Inside the Invention Factory with Kathleen Carlucci

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Welcome to AMSEcast, coming to you from Oak Ridge, Tennessee,

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a global leader in science, technology, and innovation.

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My name is Alan Lowe, director of the American Museum

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of Science and Energy, and the K-25 History Center.

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Each episode of AMSEcast presents world-renowned authors,

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scientists, historians, policymakers, and everyone in between,

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sharing their insights on a variety of fascinating topics.

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Welcome to AMSEcast.

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With support from the Institute for Museum and Library Services,

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we’re continuing our series on 250 years of American innovation

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in preparation for our nation’s semiquincentennial in 2026.

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To help us do that, our guest today is Kathleen Carlucci,

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the director of the Thomas Edison Center at Menlo Park.

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With degrees in history and secondary education, Kathleen brings

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to her role great experiences in management and customer service.

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I knew when we started this series that one person

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we absolutely had to discuss was Thomas Edison.

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So Kathleen, we thank you so very much for joining us from Menlo Park.

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Oh, it’s my pleasure.

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Happy to be here.

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I’ve read about Edison before, but every time I do, I’m just amazed.

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He acquired an astounding—and you tell me

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if I’m right or wrong [laugh] —1093 patents.

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What was his process for coming up with these

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ideas and then actually bringing them to fruition?

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I’d be happy to discuss that, and as a matter

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of fact, 1093 patents, that’s in the US alone.

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He also has 1250 patents in 34 countries—

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Oh, my gosh.

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Okay [laugh]

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.
—just to gild the lily somewhat.

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So Edison, he saw needs for things.

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He would read something, and then he would

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try to make, like, a fix, if you will.

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I mean, that’s really where good invention becomes successful.

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And of course, Menlo Park through his trial and errors, this

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is where he’ll develop the team concept approach to invention.

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And so, this is the birthplace of research and

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development, which is noted throughout the world.

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Last year alone, we had visitors from 38 different countries,

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and I never have to explain who Thomas Edison is, okay?

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So, he created that approach here at Menlo Park.

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And when he was here in the mid to late-1870s into the early-1880s

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this was the largest complex in the world doing what he was doing.

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So, some people say that the concept we know today

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called ‘big science’ really began there at Menlo Park.

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Absolutely.

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So, let’s step back to the young Edison.

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At an early age, from what I understand, he lost much of his hearing.

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So, how did he deal with that challenge as

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he made his way through this amazing career?

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We often talk about that to our guests here at the museum.

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So, you know what’s really ironic?

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I remember reading that Edison said his loss of hearing

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was a gift because it enabled him to concentrate.

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One example is, when he was a young man and he was a telegraph operator.

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They would be in these shops with maybe 10, 20, 30, telegraphers,

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and the machines would be clicking, and these were all

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audible at that time; they didn’t have printed out messages.

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But he could hear the click of the telegraph well, the Morse code coming across,

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whereas the conversations going on between his workmates was more subdued.

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And some of his workers later on said they thought

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his hearing loss, he pulled it out when he needed to.

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But his hearing loss would unfortunately get worse as he gets older.

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So, you talked about the telegraph.

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I know he did early work on the telegraph and the telephone.

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So, what improvements did he make to those devices?

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At the time Edison was born, the telegraph was very new.

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Maybe it had been out ten years and it was the first

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long-distance communication system in the world.

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And at that time, that was the height of technology.

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And so Edison, he’s enthralled with it.

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He’ll actually read a book, and he and his neighbor will build

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their own telegraph system, just between their two homes.

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They would memorize the Morse code.

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You know, he was not only, like, reading about

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it, but he was creating, at a very young age.

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But a very big circumstance and his desire to

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learn more about it, he becomes a telegrapher.

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And part of your job as a telegrapher was you had to be able to, basically, take

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the machine apart, put it back together in your sleep or with your eyes closed.

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And so, he develops this really amazing understanding

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of the mechanicals of it and what it takes to make it.

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Later on, he’ll also do some improvements.

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He, along with other people, will create what they call a duplex telegraph.

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Later on, he’ll be working for a division of Western Union—which he had

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worked for at that time—that was the largest employer in the world, and he

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got a job working for a division of theirs called the Gold and Stock Company,

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and he’ll create a better working telegraph after he leaves their employ.

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He creates what’s known as the quadruplex, and he’ll gain a

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lot of money and notoriety in those circles for that item.

