Thomas Alva Edison
Co-founder 1892Background
Thomas Edison was already America's most celebrated inventor by the time GE was formed. Born in Milan, Ohio, in 1847, Edison established his Menlo Park laboratory in New Jersey in 1876 and subsequently created the phonograph, a practical incandescent lightbulb, and the first commercial electrical distribution system in lower Manhattan. His Edison General Electric company, founded in 1878 and financed by J.P. Morgan, commercialized his electrical inventions but operated under financial strain that ultimately led to the 1892 merger with Thomson-Houston. Edison's relationship with the merged company was fraught; his preference for DC electrical systems had been commercially defeated by the AC systems championed by rivals, and he took little active role in GE after the merger.
Role at General Electric Company
General Electric possesses the most legendary, foundational founding story in American industrial history, born from the world-altering invention of the incandescent light bulb and the incredible financial power of Wall Street's most feared banker. The conglomerate was formed in 1892 through an orchestrated merger arranged by J.P. Morgan. The two foundational pillars were the Edison General Electric Company (founded in 1890 by Thomas Edison) and the Thomson-Houston Electric Company (founded by Elihu Thomson and Edwin Houston). Thomas Edison, operating out of his legendary laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, had invented the commercial incandescent light bulb in 1879 and built the Pearl Street Station to electrify Manhattan. However Edison was stubbornly committed to Direct Current (DC) power which was inefficient for long-distance transmission. Thomson-Houston, heavily backed by Boston financiers, was pioneering the significantly superior Alternating Current (AC) technology. J.P. Morgan, Edison's primary financier, recognized that this technological war (and the patent litigation) was destructive to profits. In a ruthless display of financial power, Morgan forced the merger of the two companies, dropping Edison's name from the new entity (which infuriated the inventor). This consolidation created the General Electric Company, a powerful industrial monopoly that dominated the electrification of the United States. GE built the turbines, the transmission lines, and the consumer appliances that defined the 20th-century American economy, establishing a corporate legacy that lasted 132 years before finally being dismantled.