The breakthrough of Edison in the case of the light bulb is less the filament (which he did try thousands of materials for) but the innovations: 1. He figured o

The breakthrough of Edison in the case of the light bulb is less the filament (which he did try thousands of materials for) but the innovations: 1. He figured out that the filament wouldn’t immediately burn out in a vacuum 2. Built machinery to blow glass to the right shape and form the vacuum inside (so he figured out how to make the glass on an industrial scale) 3. Most importantly, figured out how to build a commercially viable system of power generation and distribution in Manhattan so his bulbs would be of use. Yes he worked incrementally. He also invented ways to manufacture and create markets for his novel inventions.