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Now, regarding the telephone itself, it would

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be Edison moves into Menlo Park in 1876.

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That’s the year Alexander Graham Bell will get the patent on the telephone.

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Now, many people were working on the telephone, you know,

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worldwide, many people, where they knew it was coming.

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Edison, too, was working on it.

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And it really didn’t work properly, even though Bell

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does get the patent for it, it was kind of like, if you

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think of those old commercials, “Can you hear me now?”

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And they would have to, at that time, say no because the

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transmission—it’s like that old game, you know, if you made a

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telephone when you were a kid, you could hear it if you were close

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together; when you got further apart, you really couldn’t hear it.

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And so, Edison will start working on an improvement on that, and through

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that, ironically, through his working on making the carbon button

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transmitter, which, wait a minute, hold on your hat, they were in every

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phone—Edison’s transmitter—until the 1980s when phones became digital.

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He conceived of the idea of a machine he called the phonograph, and that

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would lead him to worldwide recognition, and he would be known as, from

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then on, the Wizard of Menlo Park, which is where I’m talking to you from.

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This just amazing.

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I use that word a lot, but it’s truly a phenomenal story.

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When he sets up Menlo Park, how is that lab organized?

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How does he staff it?

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Well, you know, he’s actually living and working in Newark,

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New Jersey, which is the biggest city in New Jersey, and

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he doesn’t own the property, the building where he’s at.

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And it’s a congested city.

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I mean, it’s big, right?

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It’s still a very big city.

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And so, he’s looking to move out more into the country.

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And he finds a failed housing development called Menlo Park, which

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was located right on what was then the Pennsylvania Railroad.

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It’s still our Northeast Corridor today; it’s just three

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blocks down the street from where I’m sitting right now.

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You know, he starts developing new ideas, and he brings some of the men who

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are working with him from his Newark shop—you know, maybe four or five, maybe

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not even that many at that time—he moves into his 100-foot long, 25-foot

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wide, two-story laboratory he had his father oversee the construction of.

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While that was being constructed, he actually took a boat over to

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England, was conducting research with the transatlantic cable of the

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telegraph, which still, that whole concept of that blows my mind, that

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they have these giant cables running from North America to Europe.

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It’s just incredible for the that period of time.

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And when he comes back, he’s working on new inventions.

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He sees some amazing electrical test instruments there.

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It’s really like a game changer, I think,

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and so he will bring men in as he needs them.

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And people are hearing about this man.

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Like, he’s so famous.

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He’s world famous after he invents the phonograph, and people will

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come and offer to work for him, I’ve heard for free, some of them.

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I tell our students that come visiting today that’s called an internship.

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And you know, but he did pay them whatever the going wage was.

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And so, he was really attracting some amazing people.

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He only hired the best, really.

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So, he would hire physicists, machinists, glass

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blowers, mechanics, carpenters, I mean blacksmiths.

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I mean, just all these people, and they would all

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bring their skills together, and they would work.

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That’s the team concept.

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That was the development of the team concept.

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Inventing is a race, right?

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There are a lot of things people knew were coming.

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They knew the electric light was eventually coming, they knew

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the telephone was coming, and so people wanted to be first.

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And, you know, back in those days, most of the research was

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done in academic institutions, universities all over the world.

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They were doing research for research’s sake.

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Edison took that concept and he blew it up.

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And instead of being like that lone inventor working in his shop, in his attic,

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in his basement, and then having to go to a glass blower and having, oh, I need

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a piece of glass six inches long by, you know, this diameter, wait in the queue

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for his time to come up for it to be produced, or going to a machinist and

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say, “Can you make this for me?” He decided, let me bring all of them together.

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Now, Edison will nickname the laboratory here at Menlo Park his

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invention factory, and they will ultimately create 400 patented

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inventions in less than seven years, still his most prolific period.

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He later moved to West Orange, New Jersey.

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Why did he make that move, and what went on then at Menlo Park?

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Edison was working at Menlo Park.

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He does this amazing demonstration.

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He calls everyone, come and see what I’ve created, the perfected

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incandescent light—of course, he never invented the light.

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They had lights; they had arc lights out—but he’ll perfect incandescent light.

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And he invites the world to come here for

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a demonstration on New Year’s Eve, 1879.

