He did invent the filament for the light bulb...I know that.
Well read the change I have just made and you will see that even Swann wasn't first. I think it is OK to say that he is widely recognised as the inventor of the light bulb (which is true) but wikipedia should show the prior art as well.
By and large this isn't what happened, though. What Edison did was pioneer the concept of a research lab: he got a bunch of bright people together, so they could work together, and made sure their ideas were not (as oft happens) simply dropped. So he doesn't deserve credit for most of the ideas, but he does deserve credit for anyone using them. This shouldn't detract from his reputation, but it should make it different. -- Josh Grosse
Joshua, that's an interesting perspective! I had not thought of this before, but to me it actually enhances Edison's reputation. Because surely the pioneering of a research process is an invention of sorts, far surpassing the importance of the particular inventions that came out of the process. Most people view Henry Ford's greatest contribution as the pioneering of the commercial assembly line for mass production, as opposed to anything in particular having to do with automobiles. -- Jimbo Wales
For all of Edison's strengths, perhaps his greatest one was for the business of inventing. However, he was a hard-nosed businessman who was more inclined to roll over anything in his way than to compete with it. In the recent trend toward revisionist history, there is probably not a truly balanced perspective on this man: it's either idol worship or "he's a cad." -- Jonathan Walker