Portraits and photos of Thomas Edison and his family hang on the walls of the inventor’s birthplace and childhood home in Milan, Ohio.

See more:
What Would Thomas Edison Think of Tech Today?
Edison would see cloud computing as ‘very clever,’ says descendant of great inventor.

Thomas Edison is making a comeback, which may sound odd given that the man died 82 years ago. Since the mid-1800s his inventions have influenced everyday life — the commercial light bulb, phonograph, motion picture camera and alkaline batteries, among others. The enormous breadth of Edison’s innovations is fueling a resurgence of his celebrity status from a Mazda commercial to his legacy link to Corning’s Gorilla Glass to having his bust added to the National Statuary Hall Collection in the U.S. Capitol — he beat out fellow native sons Orville and Wilbur Wright for the honor.

But how would the legendary inventor view the innovations of the contemporary era? One of Edison’s descendants, Robert Wheeler, has formed a few theories on the subject.