The Edison Effect
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 »
This effect is cool
2nd time watching. Thomas Edison was a very smart man The Edison effect was so cool!!
I love his effect
My mom works in Radiology and has studied the Xray tube and how electrons make it work.
R 51 is funny
amazing show
I like learning about the Edison Effect
Always so fun to watch!
Very Interesting!
R 51 is hilarious
This is wonderful information
R 51 is cool and nice and funny
Wow I loved learning about the Edison Effect
lol this was hilarious!
very cool to learn new things
I didn’t realize how many inventions Thomas Edison made. Wow! Mind blown!! 🤯
i liked this video a lot
This is my first time watching Science Live
,I love these videos
Dr.Joseph, your jokes are”hilarious “!! Loooooving science live!!!!!😍😍 my first day and I have done six hours already!!!❤️❤️❤️
Without no touch screens on phones it will be hard to type in your phone.
Very interesting!
My favorite part of this episode is the Technology Spotlight. NASA created a new telescope that cencels out the light and only focuses on the star, however, there is a sound that makes it hard to see. The scientists accounted for this and added manual adjustments to the telescope.
Thomas Edison was so smart
hi from Nevada
I just love watching these videos. I learn so much
Wow it’s amazing!
I love R 51!!!
An ASL course would be awesome!
I love watching r51
How long did it take them to create the keyboard?
wow Thomas Eddison, what a genius
Hi from Texas!!!
Now I wonder. What would modern technology look life if the Edison Effect had never been discovered?
This is so cool i love learning about the edison effect!
They made a new telescope that can take pictures 1000 times faster than the older one.
It would be amazing to discover another planet that was like earth.
I have always wanted to learn sign language. My baby brother does sign language and I did when I was a little kid too! I would tell my mom “more” when I wanted more food to eat!
John Flemming used the light bulb and created something else really cool.
The pictures of the Milky Way were beautiful. Especially the picture of the nebula.
To be fair, I dont know if some of his “inventions” were actually his. :’] But this is certainly amazing.
Thomas Edison was brilliant.
Just thing one man enriched the lives of so many by his inventions.
Thomas Edison is so cool!
Imagine a world where Edison hadn’t been so inventive. Boring and no gain of such intelligence
Thomas Edison was so smart!
I love inventions and inventing
this was great.
Thomas Edison was a very great inventor
R 51 is great
He is so smart just like you and your team at acellus!
I love the edison effect.
This video amazed me. My mind is blown.
If Edison had fully understood electron flow at the time, do you think he could have accelerated the development of vacuum tubes and early computing by decades
Catching up on the lives and this one was great! Really enjoyed thank you!
A vacuum tube work like I don’t know, but I know, but I’m 8😊
So interesting learning about Thomas Edison’s inventions.
Great live!
Wow, so cool!
always so fun to watch
great episode i just started this semester
I did not know that Thomas Edison did not invent the first light bulb, I was always under the impression that he did.
What an incredible topic
This is very helpful and also really interesting.
Thank you for sharing this.
Can’t wait for the next one
Love learning
The Edison effect is so interesting!
Love the videos keep it up!
The telescope is really interesting
The Edison Effect was Thomas Edison’s discovery that electricity could flow through a vacuum from a heated metal filament to another electrode. While he didn’t fully understand its importance at the time, this phenomenon became the foundation for vacuum tubes, which made radios, televisions, and early computers possible—helping launch modern electronics long before the digital age.
R 51 is hilarious
I never knew that it took so many tries so make IPhones! Interesting
Edison is a genius!!!
The Edison effect is spectacular!
The Edison effect is cool. My mom loves the light bulbs called Edison bulbs.
I love Thomas Edison, he’s awesome!!!
I learn so much with these videos.
What if Thomas Edison’s greatest discovery wasn’t the light bulb?
Very fascinating!
Edison was the man!!
Hi this is Jaylin. I just wanted to say I love to watch Science Live
This effect is so cool
i love this live! Amazing how people invent!
R 51 is hilarious
That’s awesome!!
The Edison effect is cool.
Thomas Edison’s inventions are all so interesting!
Loved this science live!
What made you want to be a scientist???
This is so funny
Hi Dr Roger Billings
This lesson was interesting is cool how things have changed.
