Thomas Edison's First World War research, 1918. US inventor Thomas Edison (1847-1931) at work at the Key West Naval Station, Florida, USA, where took part in secret experimental work. When asked in 1915 to serve as a naval consultant during the First World War (1914-1918), Edison stated he would work only on defensive weapons. He initially worked to help prepare the USA for war. By 1917, the year the USA entered the war, Edison was working on sound location, ship camouflage, and torpedo detection. One of the main legacies of Edison's work was the establishment of the Naval Research Laboratory, approved in 1916 and opened in 1923. Photographed by the US Signal Corps on 7 March 1918. |