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Thomas Edison

By: History.com Editors

Updated: October 17, 2023 | Original: November 9, 2009

Thomas Edison was a prolific inventor and savvy businessman who acquired a record number of 1,093 patents (singly or jointly) and was the driving force behind such innovations as the phonograph, the incandescent light bulb, the alkaline battery and one of the earliest motion picture cameras. He also created the world’s first industrial research laboratory. Known as the “Wizard of Menlo Park,” for the New Jersey town where he did some of his best-known work, Edison had become one of the most famous men in the world by the time he was in his 30s. In addition to his talent for invention, Edison was also a successful manufacturer who was highly skilled at marketing his inventions—and himself—to the public.

Thomas Edison’s Early Life

Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio. He was the seventh and last child born to Samuel Edison Jr. and Nancy Elliott Edison, and would be one of four to survive to adulthood. At age 12, he developed hearing loss—he was reportedly deaf in one ear, and nearly deaf in the other—which was variously attributed to scarlet fever, mastoiditis or a blow to the head.

Thomas Edison received little formal education, and left school in 1859 to begin working on the railroad between Detroit and Port Huron, Michigan, where his family then lived. By selling food and newspapers to train passengers, he was able to net about $50 profit each week, a substantial income at the time—especially for a 13-year-old.

Did you know? By the time he died at age 84 on October 18, 1931, Thomas Edison had amassed a record 1,093 patents: 389 for electric light and power, 195 for the phonograph, 150 for the telegraph, 141 for storage batteries and 34 for the telephone.

During the Civil War , Edison learned the emerging technology of telegraphy, and traveled around the country working as a telegrapher. But with the development of auditory signals for the telegraph, he was soon at a disadvantage as a telegrapher.

To address this problem, Edison began to work on inventing devices that would help make things possible for him despite his deafness (including a printer that would convert electrical telegraph signals to letters). In early 1869, he quit telegraphy to pursue invention full time.

Edison in Menlo Park

From 1870 to 1875, Edison worked out of Newark, New Jersey, where he developed telegraph-related products for both Western Union Telegraph Company (then the industry leader) and its rivals. Edison’s mother died in 1871, and that same year he married 16-year-old Mary Stillwell.

Despite his prolific telegraph work, Edison encountered financial difficulties by late 1875, but one year later—with the help of his father—Edison was able to build a laboratory and machine shop in Menlo Park, New Jersey, 12 miles south of Newark.

With the success of his Menlo Park “invention factory,” some historians credit Edison as the inventor of the research and development (R&D) lab, a collaborative, team-based model later copied by AT&T at Bell Labs , the DuPont Experimental Station , the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) and other R&D centers.

In 1877, Edison developed the carbon transmitter, a device that improved the audibility of the telephone by making it possible to transmit voices at higher volume and with more clarity.

That same year, his work with the telegraph and telephone led him to invent the phonograph, which recorded sound as indentations on a sheet of paraffin-coated paper; when the paper was moved beneath a stylus, the sounds were reproduced. The device made an immediate splash, though it took years before it could be produced and sold commercially.

Edison and the Light Bulb

In 1878, Edison focused on inventing a safe, inexpensive electric light to replace the gaslight—a challenge that scientists had been grappling with for the last 50 years. With the help of prominent financial backers like J.P. Morgan and the Vanderbilt family, Edison set up the Edison Electric Light Company and began research and development.

He made a breakthrough in October 1879 with a bulb that used a platinum filament, and in the summer of 1880 hit on carbonized bamboo as a viable alternative for the filament, which proved to be the key to a long-lasting and affordable light bulb. In 1881, he set up an electric light company in Newark, and the following year moved his family (which by now included three children) to New York.

Though Edison’s early incandescent lighting systems had their problems, they were used in such acclaimed events as the Paris Lighting Exhibition in 1881 and the Crystal Palace in London in 1882.

Competitors soon emerged, notably Nikola Tesla, a proponent of alternating or AC current (as opposed to Edison’s direct or DC current). By 1889, AC current would come to dominate the field, and the Edison General Electric Co. merged with another company in 1892 to become General Electric .

Later Years and Inventions

Edison’s wife, Mary, died in August 1884, and in February 1886 he remarried Mirna Miller; they would have three children together. He built a large estate called Glenmont and a research laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey, with facilities including a machine shop, a library and buildings for metallurgy, chemistry and woodworking.

