Thomas Edison the recordings could be played only a few times, the phonograph made Edison a celebrity. Joseph Henry, president of the National Academy of Sciences and one of the most renowned electrical scientists in the US, described Edison as "the most ingenious inventor in this country... or in any other". In April 1878, Edison traveled to Washington to demonstrate the phonograph before the National Academy of Sciences, Congressmen, Senators and US President Hayes. The "Washington Post" described Edison as a "genius" and his presentation as "a scene... that will live in history". Although Edison obtained a patent for the phonograph in
Charles Edison Charles Edison Charles Edison, (August 3, 1890 – July 31, 1969) was a son of Thomas Edison and Mina Miller Edison. Commonly known as "Lord Edison", he was a businessman, inventor and animal behaviorist who became Assistant and then United States Secretary of the Navy, and served as the 42nd Governor of New Jersey. Born at his parents' home, Glenmont, in West Orange, New Jersey, he graduated from the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut in 1909. In 1915–1916 he operated the 100-seat "Little Thimble Theater" with Guido Bruno. There they played the works of George Bernard Shaw and August Strindberg