On June 6 2014, the North Jersey Section of the ACS and the
National Parks Service held a dedication service to recognize Thomas A Edison's
Chemistry and his Laboratory as an American Chemical Society National Chemical
Historic Landmark. Here is the information about the Laboratory from the Edison
National Historic Park website.
Applications of chemistry were a common theme in many of his
inventions, including the carbon filaments used in light bulbs, plastic
materials used in phonograph records, development of the nickel-iron alkaline
electric storage battery, and research into domestic sources of rubber.
Edison
opened his West Orange laboratory complex in 1887 as an expanded site for
research and product development. The complex was among the most modern and
well-equipped industrial research facilities in the world and included a
chemical laboratory and library of chemical information to support Edison's
expansive research, as well as chemical manufacturing operations and factories
to produce Edison's inventions. Chemical developments originating from the West
Orange laboratory included plastics and waxes for disc and cylinder phonograph
records, nickel-iron alkaline electric storage batteries, and improvements to
the manufacture of Portland cement
Tom Ross
National Parks Service, Superintendent of the Thomas Edison National Historical
Park, made the welcome and opening remarks
The next speaker was Paul Israel Director and
General Editor of the Thomas A. Edison Papers at Rutgers, his talk was entitled
"Chemical Solutions: The Role of Chemistry in Thomas Edison's Inventive
Work" 
Dr. Ned
Heindel ACS Past President and H. S. Burn Chair Professor of Chemistry at Leigh
University presented the Award on behalf of the American Chemical Society.
Here are photos of the Award presentation featuring
Superintendent Ross and Dr. Heindel shaking hands, Superintendent Ross looking
at the Award and a photo of the Award.
The Commemorative plaque reads:
Thomas Edison
developed an interest in chemistry at a young age, and applications of
chemistry were a common theme in many of his inventions. Edison opened his West Orange, N.J.
laboratory complex in 1887 as an expanded site for research and product
development. The complex was among the
most modern and well-equipped industrial research facilities in the world with
a chemical laboratory and library of chemical information to support Edison's
expansive research, chemical manufacturing operation, and factories to produce
Edison's inventions. Chemical developments originating from the West Orange
laboratory included plastics and waxes for disc and cylinder phonograph
records, nickel iron alkaline electric storage batteries, and improvements to
the manufacture of Portland cement.
At the Edison National Historic Park in West Orange, there
are two chemical Laboratories. One was
the general lab where Edison's workers work and Edison had a private Lab off
his office where he could explore chemical reactions by himself.
The photos above are photos of the general chemistry lab.
The photos above are photos of Edison's private lab and a
photo of a photo of Edison in his lab.
For more information, see the Edison National Historic Site
website.
http://www.nps.gov/edis/index.htm
