The Edison Effect
December 17, 2025 • EPISODE 291
What if Thomas Edison’s greatest discovery wasn’t the light bulb? In this episode of Science LIVE, Dr. Roger Billings explores the Edison Effect and how Edison’s experiments paved the way for electron tubes and modern electronics. Discover why this overlooked breakthrough mattered then—and why it still shapes technology today.
About DrB
Dr. Roger Billings is a visionary innovator whose work has touched the lives of millions of students and transformed the landscape of education. Widely known as “DrB” to the countless kids who benefit from his groundbreaking Acellus learning system, Dr. Billings has dedicated his life to advancing education through technology.
As part of DrB’s lifelong commitment to supporting education, Science LIVE was launched as a way to “give back” by mentoring students in conjunction with the Roger Billings Scholarship Program.
Read more about DrB »
About the Roger Billings Scholarship Program »
Yay I am so glad we will now have ASL 2.
amazing! i love acellus.
It was fun to hear about Edison! Happy Holidays.
What made Edison such a successful inventor?
Excited for the ASL II class! Awesome episode guys, interesting and entertaining as usual.
It was really neat to learn more about how the vacuum tube was created by Thomas Edison.
I’m so glad I get the chance to work at my own pace with Acellus!
I enjoyed learning about NASA’s new space telescope in today’s “Technology Spotlight”.
R-51 is hilarious and always brings a smile!
Acellus is the best thing that ever happened to me. <3 And I thank my parents for that. Merry Christmas!!!!!!!
Is Acellus homeschool a purely online curriculum or are there in-person locations for classes?
How many kilometers long is the Milky Way galaxy, and who was the first person in the world to discover it?
The Edison effect is truly amazing, now we know about the new telescope how the first touch screen iphone was made, and all the events that led up to the Edison effect and what the eEdison e ffect did for science in the future.
I love homeschooling with Acellus!
My favorite part of learning the alphabet is learning through signs for each letter, so I am really excited to see an addition od even more ASL!
Happy Holiday’s from Georgia.
Today I learned that electricity flows from the negative to positive side, and that when there is something unexplainable in science, there is normally a chance to invent something.
Happy hoildays everyone!!
Hello from Japan! Thank you for today’s live, I always watch them with my sister and enjoy time together while learning.
I enjoyed learning about the Edison effect and how it helped with radio waves!
hello from New York!
I can’t wait to learn sign language!
I love learning new thing every Wednesday and getting to see Roger and Pejet. The tecnology about the phone it amazing!
Happy Holidays everyone
Last science live of the year! Happy holidays yall!
I liked science live today. I learned alot. Thanks
Cant wait until Science Live 2026!
I take American Sign language I love it I can’t wait for the next coarse
Sometimes I wonder how people think of things to invent.
I love R51 I look forward to hearing him everyweek. Merry Christmas!
“I have not failed, I found 10,000 ways to not make a light bulb” -Thomas Edison
Amazing week this time, loved learning about the light bulb.
I always look forward to science live!!!!
I believe in r-51!
I took ASL when I was in public school still before Acellus and I think that is a very helpful language to learn.
Merry Christmas!
Edison is genius.
I love to watch these every week!!
The Edison effect is pretty cool!!!
Acellus is a very good homeschooling program it teaches you art, math and more.
Edison is so cool and all the inventions he made are cool to.
really enjoyed this live! hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!
I’m excited to hear more about Science Live for credit and what the requirements will be
Wow! How amazing! The technology behind a phone is so complex and though through.
Love these!
I love when DR. B tells story’s!
Never heard of the Edison effect before this somehow. Incredible!
Thank your for today’s science Live. I thought the Edison effect was really fascinating that would help many more inventions.
I love Acellus live!
I hope you guys have a Merry Christmas!
thank you for helping kids worldwide
Great episode!
Happy holidays everyone!
Hello,
Watching from Italy. I was wondering when NASA made their new space telescope how long did it take them to build it?
I love Science Lives and really enjoy seeing everyone every week and listening to the topics.
Happy Holidays Acellus Family.
Happy Holidays from Minnesota!
I’ve always been interested in Thomas Edison!
Happy Holidays! Really fun science live, thank yall!
Love the live. Keep up the great work.
Good morning, from Texas. Enjoying Acellus.
I started ASL this year with Acellus. It’s one of my favorite courses.
This was very informative! Happy new year see you in a couple weeks!
Thanks for such a great end of year review merry christmas!
Favorite time of the week! I love Science live!
Merry Christmas to all my acellus classmates.
Another great lesson on electricity, awesome! See you next year!
This week’s live was very interesting, I had so much fun watching it.
Love from Vietnam.
I Love Science Live!!!!
Acellus is amazing!!!
I always love logging onto to Science Live! I always learn something new and interesting!
This is my 4th Christmas with Acellus. Merry Christmas to everyone!
Merry Christmas to all the teachers and staff at Acellus!
Dr billings and Pajeet are such a great duo together
The new telescope looks like its going to be awesome!
The new sign language class is awesome.
Acellus is the best homeschool program ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The new NASA telescope looks cool.
This week’s Science Live was very impressive.
I love science live!
Thankful for light bulbs
Thank you for giving us a break for Christmas and New Year. I look forward to watching what you have planned for 2026 for Science Live.
Happy Holidays!
Next year I’m gonna do ASL
You always have the neatest lessons on these video’s. I think Edison is so amazing with what he was able to invent. Thanks!
I am reading about Thomas Edison. Thank you for this lesson video about Edison!
Hi from kentucky
I want to learn ASL. That telescope is really cool. I didn’t know all that about Thomas Edison.
Love this school
I loved learning about Thomas Edison. Science lives are the best even when I have the flu!
I love your show!!