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And once, he wows the world, like, I like to say, he lit their imagination with

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the possibilities, he had gotten permission from the alderman of New York City,

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from Manhattan to put down, like, a one-mile square demonstration, if you will.

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And he does that.

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By the way, this is an interesting fact.

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They put all of their electric wires underground.

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I like to say, Edison had a healthy fear of electricity because it is

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dangerous, and it was really a newer medium to be working with, right?

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And unfortunately, people do get hurt working with it even

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today, and so he wanted to take that extra precaution.

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While in New York, like, basically with his workmen digging up a place that

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they’ll put down his wire, His young wife, Mary, takes ill and passes away.

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But he’s right on the cusp of the biggest project of his life,

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right, creating the electrical industry, designing the grid.

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He has three motherless children now that were all at Menlo Park with her.

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He brings them to New York City, which he had been traveling back

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and forth on the train from, and he—well, two years later—remarried.

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But by now, he’s working with JP Morgan, Vanderbilt, you know, a lot

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of really rich industrialists and people who are interested in the

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future, and are also interested in business, and they create—JP Morgan

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and Edison are founders of what we know today as General Electric.

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It once was known as the Edison General Electric Company.

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Edison remarries two years after his wife’s death, and now he’s

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a rich man, and he buys her a beautiful estate in the first gated

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community in America called Llewellyn Park, which is, at that

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time, Orange, New Jersey, and it’s a beautiful home, Glenmont.

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It still belongs to the—you know, it’s a national park today.

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And maybe a year to 18 months later, he’ll build a site up there,

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a research site up there, but it’s actually way bigger because

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he’s got more money, more clout, and that’s why he moves up there.

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So, in terms of the light bulb itself, certainly he creates

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essentially the electric grid, as you’re talking about, and gets the

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ability for that to spread around the country and around the world.

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What was it specifically about the bulb that he created

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that has latched on to saying, Edison is the creator of

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the incandescent bulb, or among those that created it?

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What did he do special with the bulb?

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Oh, sure.

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Because what’s different from the arc lights that

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were at that time, they were like a public type thing.

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They were down, like, the Champs-Élysées in Paris, they may

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have had them on the Strand in London, they were outside lights.

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They were blinding, right?

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And then you had to have these, you know, units close by to power them.

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And they were very loud and dangerous.

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Well, they were so loud even after Edison, those units—that’s

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why he’ll, like, try to put them underground, you know?

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More, in a basement type situation.

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But what Edison wants to create is electric light for the masses.

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And so, he actually famously says, “I’m going to make electric light

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so affordable that only the rich can afford candles.” I mean, we try

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to tell people that, you know, I have a lot of school groups that come

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here, and a lot of families, you know, people from all over the world,

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and we tell them, like, you had to actually measure out, you bought so

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many candles for the week—you know, unless you had gas, which only, of

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course, the rich had, technically—and then you had to limit your time.

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Like, you know, people woke up with the sun and they went to bed when the

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sun went down because lighting was expensive, and it just burned away.

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And so, they were looking for other uses.

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And of course, the electric light will be way less dangerous

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than the gas light, and of course, the candles that people

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in lower economic circumstances at that time could afford.

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So, the cavalcade of accomplishments continues.

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He had a role in inventing and popularizing motion picture technology.

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What was that role?

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So, Edison actually had an assistant working with him,

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William Dixon, and he was a photographer by trade.

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Edison, of course, all his work was, you know, photographed and publicized

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because he wanted to inspire investors, you know, to come join him.

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But William Dixon, you know, people had been

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working on the idea of motion pictures, if you will.

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You know, you have the Lumière brothers over in France.

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There were a lot of different groups.

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But Edison always just takes things a notch up, or five notches up.

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He’ll be working with George Eastman from the Kodak Company.

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They create the notch system in the film.

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The First Motion Picture studio—the first building ever built as

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a motion picture studio, was in what’s now known as West Orange.

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They have, actually, the beautiful, it’s probably about a

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60-year-old replica, but it looks just like the original.

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I mean, just, like, the circumstances, like, listen to this:

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so they built it on a train trestle so they could turn it.

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They opened the roof manually with a rope so they could get the best light.

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So, they would have to be able to turn this little building.

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They called it the Black Mariah because it looked like a paddy wagon.

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That’s what they used to call paddy wagons at that time.

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And just, you know, they would film things that no one had

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ever seen before, like Annie Oakley, the sharpshooter, you

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know, or boxing, you know, which, at that time, was illegal.

