Industrial Age · North America · Technology
1877
Edison's Phonograph
November 21, 1877
In a Menlo Park workshop, Thomas Edison cranked a hand-turned tinfoil drum, shouted "Mary had a little lamb" into a diaphragm, and heard his own voice come back. Reporters did not believe it. Recorded sound was born, and with it a hundred-year argument about what music and memory actually were.
In context
Also in 1877 (5 other events on record)
- Satsuma Rebellion · East Asia · War
- Russo-Turkish War · Middle East · War
- Compromise of 1877 · North America · Politics
- Nez Perce Flight · North America · War
- Great Railroad Strike · North America · Politics
Before and after in North America
- Before: June 25, 1876: Little Bighorn
- After: 1878: Edison's Light Bulb Work
Before and after in Technology
Era
Industrial Age (1801–1900), one of 513 events from that era on Saeculum.
Sources