zlacker

"The Victorian Internet" gives it its due. And its drawbacks - didn't work at night or in bad weather. It was very expensive as it needed human operators and towers. Only simple messages could be transmitted. And it was slow.

Morse's electrical single wire telegraph was an instant success and quickly transformed the world. It wasn't an evolutionary advance over the Chappe, it was revolutionary.

There were also electric lights before Edison's lightbulb. But Edison invented a lightbulb that was simple, cheap, reliable, and it worked. Hence his bulb gets the nod. He nailed it.