[drivers99]

Thomas Edison claimed to have a long lasting light bulb before he actually did. He showed it to reporters one at a time in a booth. Between observers, he would change out the light for a fresh one. Source "How We Got to Now: Light" (on Netflix currently, at least in the US). Found the clip on PBS. Skip to 2:20 for the specific part: http://www.pbs.org/how-we-got-to-now/big-ideas/light/

[graeham]

He was also pretty bold on pricing, electing to set the initial price off what he predicted eventual costs of production would be. Initially, new products would be sold at a loss.

Perhaps not controversial in the perspective of modern venture-backed startups, but at the time it was a key reason GE won early market share on so many products.

[pluma]

I thought Edison had mostly been dismissed as not even remotely as great an inventor as most people thought he was?

[throwaway7767]

He was a businessman, who hired people to invent things. He was certainly useful, but it's always been surprising to me how much credit he got for inventing things.

[gohrt]

Capitalism and Personal Branding at its finest.

[CPLX]

To a tiny universe of Reddit/XKCD readers perhaps.

In the rest of the world, for example at the offices of Con Edison, or in the city of Edison, New Jersey, he's still considered to be somewhat important.

[Nadya]

Don't forget The Oatmeal readers! [0]

There's a billion and one things one could mention about Tesla. Sadly, only the tiny universe of people who dislike Edison (and see him as a businessman, not an inventor) are aware of Tesla's contributions.

[0] http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla

[pluma]

In a way, Edison is a very American inventor. His skill wasn't in craft or science, his skill was in sales and turning a profit.

[CPLX]

Whoops. In my head that while Tesla rant was an XKCD thing.