Thomas Edison’s 164th Birthday Celebrated With Google Logo

Days after your logo celebrated the birthday of writer Jules Verne, your home-page Google Doodle today marks the 164th birthday of Thomas Edison.

At this rate, a user could become accustomed to equally inventive logos every morn.

Google is featuring a special Google logo, also known as Google Doodle, for the 164th birthday of Thomas Edison. The logo illustrates some of Edison’s most famous inventions including the electric light bulb, phonograph, and the motion picture camera. Edison holds over 1,000 U.S. patents and is the most well-known inventor of all time.

Our favorite touch about today's animated logo is the luminous light bulb that brightens and fades, spotlighting the inventor's electric-light contributions. The catch, of course, is that it was Britain's Edward Swan who "invented" the light bulb; but it was Edison who patented and popularized the electric light bulb in the United States. (Edison and Swan are said to have later merged their cross-the-Pond companies.)

Prior to his death in 1931, the Wizard of Menlo Park held more than 1,000 patents, including for electrical printing machines, telephone technology, motion-picture cameras, mechanical vote-recorders, the stock ticker and the phonograph.