what did edison invent?
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Thomas Alva Edison invented the light bulb, the phonograph, automatic telegraph, motograph, paraffin paper(which was used to wrap candy), electric pen, carbon rheostat, microtasimeter, sockets, switches, insulating tape, gummed paper tape, magnetic ore separator, life-sized electric railway, motion picture camera, steel alkaline storage battery, and many other things.  He had 1,368 different patents.
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Michael Faraday (1791-1867) \nBritish physicist and chemist, best known for his discoveries of electromagnetic induction and of the laws of electrolysis. His biggest breakthrough in electricity was his invention of the electric motor.\nOh check out link on Peter Barlow too!
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Thomas Edison, in 1872
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No one invented electricity. It was discovered.\n\ntosmith
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"Thomas Edison tried and failed nearly 2000 times to develop the carbonized cotton thread filiment for the incandescent light bulb.  When asked about it, he said, 'I didn't fail. I found out 2000 ways how not to make a light bulb.'  But he only needed to find one way to make it work."\n\nFrom National Treasure
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well, i imagine thomas edison had to use such breakers, and he preceeded westinghouse by more than a few years... a circuit breaker is merely an electrical switch, isnt it? \n\nand as edison was at teh forefront of electrical development in teh 1800's i suggest you look to his era.
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He worked for Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson, and  was their draftsman who drew up the telephone invention for the patent application.  He was also an inventor who teamed up with W.C. Brown to design improvements to bathrooms on trains.  He also worked with Thomas Edison and Hiram Maxim.   for a while.
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The invention of the incandescent light bulb has a history spanning from the early 1800s. Until that time, available light sources consisted of candles, oil lanterns, and gas lamps. \n\nIn 1809, an English chemist, Humphrey Davy, started the journey to the invention of a practical incandescent light source. He used a high power battery to induce current between two charcoal strips. The current flowing through the two charcoal strips produced an intense incandescent light, creating the first arc lamp. \n\nIn 1820, Warren De la Rue made the first known attempt to produce an incandescent light bulb. He enclosed a platinum coil in an evacuated tube and passed an electric current through it. The design was based on the concept that the high melting point of platinum would allow it to operate at high temperatures and that the evacuated chamber would contain less gas particles to react with the platinum, improving its longevity. Although it was an efficient design, the cost of the platinum made it impractical for commercial use.\n\nThe invention of the light bulb is usually attributed in Britain to Joseph Wilson Swan and in the United States to Thomas Alva Edison(and his asstant Timothy) (the first to market the device successfully). Alexander Nikolayevich Lodygin independently developed an incandescent light bulb in 1874. Many others also had a hand in the development of a practical device for the production of electric light.
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Michael Farady of England created electricity through magnets. And people before him knew about electricity for long time, so its difficult to answer who invented it.
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Thomas Alva Edison did not invent Electricity. \n\nThomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who developed many devices which greatly influenced life in the 20th century. \nHe was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production to the process of invention, and can therefore be credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory.\n\nHistory of electricity - \n\nThe ancient Greeks and Parthians knew of static electricity from rubbing objects against fur.\n\nThough Benjamin Franklin's famous "invention" of electricity by flying a kite in a thunderstorm turned out to be more fiction than fact, his theories on the relationship between lightning and static electricity sparked the interest of later scientists whose work provided the basis for modern electrical technology. Most notably these include Luigi Galvani (1737–1798), Alessandro Volta (1745-1827), Michael Faraday (1791–1867), André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836), and Georg Simon Ohm (1789-1854).
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He was a Serbian-American inventor, physicist, mechanical engineer and electrical engineer. Tesla is recognized among the most accomplished scientists of the late 19th and early 20th century. His patents and theoretical work form the basis of modern alternating current electric power (AC) systems, including the polyphase power distribution system and AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
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The first electric light was made in 1800 by Humphry Davy, an English scientist. He experimented with electricity and invented an electric battery. When he connected wires to his battery and a piece of carbon, the carbon glowed, producing light. This is called an electric arc.\n\nMuch later, in 1860, the English physicist Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (1828-1914) was determined to devise a practical, long-lasting electric light. He found that a carbon paper filament worked well, but burned up quickly. In 1878, he demonstrated his new electric lamps in Newcastle, England.\n\nIn 1877, the American Charles Francis Brush manufactured some carbon arcs to light a public square in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. These arcs were used on a few streets, in a few large office buildings, and even some stores. Electric lights were only used by a few people.\n\nThe inventor Thomas Alva Edison (in the USA) experimented with thousands of different filaments to find just the right materials to glow well and be long-lasting. In 1879, Edison discovered that a carbon filament in an oxygen-free bulb glowed but did not burn up for 40 hours. Edison eventually produced a bulb that could glow for over 1500 hours.\n\nLewis Howard Latimer (1848-1928) improved the bulb by inventing a carbon filament (patented in 1881); Latimer was a member of Edison's research team, which was called "Edison's Pioneers." In 1882, Latimer developed and patented a method of manufacturing his carbon filaments.\n\nIn 1903, Willis R. Whitney invented a treatment for the filament so that it wouldn't darken the inside of the bulb as it glowed. In 1910, William David Coolidge (1873-1975) invented a tungsten filament which lasted even longer than the older filaments. The incandescent bulb revolutionized the world.
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When you ask the question "Who invented electric power?", I presume you mean the electric power distribution that we know of today.\n\nOne of the primary contributors would be Nikola Tesla, a Serbian-American electrical engineer and scientist.  He along with the Westinghouse corporation developed the three-phase AC power distribution used around the world today.  Tesla and Westinghouse corp were also heavily involved in developing new generators and motors using three-phase power.  Edison was trying to promote a relatively inefficient DC distribution system at the same time, but failed to gain widespread support.  Though Edison did create inventions, such as the light bulb, that helped make use of the ever-growing power grid.\n\nI had not heard of Gennai Hiraga before, but sounds like a pretty interesting inventor as well.
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Benjamin Franklin but a lot of scientists contributed in the discovery. It all started 600 BC with the greeks followed by Dr William Gilbert,Benjamin Franklin,Galvani and Volta,Michael Faraday,Thomas Edison and Joseph Swan,George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla,James Watt and finally Andre Ampere and George Ohm
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This is my best guess based on a familiarity with the issue, but please don't take this as definitive.  I just wanted to give some answer as noone had as of yet.  \n\nAs I understand it, Edison used a voltage of 110 in his original DC systems after finding experimentally that it was the highest voltage that would illuminate his carbon filament bulbs enough to beat gaslight without burning them out too quickly.  Exactly what was considered "too quickly" I don't know.  \n\nThe first AC systems adopted the 110 V standard, although Nicolai Tesla, who developed such systems for George Westinghouse, wanted to use a higher voltage, 240 V.  \n\nLater, when some electrical systems switched to a higher voltage, they went with a multiple of 110 so as to make it easier to tap into one phase of the voltage to get the old 110 V potential back.  This is essentially what we have in the US.  We have 220 V service to our homes, and a few of the appliances that consume a lot of power, such as clothes dryers and AC systems, are wired to that, but the rest of the outlets are wired for 110.
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His name was Alessandro Volta.  Alessandro Volta discovered the first practical method of generating electricity.  In 1800, he arranged zinc and copper discs in a column and invented the battery.  His most famous invention was the voltic pile. \n\nThese links should give you all the good stuff!
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invented by Thomas Edison in 1879\n\nheres 833,000 sources