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Little tricks—actually, the first cat videos were done there.

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Like, so, way ahead of, you know, YouTube, or TikTok.

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Of course.

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I’m surprised it wasn’t the first video [laugh]

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.
It was close [laugh]

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00:16:03,250 --> 00:16:03,770
.
It was close.

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It was close.

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00:16:04,860 --> 00:16:06,510
So, one last thing.

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He worked in the world of batteries.

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What did he do with batteries?

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When I first started here a number of years ago, I could say

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at that time that there were more electric cars then than now.

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Well, of course, that has passed, but he was actually really

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doing a lot of research—as others were—on electrifying cars.

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This all stems back from the time when he

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creates these amazing electrical grid systems.

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And then people who own big boats, people who had trains, they

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want electric light, so how are you going to transfer that to that?

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00:16:41,080 --> 00:16:44,409
Because they’re not stagnant buildings, you know, or structures, so

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00:16:44,410 --> 00:16:48,409
you need to have something moving, and so all of that ties in together.

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00:16:48,459 --> 00:16:51,580
Edison actually will make his fortune in batteries.

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00:16:51,790 --> 00:16:56,110
They used to have a battery plant up in Orange, and I believe now part of that

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is [unintelligible] . I mean, he probably was the town of Orange at one time.

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Now, of course, that section is called West Orange.

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And he employed a lot of people.

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Listen, this is one thing I like to say about Thomas Edison.

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He doesn’t invent things; he invents systems.

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He will invent the electrical system.

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He will then invent the recording system, invent the motion picture system.

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He doesn’t just do things and then let them sit there, right?

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00:17:23,099 --> 00:17:25,660
He’s actually changing the way they are.

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You know, you asked me a question before about lighting.

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People had been working on electric lighting for decades.

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The one thing that really, just, always I

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00:17:34,780 --> 00:17:38,050
admire is it didn’t work right away for Edison.

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00:17:38,130 --> 00:17:40,689
And that’s true of a lot of different things he worked on.

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But he doesn’t give up.

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He tries to figure out what’s the problem.

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Now, the problem with the lighting was that the filament was

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getting so hot that it was burning up or it was exploding.

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And he’s like, staring at this, what they called lamps; they

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00:17:57,300 --> 00:18:00,290
didn’t call them light bulbs at that time, and they say he

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00:18:00,290 --> 00:18:03,310
was rubbing a piece of lamp black, which is basically carbon,

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00:18:03,310 --> 00:18:06,230
between his fingers, trying to figure out the problem.

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And then it’s kind of like that eureka moment.

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Oxygen.

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There’s too much oxygen inside.

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00:18:12,980 --> 00:18:17,079
That’s why, when all these people say, “But I was working on the electric light.

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It should be my invention,” if you took him to court, the judge would always

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00:18:21,460 --> 00:18:26,729
say, “But did you have the vacuum pump?” Not just a vacuum pump, but a better

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00:18:26,730 --> 00:18:31,629
vacuum pump that he’ll help create here at Menlo Park. All that early work

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00:18:31,630 --> 00:18:35,570
was done here at Menlo Park. And that’s really what you have to look at.

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00:18:35,590 --> 00:18:37,880
He just is always trying to improve.

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Even his phonograph.

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Sometimes his workers would say, like, the managers of the

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00:18:42,410 --> 00:18:45,259
phonograph division would say, “It’s good enough.” I always

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00:18:45,260 --> 00:18:49,180
like to say, he probably said, “But that’s my name on that

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00:18:49,180 --> 00:18:52,610
machine.” Like, he was always trying to make things work better.

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00:18:52,980 --> 00:18:57,690
And, you know, in our museum, we play phonographs that are 130 years old,

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00:18:58,150 --> 00:19:02,570
so it certainly is a testament to how long Edison’s products did last.

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00:19:03,020 --> 00:19:05,409
Yeah, you talked about, he would have points along the

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00:19:05,410 --> 00:19:08,369
way where he was not making progress than he would.

330
00:19:08,940 --> 00:19:11,500
Were there any things that you know of where he started something and was

331
00:19:11,500 --> 00:19:15,020
not able to get to where he wanted to get with an invention or a system?

