After the phonograph, Edison took on the biggest challenge of his life. He thought that he could make a practical incandescent light bulb. It was not going to be an easy task since many other people had already tried and just could not quite get something that was reasonable enough to use. Thomas knew this and so he decided to buy former patents for light bulb designs. He started with those designs and kept on improving them to make them more functionable. Finally, around 1879, one and a half years after he started, he had created a light that burned for thirteen and a half hours. He showed the world that it worked by lighting up his facility in Menlo Park with the lights. It was one of the greatest accomplishments of his life and he started