Spurred on by others’ work on improving the phonograph, he began working toward producing a commercial model. He also had the idea of linking the phonograph to a zoetrope, a device that strung together a series of photographs in such a way that the images appeared to be moving. Working with William K.L. Dickson, Edison succeeded in constructing a working motion picture camera, the Kinetograph, and a viewing instrument, the Kinetoscope, which he patented in 1891.

After years of heated legal battles with his competitors in the fledgling motion-picture industry, Edison had stopped working with moving film by 1918. In the interim, he had had success developing an alkaline storage battery, which he originally worked on as a power source for the phonograph but later supplied for submarines and electric vehicles.

In 1912, automaker Henry Ford asked Edison to design a battery for the self-starter, which would be introduced on the iconic Model T . The collaboration began a continuing relationship between the two great American entrepreneurs.

Despite the relatively limited success of his later inventions (including his long struggle to perfect a magnetic ore-separator), Edison continued working into his 80s. His rise from poor, uneducated railroad worker to one of the most famous men in the world made him a folk hero.

More than any other individual, he was credited with building the framework for modern technology and society in the age of electricity. His Glenmont estate—where he died in 1931—and West Orange laboratory are now open to the public as the Thomas Edison National Historical Park .

Thomas Edison’s Greatest Invention. The Atlantic . Life of Thomas Alva Edison. Library of Congress . 7 Epic Fails Brought to You by the Genius Mind of Thomas Edison. Smithsonian Magazine .

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Collection Inventing Entertainment: The Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies

Life of thomas alva edison.

One of the most famous and prolific inventors of all time, Thomas Alva Edison exerted a tremendous influence on modern life, contributing inventions such as the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture camera, as well as improving the telegraph and telephone. In his 84 years, he acquired an astounding 1,093 patents. Aside from being an inventor, Edison also managed to become a successful manufacturer and businessman, marketing his inventions to the public. A myriad of business liaisons, partnerships, and corporations filled Edison's life, and legal battles over various patents and corporations were continuous. The following is only a brief sketch of an enormously active and complex life full of projects often occurring simultaneously. Several excellent biographies are readily available in local libraries to those who wish to learn more about the particulars of his life and many business ventures.

Edison's Early Years

Thomas A. Edison's forebears lived in New Jersey until their loyalty to the British crown during the American Revolution drove them to Nova Scotia, Canada. From there, later generations relocated to Ontario and fought the Americans in the War of 1812. Edison's mother, Nancy Elliott, was originally from New York until her family moved to Vienna, Canada, where she met Sam Edison, Jr., whom she later married. When Sam became involved in an unsuccessful insurrection in Ontario in the 1830s, he was forced to flee to the United States and in 1839 they made their home in Milan, Ohio.

Thomas Alva Edison was born to Sam and Nancy on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio. Known as "Al" in his youth, Edison was the youngest of seven children, four of whom survived to adulthood. Edison tended to be in poor health when young.

To seek a better fortune, Sam Edison moved the family to Port Huron, Michigan, in 1854, where he worked in the lumber business.

Edison was a poor student. When a schoolmaster called Edison "addled," his furious mother took him out of the school and proceeded to teach him at home. Edison said many years later, "My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me, and I felt I had some one to live for, some one I must not disappoint." 1 At an early age, he showed a fascination for mechanical things and for chemical experiments.

In 1859, Edison took a job selling newspapers and candy on the Grand Trunk Railroad to Detroit. In the baggage car, he set up a laboratory for his chemistry experiments and a printing press, where he started the Grand Trunk Herald , the first newspaper published on a train. An accidental fire forced him to stop his experiments on board.

Around the age of twelve, Edison lost almost all his hearing. There are several theories as to what caused his hearing loss. Some attribute it to the aftereffects of scarlet fever which he had as a child. Others blame it on a conductor boxing his ears after Edison caused a fire in the baggage car, an incident which Edison claimed never happened. Edison himself blamed it on an incident in which he was grabbed by his ears and lifted to a train. He did not let his disability discourage him, however, and often treated it as an asset, since it made it easier for him to concentrate on his experiments and research. Undoubtedly, though, his deafness made him more solitary and shy in dealings with others.

Telegraph Work

In 1862, Edison rescued a three-year-old from a track where a boxcar was about to roll into him. The grateful father, J.U. MacKenzie, taught Edison railroad telegraphy as a reward. That winter, he took a job as a telegraph operator in Port Huron. In the meantime, he continued his scientific experiments on the side. Between 1863 and 1867, Edison migrated from city to city in the United States taking available telegraph jobs.

