This page lists the principal inventions and discoveries of Thomas Edison. A complete list of Edison's patents.

1868

• Invented the electrical vote recorder.

1869

• Invented the universal stock ticker and the unison stop.

1872

• Invented the motograph.
• Invented the automatic telegraph system.
• Invented duplex, quadruplex, sextuplex, and multiplex telegraph systems.
• Invented paraffin paper.
• Invented the carbon rheostat.

1875

• Discovered "Etheric Force," an electric phenomenon that is the foundation of wireless telegraphy.

1876

• Invented the electric pen used for the first mimeographs.

1877

• Invented the carbon telephone transmitter, making telephony commercially practical. This included the microphone used in radio.

1877

• Invented the phonograph. This was Edison's favorite invention. He sponsored the Edison Phonograph Polka to help popularize the new device.

1879

• Discovered incandescent light.
• Radically improved dynamos and generators.
• Discovered a system of distribution, regulation, and measurement of electric current-switches, fuses, sockets, and meters.

1880

• Invented the magnetic ore separator.

1880

• Discovered the "Edison Effect," the fundamental principle of electronics.

1885

• Discovered a system of wireless induction telegraph between moving trains and stations. He also patented similar systems for ship-to-shore use.

1891

• Invented the motion picture camera.

1896

• Invented the fluoroscope.
• Invented the fluorescent electric lamp.

1900

• Invented the nickel-iron-alkaline storage battery.

1914

• Invented the electric safety miner's lamp.
• Discovered the process for manufacturing synthetic carbolic acid.

1915

• Conducted special experiments on more than 40 major war problems for the Navy Department. Edison served as Chairman of the Naval Consulting Board and did much other work on National Defense.

1927-1931

• Tested 17,000 plants for rubber content as a source of rubber in war emergencies. A piece of vulcanized rubber was made from a Goldenrod strain he developed.

Cell Structure and Function

Cell Structure and Function

Organelles and Their Functions

In this lab you will look at the eukaryotic cells of plants and animals. Eukaryotic cells are distinguished from the more primitive prokaryotic cells by the presence of 1) cytoplasmic membranous organelles, 2) a nuclear membrane (i.e. a true nucleus), and 3) chromosomal proteins.  In this lab we will focus primarily on organelles, their functions within the cell and how they differ between plant and animal cells.

Think of the cell as a microscopic city. Like a real city it requires many services to keep it clean and running smoothly. Think of some of the services a real city needs: traffic control, waste disposal, and authority figure just to name a few. Like our imagined city a cell needs the same services. Organelles are the “workers” that provide these services. The following is a list describing the various functions of some common organelles.

 The NUCLEUS (“mayor of city hall”)

The nucleus houses the majority of genetic material of a cell. The nucleus is the “brain” of the cell and controls all activity within the cell. Using DNA as a blueprint

(like the blueprints of a city) the nucleus directs the production of proteins.  You will learn about this process in the DNA Transcription and Translation lab.

                                   
A nucleus with the DNA coiled into chromatin.                Electron microscope picture of a nucleus

RIBOSOMES (“lumber or brick yard”)

The ribosomes carry out manual labor in the form of protein synthesis for the nucleus. They bring together all the raw ingredients such as RNA (copies of the original DNA blueprints) and amino acids to assemble proteins. The proteins created are essential to cell and organismal function.  Think of proteins as machinery for cell functions much like electricity and plumbing are essential in a real city.  For example, enzymes are a type of protein without which life could not exist.
 
The large and small subunits of ribosomal RNA translating an mRNA strand into a polypeptide chain.
Refer to DNA Transcription and Translation for further reading.

The ENDOPLASMIC RETICULUM (“highways and road systems”)

There are two types of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) – Smooth ER and Rough ER. This extensive network makes up approximately one half of all membranous tissue of the cell and is the site of membrane and protein synthesis. The ER system is much like a road system along which industry can be found. Goods are manufactured and shipped to needed areas via the road system. Rough ER is named for the presence of ribosomes along its membrane and is the source of proteins. Smooth ER lacks ribosomes and is responsible for lipid synthesis and processes a variety of metabolic processes such as drug detoxification.

