jim rozen wrote:
He was the inventor of an amazing thing: the corporate
research laboratory. The principles he discovered are still
in use today.
Jim



This is probably true, though I think Dionysis of Syracuse was an
important precursor.

I would have hated to work for Edison though. The two corporate
research labs I worked for treated their scientists and engineers a lot
better than Edison did. While my contracts required that I license any
patents over to them, my name would go on any patents, so at least I
would have the honor. One also paid a few hundred bucks bonus for
employee patents. Tom did not even acknowledge his helpers. He took
ALL the glory, as well as the money.

This is like the prof whose grad student makes a big discovery, and the
world never hears of the person. There are several grad students and
assistants who should have shared in Nobel prizes.