In 1868 Edison moved to Boston where he worked in the Western Union office and worked even more on his inventions. In January 1869 Edison resigned his job, intending to devote himself fulltime to inventing things. His first invention to receive a patent was the electric vote recorder, in June 1869. Daunted by politicians' reluctance to use the machine, he decided that in the future he would not waste time inventing things that no one wanted.

Edison moved to New York City in the middle of 1869. A friend, Franklin L. Pope, allowed Edison to sleep in a room at Samuel Laws' Gold Indicator Company where he was employed. When Edison managed to fix a broken machine there, he was hired to manage and improve the printer machines.

During the next period of his life, Edison became involved in multiple projects and partnerships dealing with the telegraph. In October 1869, Edison formed with Franklin L. Pope and James Ashley the organization Pope, Edison and Co. They advertised themselves as electrical engineers and constructors of electrical devices. Edison received several patents for improvements to the telegraph. The partnership merged with the Gold and Stock Telegraph Co. in 1870. Edison also established the Newark Telegraph Works in Newark, NJ, with William Unger to manufacture stock printers. He formed the American Telegraph Works to work on developing an automatic telegraph later in the year. In 1874 he began to work on a multiplex telegraphic system for Western Union, ultimately developing a quadruplex telegraph, which could send two messages simultaneously in both directions. When Edison sold his patent rights to the quadruplex to the rival Atlantic & Pacific Telegraph Co., a series of court battles followed in which Western Union won. Besides other telegraph inventions, he also developed an electric pen in 1875.

His personal life during this period also brought much change. Edison's mother died in 1871, and later that year, he married a former employee, Mary Stilwell, on Christmas Day. While Edison clearly loved his wife, their relationship was fraught with difficulties, primarily his preoccupation with work and her constant illnesses. Edison would often sleep in the lab and spent much of his time with his male colleagues. Nevertheless, their first child, Marion, was born in February 1873, followed by a son, Thomas, Jr., born on January 1876. Edison nicknamed the two "Dot" and "Dash," referring to telegraphic terms. A third child, William Leslie was born in October 1878.

Edison opened a new laboratory in Menlo Park, NJ, in 1876. This site later become known as an "invention factory," since they worked on several different inventions at any given time there. Edison would conduct numerous experiments to find answers to problems. He said, "I never quit until I get what I'm after. Negative results are just what I'm after. They are just as valuable to me as positive results." 2 Edison liked to work long hours and expected much from his employees.

In 1877, Edison worked on a telephone transmitter that greatly improved on Alexander Graham Bell's work with the telephone. His transmitter made it possible for voices to be transmitted at higer volume and with greater clarity over standard telephone lines.

Edison's experiments with the telephone and the telegraph led to his invention of the phonograph in 1877. It occurred to him that sound could be recorded as indentations on a rapidly-moving piece of paper. He eventually formulated a machine with a tinfoil-coated cylinder and a diaphragm and needle. When Edison spoke the words "Mary had a little lamb" into the mouthpiece, to his amazement the machine played the phrase back to him. The Edison Speaking Phonograph Company was established early in 1878 to market the machine, but the initial novelty value of the phonograph wore off, and Edison turned his attention elsewhere.

Edison focused on the electric light system in 1878, setting aside the phonograph for almost a decade. With the backing of financiers, The Edison Electric Light Co. was formed on November 15 to carry out experiments with electric lights and to control any patents resulting from them. In return for handing over his patents to the company, Edison received a large share of stock. Work continued into 1879, as the lab attempted not only to devise an incandescent bulb, but an entire electrical lighting system that could be supported in a city. A filament of carbonized thread proved to be the key to a long-lasting light bulb. Lamps were put in the laboratory, and many journeyed out to Menlo Park to see the new discovery. A special public exhibition at the lab was given for a multitude of amazed visitors on New Year's Eve.

Edison set up an electric light factory in East Newark in 1881, and then the following year moved his family and himself to New York and set up a laboratory there.