Can you tell the difference between the smooth and rough ER?

CELL MEMBRANE (“City Border”) and CELL WALL (“City Wall”)

Cell membranes are found in animal cells whereas cell walls are found in plant cells. Cell walls and membranes have similar functions. Like a city perimeter, cell membranes surround the cell and have the ability to regulate entrance and exit of substances, thereby maintaining internal balance. These membranes also protect the inner cell from outside forces. Cell walls, as the city analogy implies, are much stronger than cell membranes and protect cells from lysing (exploding) in extremely hypotonic (diluted) solutions. You will learn more about these concepts in the Biological Membranes lab.

       
Artist rendition of an animal cell membrane.                   Artist rendition of a plant cell wall.             

CYTOSKELETON (“steel girders”)

The cytoskeleton makes up the internal framework, like the steel girders that are the framework for buildings in a city that gives each cell its distinctive shape and high level of organization. It is important for cell movement and cell division (mitosis).

Picture of a cell’s cytoskeleton- a complex network of tubules and filaments.

CYTOPLASM (“lawns and parks”)

Cytoplasm is a semi-fluid substance (think gelatin) found inside the cell. The cytoplasm encases, cushions and protects the internal organelles. It is the cell landscape found in any space where organelles are not and therefore is much like the lawns and parks of our city.

The cytoplasm is the substance surrounding the visible vacuoles in this cell.

GOLGI APPARATUS (“post office”)

Like a post office, the golgi apparatus is used for shipping those goods created by the ER and ribosomes to the rest of cell.

           
EM picture of a golgi apparatus                    Artist rendition of the Golgi Complex

CHLOROPLASTS (“solar energy plant”)

Chloroplasts are organelles found only in plant cells. Like a solar energy plant they use sunlight to create energy for the city. Chloroplasts are the site of photosynthesis a process in which the plant uses carbon dioxide, water and sunlight to create energy in the form of glucose for the plant cell as well as heterotrophs that consume the plant.

Artist rendition of a chloroplast- site of photosynthesis in plant cells.

MITOCHONDRIA (“energy plant”)

Mitochondria are found in both plant and animal cells and is the site of cellular respiration. Through this process that will be covered in the Photosynthesis and Respiration lab ATP is created which is used for energy by the cell.

Electron microscope picture of a mitochondria.

LYSOSOMES (“waste disposal and recycling”)

The lysosomes are digestive sacs that can break down macromolecules in the cell using the process of hydrolysis. The digestion is carried out with lysosomal enzymes found in the lysosome. Like waste disposal in a city, lysosomes help keep excessive or bulky macromolecules from building up in the cell.

Electron microscope picture of a lysosome.

VACUOLES and VESICLES (“warehouses, water towers or garbage dumps”)

Think of these membrane sacs that have a variety of functions as containment units for anything in excess in a city. They can hold many substances from organic molecules to simple excess water. Plant cells have a central vacuole that is important in maintaining plant turgidity. You can read more about this phenomenon in the Biological Membranes Lab.

Central vacuole of a plant cell.

Sharing; essential quality to possess

 

 

 

Sharing With Others Has Its Own Virtues

There lived a farmer who grew super-quality, award-winning corn. Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won several honors and prizes. Hearing about this successive award-winner, a newspaper reporter sought to interview him and learnt something interesting about how he grew his corn.

The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his best seed corn with his neighbors which astonished him. "How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors as they too enter in the same competition with your each year?" the reporter asked.

"Why sir, "said the farmer, "don't you know that the wind picks up pollen from the ripening corns and swirls it around  from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior, sub-standard, poor quality corn, then cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn too. If I am to grow good corn, its imperative that I must help my neighbors grow good corn." 