332
00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:17,889
Well, so what happened with the phonograph was, he

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00:19:17,890 --> 00:19:23,473
invents that and he demonstrates it in 1877, but then less

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00:19:23,473 --> 00:19:25,920
than two years later, he’ll perfect incandescent light.

335
00:19:25,969 --> 00:19:30,139
He thinks the phonograph is going to be a good teaching tool, or

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his initial idea was it was going to record the telephone calls.

337
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Can you imagine?

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00:19:35,940 --> 00:19:38,060
Like, I grew up we didn’t have an answering

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00:19:38,060 --> 00:19:40,760
machine, but it’s really, like, incredible.

340
00:19:40,969 --> 00:19:45,120
You know, how far forward he could think with different inventions.

341
00:19:45,589 --> 00:19:48,210
So, he basically puts it on the shelf for ten

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00:19:48,220 --> 00:19:51,330
years while he creates Con Ed, basically, right?

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00:19:51,700 --> 00:19:56,330
And then he pulls it back down, and he creates an industry out of it.

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00:19:56,340 --> 00:19:58,600
So, that was true of many things.

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00:19:58,620 --> 00:20:03,899
See, one of the things we’ve learned, Edison wrote down everything in notebooks.

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He learned this early from a patent attorney to do that.

347
00:20:07,460 --> 00:20:09,199
Like, somebody who was a mentor to him when

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00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:12,040
he was a—even before he moved to Menlo Park.

349
00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:16,959
What a, just, amazing amount of beautiful

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00:20:16,980 --> 00:20:19,039
inspiration reading through these books.

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So, we have learned he was working on things we weren’t even sure of.

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00:20:23,699 --> 00:20:26,760
Not only did Edison have all these patents, he actually

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00:20:26,770 --> 00:20:29,630
has the basis for the first patent electronics.

354
00:20:30,070 --> 00:20:31,879
I mean, talk about mind-blowing.

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00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:35,189
Like, it actually sells patents to Marconi.

356
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I mean, it’s really an incredible life.

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It truly is.

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And if you look at the next 250 years, I know that’s a little bit of time, but

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00:20:44,730 --> 00:20:48,909
as we come on the semiquincentennial, what lessons do you talk about there at

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00:20:48,910 --> 00:20:53,320
Menlo Park that come from Edison that future innovators should pay heed to?

361
00:20:53,889 --> 00:20:56,239
I really think that not being discouraged.

362
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I think that is the greatest, greatest gift.

363
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Edison was not discouraged.

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00:21:00,580 --> 00:21:03,620
And he brought all these men in, and of course, they were an integral

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00:21:03,890 --> 00:21:08,550
part of the work he was doing here, but the ideas did come from him.

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00:21:08,550 --> 00:21:11,990
And he also had many inventions going at the same time.

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00:21:12,099 --> 00:21:17,209
He wasn’t just working on A or B or C. He had many different things.

368
00:21:17,420 --> 00:21:19,850
I remember reading, and I wish I could tell you what the patent

369
00:21:19,860 --> 00:21:23,000
was, but he was working on that transatlantic cable I mentioned

370
00:21:23,010 --> 00:21:26,360
earlier, and it didn’t—it was a failure, their experiment.

371
00:21:26,380 --> 00:21:28,940
They were working on the printing telegraph.

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My understanding is, like, one word was sent over and it, like,

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was ten foot of paper, so that wasn’t going to be practical.

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00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:39,010
And so—because there was a resistance problem.

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Later on, he’ll take that resistance problem and

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00:21:42,420 --> 00:21:44,949
use it to a positive effect in another invention.

377
00:21:45,550 --> 00:21:47,000
Like, it’s just incredible.

378
00:21:47,010 --> 00:21:49,350
It’s not just that he had a good memory, which,

379
00:21:49,360 --> 00:21:52,019
of course he did, but he really listened.

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00:21:52,129 --> 00:21:55,629
And one of my former docents, a volunteer here at the

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00:21:55,660 --> 00:21:58,930
museum, he used to say—and he was an engineer—he liked to

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00:21:58,930 --> 00:22:03,160
say that Edison found simple solutions for complex problems.

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00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:08,060
And that seems to be, like, really the key for so much that he does here.

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But not getting discouraged.

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00:22:10,420 --> 00:22:13,290
We have a lot of children who visit us, and if they’ve read,

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00:22:13,290 --> 00:22:16,530
you know, that iconic book, The Wizard of Menlo Park—I have

387
00:22:16,530 --> 00:22:20,070
so many adults that tell me, “Oh, that was the first book.