It is so fascinating how the Edison effect works!
I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Incredible as always & an ASL course is genius. Oh, & happy holidays!
Awesome Live!
Awesome as always!
Watching from Las Vegas, Nevada!!❤️❤️
Wednesday is my favorite day !
Wow! Thomas Edison is so smart the thing he invented I use almost everyday.
Hello from West Virginia. Science Live is always so interesting.
What a great video this week. I enjoyed the other ASL course they have. I am really looking forward to the conspiracy theory course Mr. Edmonds plan on making.
The part about Edison was very interesting!
the way the keyboards predicted the words really fascinated me during Mr Tobias’s sciences vid
We should go over how a jet engine works, after all you were considering purchasing a jet, and it’d be quite interesting to learn exactly how jets work.
Science isn’t my personal favorite subject but ever since joining Acellus and watching these videos I’ve grown to really love the subject! Thank you for being a great teacher, see you next Wednesday!
I love acellus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
The Eddison effect by Thomas Eddison is one of my favorite effects because it really shows the power of what vacuum tubes can do.
Love acellus! Happy holidays!
I can’t wait to start the ASL course. I’m gonna be starting it when I get into 9th grade, so I can get a credit.
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays From Minot!
Wow! That’s SO cool!
I can’t believe this is the last Science Live of the year! I’m looking forward to next years Science Lives. I can’t believe the year is already over.
I like writing stories with acellus
I love science live! And R-51!!!
Howdy from Georgia!
I love this live, Merry Christmas everyone
Good evening from Georgia!
Hello from Minnesota. Love this school.
this one was interesting! Thank u Acellus, and happy holidays!
merry christmas! loved the live
Merry Christmas to everyone. Also I love science lives. I look forward to watching them every week and I really like this episode of science live and.I hope all of you that see this comment. A Merry Christmas🎄
fascinating live once again you all did amazing as always! these lives are the highlight to my week merry christmas all!
Awsome!!! Acellus really helps kids find the education they need, and these lives help so many students in so many ways. Its so AWSOME!!!!!!
The Hubble telescope looks so cool!
I’m so happy for the student released book. The telescope is super cool. I’m extremely excited about ASL 2!!
I hope everyone will enjoy their upcoming Christmas! Happy holidays from California!
Merry Christmas, another great science live! 🙂
Great science live! Happy holidays everyone!
these science lives are so intriguing!!
Hello from Texas i love science live
Acellus is actually pretty entertaining.
Merry early Christmas! (or any other holidays you celebrate in this lovely month of december) I loved hearing about more advances in space!
R-51 is so amazing!
Dr. Roger Billings is so funny as always. I always asked myself is the r-51 AI or real person.
Thank you for the live merry Christmas!!
The telescope was really interesting. Happy Holidays !
I love Acellus!!!
Happy holidays!! amazing episode
I love watching the Science live! Acellus Academy is the best program for kids no matter what age!
I enjoyed learning about the Edison Effect! Thank you as always!
Hi Acellus! I love these science lives and look forward to them every single week thank you! And really enjoyed this live! l like that it is funny too.
Acellus Academy is the best homeschool program. We learn so much!!!
Enjoy winter break everyone!
Great science live today! Happy holidays!!
Watching from Tennessee. Happy Holidays everybody!
Merry Christmas! R-51 always makes me laugh. This Science live was interesting and fun!
I love Acellus Academy is the best.
i loveeeeee Acellus!!!
Acellus Academy is the best homeschooling program!!!
Love the live as always !
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!! From Alabama!
Merry Christmas Everyone!
I think Thomas Edison is cool.
I love science lives! Happy holidays!
Love ASL so excited to hear about ASL 2 also very interesting information on iPhone !
Omg I hope he’s okay! Still a great live!
Happy holidays everybody!
It’s fascinating to know that Dr. Billings was in a way mentored through certain knowledge of Thomas Edison himself. Just goes to show the brilliance of him.
I love science lives!
I really enjoyed this live. Happy holidays!
Ai can help cure viruses????? I don’t know about that.
🤩 awesome
Thank goodness for light bulbs
Acellus Academy is the best homeschooling program!!!
Amen!!!!!!! I LOVE Acellus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you so much, Acellus Academy for the Science Live! Always looking forward every Wednesday!
Hi from Texas.
I learned so many news things about Thomas Edison it was so interesting
Amazing!
The Hubble had to walk so the Roman could run!
Awesome as always❤️.
The new upcoming ASL class will be a great addition to the course lineup.
The Eddison effect by Thomas Eddison is one of my favorite effects because it really shows the power of what vacuum tubes can do.
Hahaha so funny! I love science live.
I loved it
Hi Acellus! I love these science lives and look forward to them every single week thank you! And really enjoyed this live!
very interesting science live happy holidays!!!
R-51 was so funny
R-51 was so funny! I really liked this live.
Love Acellus homeschool!
Yes R51 is very funny I love the videos of R51 there are amazing things you can learn from Acellus school district.
yea he was😆😁🤣
Hello from Florida! Loved today. Dr. Tobias, very interesting session. Thank you to Acellus!
I like the space telescope
I love how different subjects intertwine with each other like how in history class we always learned about Edison inventing the light bulb but you learn the science behind it in science classes or lessons like this.
Sciencelive is a important way for learning
This science live was very funny!
Hi from Nashville tennessee!
I can’t you how excited I am for the new ASL course!!!As someone who has tried to learn languages before none of them have really been able to stick except ASL. Thank you so much and I can’t wait to see it.
Great science live thank you!
Very cool live merry christmas!
It seems like Thomas Eddison was a pretty busy guy. And I didn’t have any idea that AI had any use in keyboards. This is why I like Science Live, I learn something new nearly every week!
this one was so interesting to watch!