Abstract :
On february 11, 1948, the 101st anniversary of the birth of Thomas Alva Edison, the Edison laboratories at West Orange, N. J., formally were opened to the public by the Thomas Alva Edison Foundation, an organization which was established early in 1947 by leaders in science, education, and industry to carry on in the spirit of progress exemplified by Edison. Under the direction of Vice-Admiral Harold D. Bowen, United States Navy (retired), wartime chief of the Office of Naval Research, the foundation´s program includes, in addition to the preservation of Edison´s laboratory, the establishment there of the Edison Center for Invention, Discovery, and Research, and the restoration of the nation-wide scholastic competition which was discontinued after Edison´s death in 1931.