The farmer gave a superb insight into the connectedness of life. His good corn cannot thrive unless his neighbor's corn improves.  It is so in all known dimensions. Those who wish to be in harmony must help their neighbors and colleagues to be at peace. Those who choose to live well should help others to lead a good life. The value of life is measured by the number of lives it touches. Success cannot happen in isolation.  It is very often a participative and collective process.

Share your possessions, good practices, ideas, knowledge and information with your family, team members and neighbors. No man is an island.

 

HEALTH TIP :

·         If you are suffering from acidity, drink a glass of water with a piece of jaggery dissolved in it, after meals.

·         For minor rashes on the skin.. add few basil leaves (Tulsi) in your bathing water before you bathe.

·         If you have bad breath, drink at least five glasses of water in the morning.

·         Have a mixture of lemon juice and honey when you are suffering from cold

·         Chew some cumin and sugar for relief from stomach pain.

 

For mental peace we require knowledge, money and emotional sanctuary

When she comes into our lives, there is food and clothing and shelter. We can survive and hope to thrive. More Lakshmi means abundance: there is money in the bank, investments, property, the future is financially secure. More Lakshmi means health and time to do things that we love doing. There is prosperity with pleasure.

The wise say that if you want Lakshmi to come into your life, you must never chase her. She must chase you. Otherwise she will come into your life with her twin-sister, Alakshmi, goddess of quarrels. A house filled with wealth as well as strife is a house inhabited by both Lakshmi and Alakshmi.

To make oneself worthy of Lakshmi, to ensure that she comes without Alakshmi in tow, one has to chase Saraswati, goddess of knowledge, who is dressed in white and bears books in her hands. Lakshmi is a whimsical goddess, who may move in your direction at one point, even without effort, and then move away from you at another. But Saraswati is a dependable goddess, very difficult to acquire, but once she comes by our side, she stays with us.

The more Saraswati we have, the more we know what people want, how to get things done, how to solve problems, how to take the right decisions. Saraswati enlightens us, helps us make sense of the world. Saraswati makes us sensitive to all things around us. One who has Saraswati in their lives knows how much they don’t know; hence they are humble and generous. There is no anxiety about the movement of Lakshmi. And there is no fear of Alakshmi.

They say that Lakshmi and Saraswati rarely stay in the same house. When one has too much Saraswati, one holds Lakshmi in disdain. If one has too much Lakshmi, one holds Saraswati in disdain. But Lakshmi without Saraswati, invites Alakshmi. And that is not a good thing. And Saraswati without Lakshmi invites Daridra, the goddess of poverty, which is also not a good thing.

But neither financial security nor knowledge guarantee emotional security. One can have all the money in the world but it does not guarantee a successful, fruitful relationship. One can possess all the knowledge of the world, but if relations are strained with parents and children and siblings, one cannot be happy. And so we seek Shakti, the goddess of power. When we say we want fruitful relationships, we are actually saying we seek relationships that empower us, make us feel secure and safe and significant, as one does when one carries weapons. We want to feel invulnerable like a citadel or ‘durg’ from where comes the name Durga. Durga is sanctuary, emotional sanctuary, a place where we feel secure and wanted. As Durga, Shakti rides the tiger,fearless and holds weapons in her hands, protecting us, unafraid to go into battle for us. We want her in our life.

And to get Durga into our life, we have to give Durga. To feel secure and included, we have to give others feelings of security and inclusion. This will never happen if we do not have sensitivity, if we differentiate between ‘mine’ and ‘not mine’. To break the divide between ‘mine’ and ‘not mine’ we need Saraswati once more.

Thus happiness requires all three goddesses: L (Lakshmi), Saraswati (S) and Durga (D). This is spiritual LSD that every human being craves.

Mahtma Gandhis thought for the day.

