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 »
I love watching theseeeee🥰
Thomas Edison was an really smart guy. Loved learning about him.
Great joke about the scientists’ favorite Christmas song. I am intrigued by the new telescope and what amazing photos will ultimately be taken. Great job on writing your own book Miss Fox.
Thomas Edison is a smart man. Great Science Live!
I love the science lives
I hope you guys had an amazing christmas! Thomas Edison is such a intelligent man!
Thomas Edison was an incredible genius!
I love this Science live!!
Happy New Year’s from Louisiana!
Wonderful episode! I love learning new things about my favorite scientists! Happy 2026!
Having a good Christmas and have a science live is the best!
science live = AWSOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy New years! I loved this video (:
Thomas Edison is so cool!!!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
happy new years!
Happy New Year everyone!!
This was my first episode, and I loved the lesson on Thomas Edison.
Thank you for doing these!
I really enjoyed learning about the Eddison Effect. Thomas Eddison was very smart! I also enjoyed learning about the new telescope!
I love learning new things this way!
I really like my ASL class. I also play piano and it takes a lot of practice too.
I was actually really surprised that the Edison Effect was used to help radio transmissions! Cool!
The sign language class sounds fun! Happy new year!
Thank you for science live! Happy new years.
Thomas Edison was pretty smart.
I think the cell phone thing was fascinating. The fact that when they were doing the final demo for the iPhone and it was multiple different phones is crazy. Only Jobs would’ve hade the guts to do that.
Thomas Edison is very cool!
R51 is truly amazing
You explain this so well.
Thomas Edison has taken us to so many amazing scientifical advancements!
Thomas Edison had some generation changing ideas
I love Science Live
Who else loves science live????
Happy new years to everyone!!!
I absolutely adore Thomas Edison’s work thank you for doing this video about him!
Thank you for sharing these videos with us every week. They’re very informative.
Thank you Dr. Billings
Merry Christmas from Florida
Thomas Edison is a truly fascinating person.
Thomas Edison was genius. Happy holidays to all.
I love the Science Lives!
Thank you so much for posting these videos every week.
This science live was very interesting, and it is probably one of the best ones.
Wishing you a joyful New Year!
The Edison Effect is so cool!
This weeks science live was wonderful, I love Thomas Edison!
Merry late christmas everybody from Texas!
Thomas Edison was on another level super intelligent man
I loved learning about Thomas Edison!
I had a great Christmas and I’m enjoying watching all about Thomas Edison. He was a very smart man.
Thomas Edison was a genius!
I would love to take the sign language course! I love the Science Lives!!!
Absolute class as always. Love how I learn something new every time I watch science live.
This week’s science live was awesome! I love Thomas Edison!
merry christmas from Hawaii
I love science live and acellus
I love
Acellus school !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks dr billings you are the best.
thank you Matthew
Happy new year everyone ✨️
Happy New Years everyone.
I love R51!
the Edison effect is cool to hear about!
I love the science lives! Happy holidays to everyone
Thomas Edison was a really smart and incredible person.
Oh Chemistry~ Oh Chemistry~ ~ I love Science!
R51 is the best❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️💕😉❤️😉❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️😉❤️❤️❤️❤️
Its amazing how the Edison effect has created a huge part of the world today, I loved this science live very cool.
I love R51!
I believe Thomas Edison was a very influential inventor that affected many inevntions today.
love doing science live look forward to it every week
We love you R51!!!
My favorite part of the science live was R 51.
Hi from Mississippi.
I would love to learn sign language. It would open up a new world to me. : )
R51 is always so funny lol 😂
Happy Holidays to everyone at Acellus! 🙂
Thomas Edison was a genius, Happy holidays by the way!!
Merry Chrismas, you are amazing!
R51 is soooo funny!!!!
Happy Holidays Everyone!
Can’t wait for the Conspiracy course!! Merry Christmas!
I love science live! It is my favorite part of Acellus!!
R51 is so funny!
I liked learning about the progress with cell phones! Happy holidays!
I love R51
Merry Christmas to all the hard workers at Acellus!
Love this!!! 10 out of 10
I think r51 is so funny.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Japan
Thomas Edison was a super cool inventor! Happy Holidays!
R51 is always so silly. Happy Holiday!
Awesome video!
Marry Christmas to everyone <3
Science live rocks!
I Love R51!
that sign language corse looks pretty cool!congrats on making another corse
merry chrismas I love your videos
its great that acellus is doing an even more in depth ASL course. its something a lot more schools should teach
Thomas Edison was a smart person.
You should make a hydrogen robot.
The telescope is awesome. I would love to learn more about it and see more pictures from it.
I am excited for ASL. My mom has shown me some and it will help me talk to my deaf Meemom.
Love science live Happy Holidays
Merry Christmas from us! I love learning here!
Merry Christmas Acellus Family! Wish you a merry holiday, (Depending on what you celebrate!), See you for New Year!