It’s interesting to see evolution over time
Hooray, Science Live is here!!!!
oh chemistry oh chemistry
I’m really excited to take the new ASL course.
Its so fascinating how people struggled to make all these inventions work perfectly. Those of us who use it have it pretty easy.
I love learning new things
The Edison effect is when the filament in the light gets too hot and stains the glass on only one side. Can you make it at home?
It is very interesting that someone can do something that impacts others so much for others to want to create new things as well.
Wow, Edison discovered so much, I hope I can be like that one day!
Edison is my dads favorite history person
Thomas Edison was the founder of a lot of things I didn’t know!
Super cool live science video.
I love videos keep up the Science madness!
I loved getting to learn about how the phone has evolved over time.
Dr. Billings is always so funny! I loved this one!
i love learning about this. so fun!
Thank you, Thomas Edison, for giving me this amazing technology!!!
Wow I didn’t know that Thomas Edison invented all these cool thing!!!
I have learned a lot from this video
Learning about the smartphone was so fun.
Learned about this is 7th grade glad to see it again to be reminded what a great guy he was.
So many cool things!
I love learning about the Edison effect!
This episode was super interesting!
Science, live is amazing. I love it so much.
Really interesting and cool episode.
Wow Edison was so smart! What a great live!
Poor r51 Thomas Edison doesn’t remember him. 🥺😭
R-51 IS PROBLY LYING
Thomas Edison is a talented guy.
I didn’t know that Thomas Edison made all thoes inventions that is so awesome!!
this was such a good live! Thomas Edison was so smart!
so when is the next episode this is my new favorite show.
Edison is smart
My mom had the silver Nokia that was in the picture. Great history on how the keyboard of the iPhone was developed. Interesting facts about The Edison Effect.
I didn’t know Thomas Edison had the brilliant mind to invent so many things.
Wow, Edison did so much
I Thomas Edison so glad I could Learn more about him!
The Edison effect is really cool!
It’s crazy how Thomas Edison is known for the light bulb, but in reality thats not his biggest accomplishment, and there are also 3 other founders of the invention of the light bulb.
I didn’t know Thomas Edison invented all of those things.
The more I know the better!
Edison was a smart and creative man well ahead of his time.
Thomas Edison was so cool 😎
Edison is a very cool scientist what do you like about him?
Everything he invented, it interests me
The Edison Effect is pretty cool to learn about!
How did you know for sure that you wanted to be a scientist?
How did you pick yourself back up?
Did you ever have doubt?
You inspire me everyday and you help me better understand science.
Thank you Dr.Billings
First light bulb then jets then hydrogen
These lives are interesting
I love Thomas Edison.
This was the best one ever
The Edison effect sounds so interesting!
Thomas Edison is so cool
i wish you talk more about how they make self phones
Learning all of this makes me realize how much we depend on science.
I wish I could invent stuff.
R 51 is so funny.
I really liked to learn about Eddison
This is so great! So many facts about Thomas Edison I’ve never heard before!
This was sooo interesting!
Loved this episode.Thank you science live!
oh chemistry oh chemistry. great video. great inventors. How do you get the supplies like, batteries, and stuff to build a circut?
😎 coool
What else did Edison notice?
I was really invested in this lesson. I always love getting know more about these inventions!
The world has evolved so much because of Thomas Edison! Amazing episode
Science live rocks!!!
I wouldn’t know what to do without Edison and his inventions! Super fun!
Thomas Edison did invented some really cool things.
This episode is very interesting!!
I love r.51
Thomas Edison was a mentor of Bill Lear
This was a great video, the carbon nano tubes are cool too!
Science is truly amazing!
I watched the Edison effect.
Awesome to watch!
This lesson was amazing I learnt about how Edison paved the way for modern electronics.
I live in NJ and have visited the Thomas Edison museum! Thank you for teaching us all about science!
Thomas Edison made so many things, wonder if he had any he never made or released
Wow that’s amazing.
It was so fascinating to learn about all the inventions Thomas Edison made.
This was very interesting to watch and learn. Keep on.
Love this episode! So interesting!
I love learning about this!
that was the coolest thing ever thank you science live.
I love learning about this kind of stuff!
I just learned more facts about Thomas Edison and his inventions
I have used wd 40 before
My first time learning about Thomas Edison and his inventions! So cool!