In order to prove its viability, the first commercial electric light system was installed on Pearl Street in the financial district of Lower Manhattan in 1882, bordering City Hall and two newspapers. Initially, only four hundred lamps were lit; a year later, there were 513 customers using 10,300 lamps. 3 Edison formed several companies to manufacture and operate the apparatus needed for the electrical lighting system: the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of New York, the Edison Machine Works, the Edison Electric Tube Company, and the Edison Lamp Works. This lighting system was also taken abroad to the Paris Lighting Exposition in 1881, the Crystal Palace in London in 1882, the coronation of the czar in Moscow, and led to the establishment of companies in several European countries.

The success of Edison's lighting system could not deter his competitors from developing their own, different methods. One result was a battle between the proponents of DC current, led by Edison, and AC current, led by George Westinghouse . Both sides attacked the limitations of each system. Edison, in particular, pointed to the use of AC current for electrocution as proof of its danger. DC current could not travel over as long a system as AC, but the AC generators were not as efficient as the ones for DC. By 1889, the invention of a device that combined an AC induction motor with a DC dynamo offered the best performance of all, and AC current became dominant. The Edison General Electric Co. merged with Thomson-Houston in 1892 to become General Electric Co., effectively removing Edison further from the electrical field of business.

An Improved Phonograph

Edison's wife, Mary, died on August 9, 1884, possibly from a brain tumor. Edison remarried to Mina Miller on February 24, 1886, and, with his wife, moved into a large mansion named Glenmont in West Orange, New Jersey. Edison's children from his first marriage were distanced from their father's new life, as Edison and Mina had their own family: Madeleine, born on 1888; Charles on 1890; and Theodore on 1898. Unlike Mary, who was sickly and often remained at home, and was also deferential to her husband's wishes, Mina was an active woman, devoting much time to community groups, social functions, and charities, as well as trying to improve her husband's often careless personal habits.

In 1887, Edison had built a new, larger laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey. The facility included a machine shop, phonograph and photograph departments, a library, and ancillary buildings for metallurgy, chemistry, woodworking, and galvanometer testings.

While Edison had neglected further work on the phonograph , others had moved forward to improve it. In particular, Chichester Bell and Charles Sumner Tainter developed an improved machine that used a wax cylinder and a floating stylus, which they called a graphophone. They sent representatives to Edison to discuss a possible partnership on the machine, but Edison refused to collaborate with them, feeling that the phonograph was his invention alone. With this competition, Edison was stirred into action and resumed his work on the phonograph in 1887. Edison eventually adopted methods similar to Bell and Tainter's in his own phonograph.

The phonograph was initially marketed as a business dictation machine. Entrepreneur Jesse H. Lippincott acquired control of most of the phonograph companies, including Edison's, and set up the North American Phonograph Co. in 1888. The business did not prove profitable, and when Lippincott fell ill, Edison took over the management. In 1894, the North American Phonograph Co. went into bankruptcy, a move which allowed Edison to buy back the rights to his invention. In 1896, Edison started the National Phonograph Co. with the intent of making phonographs for home amusement. Over the years, Edison made improvements to the phonograph and to the cylinders which were played on them, the early ones being made of wax. Edison introduced an unbreakable cylinder record, named the Blue Amberol, at roughly the same time he entered the disc phonograph market in 1912. The introduction of an Edison disc was in reaction to the overwhelming popularity of discs on the market in contrast to cylinders. Touted as being superior to the competition's records, the Edison discs were designed to be played only on Edison phonographs, and were cut laterally as opposed to vertically. The success of the Edison phonograph business, though, was always hampered by the company's reputation of choosing lower-quality recording acts. In the 1920s, competition from radio caused business to sour, and the Edison disc business ceased production in 1929.

Other Ventures: Ore-milling and Cement

Another Edison interest was an ore-milling process that would extract various metals from ore. In 1881, he formed the Edison Ore-Milling Co., but the venture proved fruitless as there was no market for it. In 1887, he returned to the project, thinking that his process could help the mostly depleted Eastern mines compete with the Western ones. In 1889, the New Jersey and Pennsylvania Concentrating Works was formed, and Edison became absorbed by its operations and began to spend much time away from home at the mines in Ogdensburg, New Jersey. Although he invested much money and time into this project, it proved unsuccessful when the market went down and additional sources of ore in the Midwest were found.

Edison also became involved in promoting the use of cement and formed the Edison Portland Cement Co. in 1899. He tried to promote widespread use of cement for the construction of low-cost homes and envisioned alternative uses for concrete in the manufacture of phonographs, furniture, refrigerators, and pianos. Unfortunately, Edison was ahead of his time with these ideas, as widespread use of concrete proved economically unfeasible at that time.