388
00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:23,730
I loved Edison ever since I read that.” And you know why?

389
00:22:24,340 --> 00:22:29,750
Because they feel like they could be Edison with hard work, not giving up.

390
00:22:30,270 --> 00:22:33,520
Like, when they were children, they thought, “You know what? If I work hard and

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00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:38,070
I keep perseverance, maybe I can make a difference in the world.” And I think we

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can all agree, Thomas Edison certainly [laugh] made a difference in the world.

393
00:22:41,250 --> 00:22:41,939
Oh, did he.

394
00:22:41,980 --> 00:22:42,266
Did he.

395
00:22:42,266 --> 00:22:43,480
And that’s a great lesson.

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00:22:43,690 --> 00:22:47,370
So, when visitors, those kids, or when us adults come to the

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00:22:47,379 --> 00:22:50,629
Thomas Edison Center at Menlo Park, what do you get to see?

398
00:22:50,630 --> 00:22:51,790
What does the tour include?

399
00:22:52,110 --> 00:22:54,010
So, we give a fully escorted tour.

400
00:22:54,050 --> 00:22:55,810
It’s not a large museum, although we are

401
00:22:55,810 --> 00:22:58,850
working on fundraising for a new, larger museum.

402
00:22:59,219 --> 00:23:03,410
We are a 36-acre State Park, New Jersey State Park.

403
00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:07,850
The town of Edison, which of course, changed their name to Edison from Raritan

404
00:23:08,370 --> 00:23:12,790
township in 1954, they lease it, and then a non-profit manage the museum.

405
00:23:12,890 --> 00:23:16,029
So, while we do have three storage units filled with

406
00:23:16,030 --> 00:23:19,180
artifacts, we actually have a lot in this space.

407
00:23:19,530 --> 00:23:20,780
But it’s the tour.

408
00:23:21,009 --> 00:23:25,800
It’s the telling the story of young Thomas Edison, Listen, warts and all.

409
00:23:25,800 --> 00:23:30,899
We talk about setting fire to the train and burning down the family barn.

410
00:23:30,910 --> 00:23:34,209
Like, he made mistakes, but he was really encouraged to

411
00:23:34,210 --> 00:23:38,620
pursue—maybe a little more carefully—but to pursue his interests.

412
00:23:38,620 --> 00:23:43,020
So, we have original testing devices, personal

413
00:23:43,020 --> 00:23:47,270
items of Edison’s, amazing photographs and sketches.

414
00:23:47,270 --> 00:23:51,330
Because at that time you didn’t have photographs in newspapers.

415
00:23:51,330 --> 00:23:53,609
They would—a photographer would take pictures, but then they

416
00:23:53,610 --> 00:23:56,800
had to make a wood cut, and we have quite a few of those.

417
00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:01,690
And then when we go in our back room, we have machinery that he used here.

418
00:24:01,940 --> 00:24:03,820
We demonstrate how it was worked.

419
00:24:03,820 --> 00:24:07,860
We have original phonographs, Menlo Park and later

420
00:24:07,860 --> 00:24:11,589
light bulbs, part of his experimental electric train.

421
00:24:11,750 --> 00:24:16,149
You know, it’s just that whole taking people, telling them the story.

422
00:24:16,609 --> 00:24:19,520
And this is the thing I’ve learned working in museums

423
00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:22,760
for these years: you want people to feel emotion.

424
00:24:22,940 --> 00:24:26,650
We have them laughing, we tell them about issues that happen

425
00:24:26,650 --> 00:24:30,299
that could have been dangerous, and then we talk about sad

426
00:24:30,300 --> 00:24:33,189
things, of course, also, like, his wife passing away here.

427
00:24:33,549 --> 00:24:36,220
But we really try to evoke the emotion so they’re

428
00:24:36,470 --> 00:24:39,760
really getting the whole pie, if you will.

429
00:24:40,050 --> 00:24:43,940
And plus, we’re the site of the Edison Memorial Tower, which

430
00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:48,149
is a beautiful art deco structure built by his workers.

431
00:24:48,170 --> 00:24:52,009
They raised the funds during the Great Depression.

432
00:24:52,070 --> 00:24:54,490
It’s a 131-foot tower.

433
00:24:54,530 --> 00:24:58,240
It was actually in Life Magazine in 1938.

