I recently had the chance to view the exhibit on the light bulb in the Smithsonian, and learned something I hadn't known before: the big advance Edison made in light bulbs was a less bright light bulb. Previous electric lights were too blinding to use in most applications. Edison's light bulbs were easy on the eyes. When he helped wire up the Library of Congress, he insisted that all of the bulbs be left bare, so you could marvel in their non-blinding beauty.
