Below is the full Quizmo quiz devoted to the theme "Thomas Edison": each question, its four options, the correct answer highlighted and, where available, its source. A chance to brush up on your general knowledge and then test what you know.
▶ Play today's quizWhat invention let Thomas Edison record and replay sound for the first time?
Source: The 1877 phonograph stunned crowds who thought a hidden person was speaking inside the machine.
Edison is most famous for making a practical version of which household device?
Source: Edison didn't invent the bulb, but he made the first one that glowed for hours instead of seconds.
Edison's New Jersey lab earned him the nickname 'The Wizard of ___'?
Source: Reporters called him a wizard because inventions seemed to pour endlessly out of Menlo Park.
Edison held a U.S. record number of which legal documents?
Source: He amassed 1,093 U.S. patents, a record that stood for generations.
The 'War of the Currents' set Edison's direct current against what?
Source: AC ultimately won because it travels long distances far more efficiently than Edison's DC.
Which rival inventor championed AC power against Edison?
Source: Tesla once worked for Edison, then became his greatest electrical rival.
Edison co-founded a company that grew into which modern giant?
Source: His electric company evolved into General Electric, still a household name today.
Edison's early working career was as which kind of operator?
Source: As a young telegraph operator he learned the electrical skills that launched his inventing.
Edison reportedly said genius is '1% inspiration and 99% ___'?
Source: His perspiration line celebrated relentless hard work over flashes of brilliance.
The thin glowing part inside Edison's light bulb is called the ___?
Source: Edison tested thousands of materials before carbonized bamboo made a lasting filament.
Edison's first big invention improved which communication device?
Source: His improved stock ticker earned him a fortune that funded his future labs.
To paint AC as deadly, Edison publicly did what?
Source: He staged grim animal electrocutions to scare the public away from his rival's current.
Edison's Menlo Park lab is considered the world's first what?
Source: He invented the idea of a team 'invention factory' decades before modern R&D departments.
Edison built his first major commercial power station in which city?
Source: The Pearl Street station lit lower Manhattan, launching the electric age in 1882.
Edison's improved telephone transmitter used which material to clarify speech?
Source: His carbon transmitter made voices loud and clear, and stayed standard for a century.
Which battery type did Edison develop for early electric cars?
Source: His rugged nickel-iron cells could be overcharged and abused yet keep working for decades.
What did Edison first record onto his phonograph?
Source: He recited 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' and was shocked to hear the machine repeat it back.
Edison's electric firm merged with which company to create General Electric?
Source: The 1892 merger with Thomson-Houston formed GE, yet dropped Edison's name from the title.
Edison's direct current had one major weakness: it could not easily do what?
Source: DC faded over distance, forcing a power plant every mile or so, which doomed it commercially.
Edison's first phonograph recorded sound onto what surface?
Source: Early recordings were scratched into tinfoil and usually wore out after a single playback.