434
00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:03,590
And we have a giant almost 14-foot light bulb on top that still lights the way.

435
00:25:03,590 --> 00:25:04,980
It lights every night.

436
00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:09,800
And the tower itself does play—of course—Edison music.

437
00:25:09,900 --> 00:25:11,290
But we really talk about that.

438
00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:13,100
And we do have hands-on for the kids, too.

439
00:25:13,109 --> 00:25:15,450
And believe me, it’s not just the kids that

440
00:25:15,450 --> 00:25:17,780
are under 18; it’s the kids and all of us.

441
00:25:18,050 --> 00:25:21,520
They’re lighting up light bulbs using our little

442
00:25:21,530 --> 00:25:24,969
generators that came out of old-fashioned telephones,

443
00:25:25,139 --> 00:25:29,590
very simple explanations for series and parallel circuits.

444
00:25:29,990 --> 00:25:34,389
We talk about Edison’s delving into iron ore separation.

445
00:25:34,530 --> 00:25:35,900
They get to see that.

446
00:25:35,930 --> 00:25:39,660
And then, of course, they all—ah, it’s always a contest to

447
00:25:39,660 --> 00:25:43,030
see who can have the highest number of being a human battery.

448
00:25:43,130 --> 00:25:46,620
And so, it evokes that emotion in all of us from when we were young.

449
00:25:46,830 --> 00:25:47,849
Well, I can’t wait to visit.

450
00:25:47,849 --> 00:25:50,129
Where can our listeners learn more about the

451
00:25:50,130 --> 00:25:52,669
center and about how they can set up a tour?

452
00:25:52,790 --> 00:25:54,000
Oh, absolutely.

453
00:25:54,020 --> 00:25:57,870
So, we are the Thomas Edison Center at Menlo Park, and our website is

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00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:01,490
menloparkmuseum.org.

455
00:26:01,730 --> 00:26:02,420
Wonderful.

456
00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:04,890
Well, Kathleen, I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed our conversation.

457
00:26:04,890 --> 00:26:06,480
Thank you so much for joining us on AMSEcast.

458
00:26:07,100 --> 00:26:07,715
Oh, my pleasure.

459
00:26:07,980 --> 00:26:09,700
Thank you, and I hope to see you.

460
00:26:09,890 --> 00:26:10,720
Yes, I’ll be there.

461
00:26:15,690 --> 00:26:17,770
Thank you for joining us on this episode of AMSEcast.

462
00:26:18,759 --> 00:26:23,089
For more information on this topic or any others, you can always visit us at

463
00:26:24,270 --> 00:26:29,719
AMSE.org or find, like, and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

464
00:26:30,220 --> 00:26:32,540
I invite you to visit the American Museum of Science

465
00:26:32,540 --> 00:26:35,350
and Energy and the K-25 History Center in person.

466
00:26:35,660 --> 00:26:39,819
You can also shop at our online store and become a member at AMSE.org.

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Thanks to our production team with Matt Mullins, plus our supportive colleagues

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at the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, Office of Environmental

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Management, and Office of Legacy Management, as well as Oak Ridge National

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Laboratory, the Y-12 National Security Complex, NNSA, and the AMSE Foundation.

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And of course, thanks to our wonderful guests

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today, and to all of you for listening.

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I hope you’ll join us for the next episode of AMSEcast.

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If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, I would like to ask that you consider

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becoming a member of the 117 Society, the newest membership opportunity

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00:27:14,950 --> 00:27:18,409
offered by the American Museum of Science and Energy Foundation.

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By joining the 117 Society, you will help us continue

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00:27:22,360 --> 00:27:25,159
this podcast and our other innovative programming.

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You will support the expansion of our vitally important educational

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outreach, including virtual classes, and you will help ensure that both

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the American Museum of Science and Energy and the K-25 History Center can

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continue to provide world-class exhibits to our community and to the world.

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00:27:41,900 --> 00:27:44,760
Benefits of membership includes special access to video

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00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:48,980
and audio content, and 117 Society merchandise, as well

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00:27:48,980 --> 00:27:51,920
as all the benefits of our Atom Splitter Membership Level.

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00:27:52,490 --> 00:27:54,790
To learn more, go to AMSE.org.

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The 117 Society is vital to the future of AMSE and the K-25 History Center.

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I hope you will consider joining, and thank you very much.