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 »
r51 is super funny
That is so cool!
I love this class
Learning about Science is the best !
I’ve always wanted to learn sign language.
science live is so awesome I love it
ASL has been something I have been wanting to learn for years! So that is a really cool new class.
I enjoy science lives! Happy holidays!!
Thomas Edison was an amazing inventor!
I love Acellus!! Can’t wait for next year!!
Great last live of 2025!!!
Happy holidays! Can’t wait for next year.
I am very excited for the new class! I hope to sign up!
That is one useful telescope. Also, what is an exoplanet?
I think someoe should make R-51 a get well soon card.
cant wait for the sign language class looks fun
I think it is pretty interesting that there is an AI that’s able to to discover a molecular switch, which sounds pretty cool. I was also very fascinated that NASA just made a space telescope which looks huge! And when i found out it had 300 mega pixels i was pretty surprised about that that. Looking at the old phones from the early 2000’s looked nice and i enjoyed learning how the iphone was made. The invention of the vacuume tube was always a mystery to me, I didn’t even know Thomas Eddison invented it!
I never realized that Thomas Edison did not invent the lightbulb but instead he was the first to make a practical one.
That is thrilling that they made a space telescope!
Wow space is so beautiful from a telescope.
I love science live!
Happy holidays! hope you all do well, and thank you for the science live!
ASL class will be a nice edition
Thank you for having this video.
I love sign language .
I can’t wait for the sign language class! Y’all have the best ideas for classes!!!!
Yes so much!!!!!!!!!!!
science live is the best part about school on Wednesday
Great science live! I haven’t taken the first sign language course yet but I’m so happy they made another one.
I am so excited for the new ASL class. I cant wait to take it!
Excited to see what discoveries could be made in space with this new telescope
Edison is the best!
I loved learning about the first iphone. It was so interesting!
I loved hearing about the evolution of our phones. It’s very rare I see keyboards displayed even on computers. The fact the company scrapped what they were doing to create something more thrill that changed and benefited not just that present time but the future we now know as today. Who knew touch screens could be utilized by so many numerous and different devices! 😊
I can’t wait for the suprises!
Mery Christmas from Montana!🩷
I live in MT too!!!
Georgia, Texas, sign language is very good and useful i cant wait to see great thing!
The Edison Effect is pretty cool
Happy Holidays!!!!
Hey from Kentucky.
I want to learn sign language it sounds fun.
entertaining as always!!
Happy New Years and merry Christmas!!
Acellus is so amazing
I’m so grateful that I’m able to learn so many new things with Science Live!
my mom said she had that first phone you showed.
We love Acellus!
Science Lives always comes back with cooler stuff than the last video!
Happy holidays Acellus!
I am very grateful for today’s live. Thank you, Roger Billings!
Thank you for this great and fun science class:)
merry Christmas Dr. b
What else did Thomas Edison invent?
Thank Dr Roger billings learning alot
Merry Christmas everyone hope you all have a good Christmas.
I’m super exited for the new class. Are freshman allowed to take it?
Science live is amazing!!!
Awesome episode Dr. Billings!
I have always wanted to learn sign language and I do know some words.
ASL 2 sounds amazing! I would love to take the Acellus sign language classes!
Great information! Hello from Florida! 🙂
Noooo I won’t see you guys till 2026 😭 also.. yayayayayaya for asl class!
A sign language class sounds so cool!!
We should really give r51 a class!
Great episode as usual and i cant wait for more episodes in 2026 ! Happy Holidays!
Merry early Christmas!!! I love science!
R-51 is my FAVORITE!!
I want to take sign language
My uncle is deaf and has taught me a little bit of ASL.
Acellus is so fun.
I Love watching these!
Yay! Sign language!
R-51 was so funny ty for the live HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!
I love science!!!!!🌹🌸🌺🌻🌷🪻💐
I love Acellus so much its such a easy program!
I learn so much from Science Live!
I did not know about The Edison Effect, that’s cool.
I enjoyed Science Live today! See you back in the new year! Happy Holidays!
Would my social and emotional health count as an elective for high school
Happy holidays !
Amazing video. Hope everyone has a merry Christmas.
I loved learning about the Edison Effect it was so cool.
That chemistry joke was really funny haha
That would be cool if we could send messages back in time.
I did the first sign language class a few years ago. I’m so excited for the new class to keep learning.
Acellus is awesome!!
The Edison effect is cool with it being able to help Morse code, but on the topic of Morse code, where is the Morse code class?
Does R51 sleep
I love science live its so much fun to learn new thing every week.
