Misconception or Fact?
Thomas Edison and the Lightbulb
As you begin to read this, I ask you to take a second and tilt your head upwards. Chances are, hanging above you is one of the most important inventions in history. Most still carry the misconception that the lightbulb was invented by Thomas Edison. Well, it was not. This begs the question, if not him, then who? In 1806, decades before Thomas Edison even existed, an Englishman by the name of Humphrey Davy presented his electric lamp to the Royal Society. However, the light in this early contraption burned out far too quickly, and thus the race for an improvement began. In 1841, seven years before the birth of Thomas Edison, British inventor Frederick DeMoleyns encapsulated his light burner in a glass bulb. In fact, by the time the lightbulb reached Edison’s work station, twenty inventors from around the globe already had patents drafted. Even though he may not have invented the lightbulb, Thomas Edison perfected it and made it possible to illuminate large areas. What was the cause for so many working on this particular issue? The straightforward answer is that society wanted to see in the dark. Edison had a vision of lighting up entire neighbourhoods, and with rigorous work and many trials, he and his team were able to achieve having a bulb light for 600 hours. This let Edison provide electric light to New York City through his company Edison General Electric. Therefore, he may have not invented the light bulb, but Edison clearly had a large part to play. This still begs the question as to why it is attributed to him? For that, we must look at Thomas Edison the person. He knew the role that the media plays in society and understood how to sway them. In addition, Edison was a very accessible person, and this gave him a positive portrayal, which was good for investors. His detractors may say that the only thing Thomas Edison invented was his fame, however he perfected a relatively new technology and had the foresight to think on a grander scale in aiming to light the outside world. He may not be the first, but it seems fitting to have such a figure synonymous with the symbol (the lightbulb) that in itself represents ideas. This is quite ironic because Edison once said, “I never had an idea in my life, my so-called ideas already existed in the environment — I took them out.”
Christopher Columbus Discovered the Americas
As the three voyager ships sailed through clear blue waters, hope sparked in the hearts of the crew on board. Finally, after a long and treacherous journey, the Santa Maria, Pinta and Nina where in sight of land. Navigating these voyagers was none other than Christopher Columbus. Christopher Columbus has always been credited for discovering the “New World”, while all those before him have often been forgotten. Since the Native Americans are always conveniently ignored for preceding Columbus some 20,000 years or so, he was not even the first crewmember from the three voyagers to spot this “new” land. That was Rodrigo Bernajo, and naturally Christopher Columbus credited himself with this find. Even if you observe the discoveries of the Americas from a Eurocentric viewpoint, Viking explorer Leif Ericson landed in present day Newfoundland, Canada some 500 years previous. Leif Erikson’s discovery was shrouded in secrecy and complications with the natives occured, therefore permanent settlements where never established. In contrast, Christopher Columbus’s landing kicked off centuries of explorations and exploitations of the Americas. He was not the first, but his voyage most definitely led to previously uncharted waters that has shaped the modern world.
The Forbidden Fruit was an Apple
For those who believe, the reason we are not all strolling around in an infinite paradise is due to two individuals deciding to take a bite from one measly fruit, an apple. Even though Sunday schools have been preaching the story for years, there is no writing specifying that an apple was ever used in convincing Adam and Eve to risk it all. As it states in the book of Genesis, Eve gazed upon the fruit tree and it was a delight to her eyes. God forbid Adam and Eve to eat from the tree, however a serpent in the garden convinced Eve to take a bite from the forbidden fruit and share it with Adam. As for the type of fruit that is described, the scriptures only tell “the fruit of the tree”. The type of tree is unknown, and the actual fruit is never specified. The Hebrew word used in the verse is “peri”, a generic term for fruit in both biblical and modern Hebrew. The modern Hebrew word for apple is “tapauch”, and this does not appear anywhere in the book of Genesis, or in any of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. The path from fruit to apple may have began in A.D. 380, when the Hebrew bible was first being translated to Latin. The Hebrew word “peri” was translated to Latin as “malum”, which in English translates to apple. Malum stood as a generic term for fruit that contains a core of seeds in the middle with flesh all around it. In fact, right up until the 17th century even the word apple was used to describe certain fruits in a generic sense. The word “malum” can also mean evil which likely helped in its choosing. A word that means evil and fruit goes hand in hand to what is essentially humankind’s first big mistake. An apple began to appear in artistic renderings of the scriptures and that helped in solidifying it as the forbidden fruit. In art, unlike in writing, an artist must portray an image and a fruit cannot simply be generic. In modern culture villains eating an apple is a trope that has been used in many genres and the more it is used, the easier it has become to denote an apple with an ominous daunting scenario. This is not to say that scholars have not tried to decipher what the forbidden fruit actually is. One theory is that it may have been a fig, because according to the Hebrew bible, once Adam and Eve became conscious of their nudity, they used fig leaves to cover themselves. It will be quite hard for society to imagine a fig as a symbolization of something sinister, thus apples will continue to loom forebodingly.
