This Day in History – January 27

Thomas Edisons patent for the light bulb.

Thomas Edison’s patent for the light bulb.

Welcome back to This Day in History! Today we’re going back to 1880, and to an occasion that I know has affected every one of you readers. On January 27 of the aforementioned year, Thomas Edison’s patent for the light bulb was approved.

Although Thomas Edison is commonly considered to have invented the light bulb, multiple inventors had tried to make an electric light source before he did. Thomas Edison’s was by far the most practical and inexpensively made, however, and the first which the average middle-class family could afford.

Fun Fact You (Probably) Didn’t Know: By the time of his death, Thomas Edison had been granted 1,093 patents.