So, he could never have seen any of Grampy’s animated lightbulb moments. Paramount Pictures, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commonsīut wait! Didn’t Edison disavow brain-born ideas as responsible for his inventions? And didn’t he emphasize perspiration over inspiration in the creative process?Įdison died in 1931. Placing this professorial cap on Grampy’s head clearly signaled that deep thinking-the very business of the brain-was on tap. Second, the bulb didn’t float mysteriously overhead rather, it was screwed into an iconic article of academic attire, the mortarboard. First, the lighting of the bulb may represent a “bright idea” that “shines light” on a challenging problem, thereby “energizing” its practical solution. We can surmise that they might have represented a meeting of two memes. With plucky resolve, he then hunkered down to work, dutifully engaging the trial-and-error process of entertaining one possibility after another, all the while stroking his beard and muttering, “Let me think.” When he finally hit upon the solution, the bulb lit up and Grampy gleefully exclaimed, “Hooray, I’ve got it!”ĭespite this vivid evidence, the full story behind the animation of Grampy’s lightbulb moments has yet to be told. When confronted with such challenges, Grampy characteristically reached into his pocket, brought out and then donned his proverbial “thinking cap”-a mortarboard with an unlit bulb mounted on top. The industrious one coaxes it from the environment.” There’s no such thing as an idea being brain-born everything comes from the outside. My so-called inventions already existed in the environment-I took them out. He himself famously declared, “Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration.” Indeed, taking direct aim at the very essence of the lightbulb moment, Edison offered a bluntly unpretentious self-appraisal of his numerous celebrated innovations, including the lightbulb: “I never had an idea in my life. So, no, Edison shouldn’t be admired for his creativity-but for his industry. It took hundreds of attempts before Edison found the specific bamboo filament that was to make his version of the lightbulb a marketable success. More problematically, these innovative advances by no means arrived in lightning strokes of genius. However, this account isn’t true.įor starters, Edison didn’t invent the lightbulb, although he did discover how to decrease its cost of production and increase its operational longevity. Thomas Edison is commonly credited with inventing the lightbulb perhaps he claimed to have had an epiphany in its creation. So, how did the ubiquitous visual meme of the lightbulb moment begin? Let’s see.īy now, it’s commonplace to memorialize someone’s sudden and great idea with an illustration of a lighted bulb above their head. Remember that “Eureka!” moment when Thomas Edison instantly and brilliantly invented the lightbulb-a prominent symbol of industry and innovation? Forget it! That simply never happened. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science.
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