Serving the nation

In 1915, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels asked Edison to head the newly created Naval Consulting Board. The United States was on the brink of entering World War I and the Board was tasked with reviewing inventions of military promise submitted to the government. Though more than 100,000 invention ideas came to the Board, only one of them was ever built. Still, the Naval Consulting Board marked the beginning of increased collaboration between the military and industry.Edisons place as Americas premier inventor was secured in 1928 when he received the Congressional Gold Medal. The Medal noted, He illuminated the path of progress by his inventions.