Innovation as a Social Process Elihu Thomson and the Rise of General Electric [Hardcover]

Elihu Thomson was a late-nineteenth-century American inventor who helped create the first electric lighting and power systems.Elihu Thomson was a late-nineteenth-century American inventor who helped create the first electric lighting and power systems. One of the most prolific inventors in American history, Thomson was granted nearly 700 patents in a career spanning the 1880s to 1930s.Elihu Thomson was a late-nineteenth-century American inventor who helped create the first electric lighting and power systems. One of the most prolific inventors in American history, Thomson was granted nearly 700 patents in a career spanning the 1880s to 1930s.Elihu Thomson was a major American inventor of electric light and power systems. A contemporary of Thomas Edison, Thomson performed the engineering and design work necessary to make electric lighting a common product. From the 1880s to the 1930s, Thomson was employed by the General Electric Company and its predecessors. Working within the corporation, Thomson reveals how successful inventions are based on explicit links among technological artifacts, marketing strategy, and the business organization needed for manufacturing and marketing.List of figures and tables; Editors' preface; Acknowledgments; Abbreviations used in footnotes; Introduction; 1. The cultivation of a scientific man; 2. Learning the craft of invention; 3. The Philadelphia partnership, 187980; 4. Frustration in New Britain, 18803; 5. Success in Lynn: the Thomson-Houston electric company, 188392; 6. Maintaining the organization: product development at General Electric, 18921900; Epilogue and conclusion; Index. ...historians of science will find much of value in this book relating to Thomson's early and significant mastery of chemistry, his lifelong interest in astronomy, and his dextrous exploration of X rays in 1896. The factual accuracy and thoroughness with which these and other features of Elihu Thomson's career are treated will doubtless ground Carlsl£Á