Thomas Eddison’s genius was on a completely different level, not only was he responsible for the lightbulb, he also was the creator of the vacuum; something we all use everyday!
Thankful for Thomas Edison!!!!
Great Science Live. American Sign Language class sounds pretty cool.
Thanks for the science live Happy Holidays!
Edison truly was a genius inventor, his invention paved the way to the future! Great episode!
Merry Christmas, I hope to see the next episode soon! Until next time
Happy Holidays! In what state does Hydrogen become a solid? Happy Holidays!
Science Live And Chemistry Is awesome!!!
Technology will always find great ways to enhance the ways we need it to. It might take decades but in a global race for having the best technology it is interesting to see what the final product looks like or how it will impact us. Just think about how many different versions of cell phones came out and which ones survived into our current year.
Thomas Edison actually demonstrated the perfected lightbulb on New Year’s Eve! Merry Christmas everyone! He also failed to make the lightbulb stay on until the 1,000th attempt.
And he only got 3-4 hours of sleep a night. Alexander Hamilton would’ve loved this guy.
Happy holidays everyone :3
Happy Holidays. Hoping I can learn a bit more of ASL through the help of Acellus! Very excited, also curious if some deaf culture will be taught in class?
Happy Holidays everybody! Thomas Edison was a genius for sure.
Watching from Chicago!
Thank you for inventing Acellus, Dr. Billings!
I look forward to seeing more science videos as the new year starts! Merry Christmas and a happy early new year!
Merry Christmas!!!🎄🎁
Thank you! Happy holidays!!
Super cool Science Live this week! Very interested in the new space telescope. Loved hearing the history of Thomas Edison and the Edison Effect. Can’t wait until the next one. Happy Holidays!
That’s nice that we’ll get a Science Live credit. Looking forward to a new year!
Happy holidays, amazing Science Live like normal.
How do you think Thomas Edison would react if you gave him an I-phone?
Thomas Edison was genius I love learning ASL.
Merry Christmas! And Happy Holidays! <3
LOL, Tobias! The camel that broke the straw’s back.
The James Webb Space telescope seems really impressive, hopefully we get even more insight into the distant universe.
Happy holidays to everyone!
Wow I never knew that Dr billings was mentored by Bill lear that’s awesome
It was awesome to learn more about Thomas Edison! I learned a lot!
Science Live is so entertaining! R-51 is always so funny!
Happy Holidays everybody!
r51 is the greatest!!!
I loved hearing Dr. Johns technology spotlight. It’s really interesting that inferred light can help us learn more about The Milky Way and the galaxies in space just by being able to see through the dust clouds.
Happy holidays! I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
I love science live! It was fascinating to learn about the new telescope:) happy holidays
My mom is fluent in ASL, the class sounds cool! Merry Christmas! 🎄
I can’t wait to see the invention we’re going to learn about next! Happy Holidays!
Where do you guys get your science news from? It’s very interesting, and I’m more of a reader than anything, so I’d love to read articles about space!
My mom had a Nokia phone and the Blackberry!
Love watching science live and learning about Thomas Edison. Merry Christmas!
I like how there is ASL in Acellus .
Happy holidays everyone! I love these science lives.
Gonna miss yall!!! and happy holiday to you all!! <3
Happy holidays r-51!
Happy holidays! Great Thomas Edison episode before the holidays.
Thomas Edison is one of the greatest inventors of all time.
Edison’s inventions are so revolutionary, I love watching science live !!!
Getting a new course about ASL will be cool!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
I love science live happy holidays
I love science live! Merry Christmas everyone! 🙂
It’s nice to see that they have a course of speaking through sign language. I do hope plenty of people take this course.
Thank you! Happy Holidays!
I can’t wait to sign up for the ASL class. I can’t wait to learn more about ASL. Happy holidays everybody!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all you wonderful Acellus instructors and staff! Enjoyed learning more about Edison in this Science Live.
What inspired Thomas Edison to be such an amazing scientist?
happy holidays! Anyways i always love watching the breakthrough moments in science
I was so excited for this science live! happy holidays!
Thomas Edison is one of my favorite historical figures! Happy Holidays!!
Creating a whole book at the age of 15 is incredible!
How awesome to have learned from someone who directly learned from Thomas Edison!
Really excited about the new ASL course, actually taking it right now! Happy Holidays Everyone!!
I am super duper excited for the new Acellus ASL Course!
haha the comment about the don’t oh chemistry oh chemistry, was Great!!
ASL is great to learn! What an entertaining episode. Happy holidays everyone!
Merry Christmas Acellus! I love these videos! 🙂
Happy Holidays to the Acellus and Science Live community!
Artificial intelligence being able to make such a major breakthrough in the field of science truly shows how far technology has come.
Merry Christmas and a happy new year it is so sad science live is over for two weeks I really enjoy watching them.
We visited Edison NJ this weekend where Mr Edison’s lab was.
Can wait for next years episodes :>
Have a Happy New Year!!
I’m excited to start my new classes after this holiday break!
Happy Holidays! Loved the video!