Michael Faraday
Portrait of Michael Faraday by Thomas Phillips (1841-1842)[1]
Born	22 September 1791(1791-09-22) Newington Butts, Surrey, England
Died	25 August 1867 (aged 75)(1867-08-25) Hampton Court, Surrey, England
Residence	England
Nationality	British
Fields	Physics and chemistry
Institutions	Royal Institution
Known for	Faraday's law of induction Electrochemistry Faraday effect Faraday cage Faraday constant Faraday cup Faraday's laws of electrolysis Faraday paradox Faraday rotator Faraday-efficiency effect Faraday wave Faraday wheel Lines of force
Influences	Humphry Davy William Thomas Brande
Notable awards	Royal Medal (1835 & 1846) Copley Medal (1832 & 1838) Rumford Medal (1846)
Signature

Michael Faraday, FRS (22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English chemist and physicist (or natural philosopher, in the terminology of the time) who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry.
Faraday studied the magnetic field around a conductor carrying a DC electric current. While conducting these studies, Faraday established the basis for the electromagnetic field concept in physics, subsequently enlarged upon by James Maxwell. He similarly discovered electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism, and laws of electrolysis. He established that magnetism could affect rays of light and that there was an underlying relationship between the two phenomena.^[2][3] His inventions of electromagnetic rotary devices formed the foundation of electric motor technology, and it was largely due to his efforts that electricity became viable for use in technology.
As a chemist, Michael Faraday discovered benzene, investigated the clathrate hydrate of chlorine, invented an early form of the Bunsen burner and the system of oxidation numbers, and popularised terminology such as anode, cathode, electrode, and ion.
Although Faraday received little formal education and knew little of higher mathematics, such as calculus, he was one of the most influential scientists in history. Historians^[4] of science refer to him as the best experimentalist in the history of science.^[5] The SI unit of capacitance, the farad, is named after him, as is the Faraday constant, the charge on a mole of electrons (about 96,485 coulombs). Faraday's law of inductionelectromotive force. states that magnetic flux changing in time creates a proportional
Faraday was the first and foremost Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, a position to which he was appointed for life.
Albert Einstein kept a photograph of Faraday on his study wall alongside pictures of Isaac Newton and James Clerk Maxwell.^[6]
Faraday was highly religious; he was a member of the Sandemanian Church, a Christian sect founded in 1730 that demanded total faith and commitment. Biographers have noted that "a strong sense of the unity of God and nature pervaded Faraday's life and work."^[7]

History of Sound

History of Sound 1

1820 to 1925

1820 Barrel organs bring mechanical music to the streets for the first time.

1871 Albert Hall opens

1875 -1876 Telephone

1877 Thomas Alva Edison, working in his lab, succeeds in recovering Mary's Little Lamb from a strip of tinfoil wrapped around a spinning cylinder. He demonstrates his invention in the offices of Scientific American, and the phonograph is born.

1878 The first music is put on record: cornetist Jules Levy plays "Yankee Doodle." Inspired by a visit to Edison's laboratories in Menlo Park, New Jersey, a prominent American mechanical engineer named Oberlin Smith conceived the idea of recording the electrical signals produced by the telephone onto a steel wire. He files a patent caveat but not a formal patent.  

1881 Clement Ader, using carbon microphones and armature headphones, accidentally produces a stereo effect when listeners outside the hall monitor adjacent telephone lines linked to stage mikes at the Paris Opera.

1887 Player pianos manufactured by Emil Welte. Straus, Mahler, Greig and many others record piano rolls.  

1887 The flat disc is designed by Berliner.  Emile Berliner is granted a patent on a flat-disc gramophone, making the production of multiple copies practical.

1888 Smith, deciding that he will not pursue his idea, "donates" it to the public by publishing his ideas about magnetic recording in the journal Electrical World

1888 Edison introduces an electric motor-driven phonograph.

1895 Marconi achieves wireless radio transmission from Italy to America. 

1898 Telegraphone, recording magnetically on steel wire, patented in Denmark by Valdemar Poulsen.