I am super excited for ASL 2! ASL is my favorite class!
Hi from Georgia, great video!
New ASL!!! I can’t wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you Dr.Billings for this weeks science live.
my brother and I really like space and learning about it
Science live is so cool and fun!
Dr. Roger Billings is so smart!
I agree that Thomas Edison is a APEX inventor.
loved this one
Thomas Edison is an interesting man. I love Science Live and learning fun and new things!
Happy Holidays, y’all!
Loved it, very interesting
Acellus academy is awesome!!!
I love Acellus y’all are the best teachers ever!!!!🥰
Great video this week! ASL would be great, my mom has friends with a whole family that is deaf so she had to learn ASL young to communicate.
learning about the iphone was fun!
The Edison Effect is fascinating!
Electronics are real life magic, it amazes me what can be achieved
i love Acellus !!
NEW SIGN LANGUAGE CLASS YES!!
This last episode of science live in 2025 was awesome! I’m so impressed with the girl publishing her book at 15 – way to go!!
I love Acellus!!!!!
i cant wait for the sign language class i love sign language and have already started to learn it but i want to learn more
See you all next year. It has been a fun ride. I may take the ASL class next time. Happy Holidays Acellus family and friends.
Acellus is awesome
oh I want to learn sign language
Happy Holidays Everyone.
Congratulations Laura Lightfox on your new book.
I love Acellus science live!!!
Acellus is so fun and is the best.
Yay a new sign language class. I’m so ready to learn some sign language.
Science live is interesting
I liked hearing about the keyboards. Thanks Dr. Tobias.
Wow! I can’t believe a 15-year old is able to publish their own book!
Science Live is very intersting and I love R51! Always funny!!
cant wait to see r51 in 2026
I am sooo excided for the new sign language class. I love R-51 he should have his own class.
Acellus has been a very helpful tool in my learning experience!
I think that science live is inspirational
Thomas Edison is such a cool inventor!
I can not imagine having a phone like the first cell phone. I got one last year Android. I love my phone for everything. Iphones are so much better though.
Having an ASL class is exciting! I hope I can take it before I graduate.
Merry Christmas to the science live team
Crazy to think we didnt always have texting
I didn’t know that Dr. Billings’ mentor’s mentor invented the vacuum tube.
R-51 always make me laugh, happy holidays!
Happy New Year!
So cool to learn more about the original IPhone and Thomas Edison!
That sign language class will be really helpful.
Love from Connecticut!
I am so happy that there is gonna be a new sign language class that so awesome I love Acellus
Amazing story about the iPhone keyboard!
Science live is awesome! Roger billings you are really awesome too!
i am 100% taking the sign language class!
Very cool ❤️
Excited about the new ASL class. Thanks!
Merry early Christmas everybody!!!!!!!!!!
I didn’t know that Roger Billings was mentored by Bill lear! Now I can brag to my family that I’m mentored by Roger Billings!
The Edison effect is so interesting!🤩🌸🌺🌼🌹🪷💐🌷hi my name is Zoey from Ohio State and I’m grateful to be here Thank you.
Thank you acellus
I love how you make science live fun.
i thought the vacume tube was really cool
I hope you have a merry Christmas and a happy new year Dr. Billings.
Sophia from Texas..I like learning about Thomas Eddison cause I really like have started liking all things Sceince this year. Merry Christmas.
can r51 have a class
I can’t wait for the sign language class it looks so fun!
Science live is the best!!
Have A Great Christmas!🎁🎄
ASL would would fun to learn!
i love how Dr. tobias told us how the iphone tech was created
i liked the facts about the iPhone !
Last science live of the year. See you in 2026.
The new sign language class will be great! And the new telescope is awesome. Merry Christmas everybody.
I started the ASL courses this year and it is so fun and interesting to learn a language this way!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!!
Acellus is the best! And a love sign language.
Awesome video, loved learning about The Edison Effect!
I love Acellus and science live 😁
how did the apple company come up with there name?
Thank you foe the video. I appreciate the Weekly Science Live videos.
Can’t wait for next science live! Merry Christmas!
I really enjoyed the electrons section of the video.
I love to learn about Thomas Edison. And I can`t wait for the sing language classes.
It was a pretty good video. My favorite part was learning about the first iPhone.
Mr. R51 IS THE BEST!
I liked learning about the polarity and about how the keyboard was made! Merry Christmas!
Science Live always teaches me so much, thank you Roger Billings!
its cool that ai can find out where the virus will attack
next semester I want to do the asl course I think it would be fun
Loved learning about Thomas Edison!
Are there pre-requisites to the ASL courses?