable, so if anyone posts this on Reddit, let the record show that he did screw over Reddit's secular god, Nikola Tesla.)
This made artificially lit sporting events possible. The 1st night football game will be played in 1892, the 1st night game in the NFL and the 1st night game in professional baseball in 1930, and the 1st night game in Major League Baseball in 1935. This also makes the indoor sports of basketball and hockey possible without windows large enough to let in enough sunlight to get in the players' eyes.
Soon, he could make it last 1,500 hours -- over 2 months. So while Edison didn't really "invent the light bulb," he did make the 1st practical one, thus he gets the credit for its invention. (What credit he deserves for other things is debatable, so if anyone posts this on Reddit, let the record show that he did screw over Reddit's secular god, Nikola Tesla.)
This made artificially lit sporting events possible. The 1st night football game will be played in 1892, the 1st night game in the NFL and the 1st night game in professional baseball in 1930, and the 1st night game in Major League Baseball in 1935. This also makes the indoor sports of basketball and hockey possible without windows large enough to let in enough sunlight to get in the players' eyes.
Thomas Edison loved baseball, calling it "the greatest of American games." He lived to see some amazing things, but he never saw a night game. He died in 1931, having looked out his window and spoken his last words: "It's very beautiful over there."
A 2013 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History followed the rivalry between Edison and Nikola Tesla, which had become a running gag on the Internet. "Epic" Lloyd Ahlquist played Edison, and ERB crewmember Dante Cimadamore played Tesla.
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October 22, 1879 was a Wednesday. There were no sporting events played.
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