As scientists work to explain the ways in which our world works, the new information they provide continually changes the way in which we view the world. Technology and inventions that result from the new information change the ways in which we are able to interact with the world.

Thomas Alva Edison became an inventor without formal scientific training. His inventions were the result of imagination and unflagging persistence and have changed the way we experience our world. His famous words, "Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration" do justice to his hard work but not to his inventive mind.

Perhaps Edison's most original invention was the tin-foil cylinder phonograph whose first words were "Mary had a little lamb". Of the phonograph he said "..it's my favorite baby. Once it grows up and becomes a big fella, it will support me in my old age."

In 1879 Edison patented perhaps the most famous of his inventions - the incandescent electric light bulb - which used a loop of carbonized cotton as a filament that glowed giving off a useful amount of light for up to 40 hours.