Two light bulbs: Joseph Swan’s 1878 version (left) and Thomas Edison of 1879.
October 21, 1879: Thomas Edison successfully tested for the first time a carbon-filament incandescent light bulb.
A citation that avoids the sticky problem of deciding who to credit for inventing the light bulb, who may have been the fellow who successfully sued him, or another whose patent authorities ruled Edison took ideas from.
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian for the story.]
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And those who could generate their own publicity.
The airplane is one of those devices, as was radio. Marconi may have the initial credit, for the radio but Tesla did it first, sued and won. Too bad his triumph was after his death. Popular history still credits Marconi.