Electric Light Quotes (3 quotes)
In 1891, during the Presidency of William Henry Harrison [Benjamin Harrison], electric lights were first installed in the White House, the residence of the leaders of our country. At that time, commercial electricity was not economically feasible, but President Harrison wanted to affirm his confidence in the technological capability of our country.
Speech, at dedication of solar panels on the White House roof, 'Solar Energy Remarks Announcing Administration Proposals' (20 Jun 1979).
The next difficulty is in the economical production of small lights by electricity. This is what is commonly meant by the phrase, ‘dividing the electric light.’ Up to the present time, and including Mr. Edison’s latest experiments, it appears that this involves an immense loss of efficiency. Next comes the difficulty of distributing on any large scale the immense electric currents which would be needed.
In 'A Scientific View of It: Prof. Henry Morton Not Sanguine About Edison’s Success', New York Times (28 Dec 1879), 1.
This morning’s messages announce the death oF Thomas Alva Edison, the great American inventor who for two generations has been an almost legendary figure. … He seemed to belong to a past which was already becoming remote, a past, without the incandescent electric light, and without the phonograph, and without other gifts with which his ingenuity and persistence endowed the world. … In the philosophical, theoretical sense he [Thomas Edison] was not a scientific man. To the understanding of electricity, with the use of which most of his inventions are concerned, he contributed little or nothing. Yet no man discovered more, or more ingenious, ways of using electricity for practical purposes.
In 'Thomas Edison', The Times (19 Oct 1931), 13.
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
(1987) -- 
