[WalterBright]

> Edison's contribution was to pay them enough so they could eat and live, and point them at a project.

Edison's long string of inventions suggest his contribution was far more than that. (And the money used to pay his staff came from his prior inventions, Edison was not born rich.)

> elephant-electrocuting nonsense

We find that reprehensible today. But people at the time did not, and it's better to judge him in the context of his time.