Well Joseph Swan,who was a british inventor,invented the first incandescent light bulb in 1878 which was a year before Thomas Edison and apprently Thomas Edison started a campaign saying he made the light bulb first,As Joseph Swan wasn't interested in making money from this invention. But Thomas Edison did try and improve the lightbulb Joseph Swan invented.
I believe the quote was, "I found a thousand ways not to make a lightbulb" meaning he tried many different ways before stumbling onto something that worked well enough.
as a famous quote has said 'i found a thousand ways to make a lightbulb' so in a way thomas edison did invent A light bulb
I believe the first lightbulb was invented by Humphry Davy , and the rest of the people improved it to make it better.