Motion Pictures

In 1888, Edison met Eadweard Muybridge at West Orange and viewed Muybridge's zoopraxiscope. This machine used a circular disc with still photographs of the successive phases of movement around the circumference to recreate the illusion of movement. Edison declined to work with Muybridge on the device and decided to work on his own motion picture camera at his laboratory. As Edison put it in a caveat written the same year, "I am experimenting upon an instrument which does for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear." 4

The task of inventing the machine fell to Edison's associate William K. L. Dickson. Dickson initially experimented with a cylinder-based device for recording images, before turning to a celluloid strip. In October of 1889, Dickson greeted Edison's return from Paris with a new device that projected pictures and contained sound. After more work, patent applications were made in 1891 for a motion picture camera, called a Kinetograph, and a Kinetoscope, a motion picture peephole viewer.

Kinetoscope parlors opened in New York and soon spread to other major cities during 1894. In 1893, a motion picture studio, later dubbed the Black Maria (the slang name for a police paddy wagon which the studio resembled), was opened at the West Orange complex. Short films were produced using variety acts of the day. Edison was reluctant to develop a motion picture projector, feeling that more profit was to be made with the peephole viewers.

When Dickson aided competitors on developing another peephole motion picture device and the eidoloscope projection system, later to develop into the Mutoscope, he was fired. Dickson went on to form the American Mutoscope Co. along with Harry Marvin, Herman Casler, and Elias Koopman. Edison subsequently adopted a projector developed by Thomas Armat and Charles Francis Jenkins and re-named it the Vitascope and marketed it under his name. The Vitascope premiered on April 23, 1896, to great acclaim.

Competition from other motion picture companies soon created heated legal battles between them and Edison over patents. Edison sued many companies for infringement. In 1909, the formation of the Motion Picture Patents Co. brought a degree of cooperation to the various companies who were given licenses in 1909, but in 1915, the courts found the company to be an unfair monopoly.

In 1913, Edison experimented with synchronizing sound to film. A Kinetophone was developed by his laboratory which synchronized sound on a phonograph cylinder to the picture on a screen. Although this initially brought interest, the system was far from perfect and disappeared by 1915. By 1918, Edison ended his involvement in the motion picture field.

Edison's Later Years

In 1911, Edison's companies were re-organized into Thomas A. Edison, Inc. As the organization became more diversified and structured, Edison became less involved in the day-to-day operations, although he still had some decision-making authority. The goals of the organization became more to maintain market viability than to produce new inventions frequently.

A fire broke out at the West Orange laboratory in 1914, destroying 13 buildings. Although the loss was great, Edison spearheaded the rebuilding of the lot.

When Europe became involved in World War I, Edison advised preparedness, and felt that technology would be the future of war. He was named head of the Naval Consulting Board in 1915, an attempt by the government to bring science into its defense program. Although mainly an advisory board, it was instrumental in the formation of a laboratory for the Navy which opened in 1923, although several of Edison's suggestions on the matter were disregarded. During the war, Edison spent much of his time doing naval research, in particular working on submarine detection, but he felt that the navy was not receptive to many of his inventions and suggestions.

In the 1920s, Edison's health became worse, and he began to spend more time at home with his wife. His relationship with his children was distant, although Charles was president of Thomas A. Edison, Inc. While Edison continued to experiment at home, he could not perform some experiments that he wanted to at his West Orange laboratory because the board would not approve them. One project that held his fascination during this period was the search for an alternative to rubber.

Henry Ford, an admirer and friend of Edison's, reconstructed Edison's invention factory as a museum at Greenfield Village, Michigan, which opened during the 50th anniversary of Edison's electric light in 1929. The main celebration for Light's Golden Jubilee, co-hosted by Ford and General Electric, took place in Dearborn along with a huge celebratory dinner in Edison's honor attended by notables such as President Hoover, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., George Eastman, Marie Curie, and Orville Wright. Edison's health, however, had declined to the point that he could not stay for the entire ceremony.

For his last two years, a series of ailments caused his health to decline even more until he lapsed into a coma on October 14, 1931. He died on October 18, 1931, at his estate, Glenmont, in West Orange, New Jersey.

• Martin V. Melosi, Thomas A. Edison and the Modernization of America , (Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman/Little, Brown Higher Education, 1990) p. 8. [ Return to text ]
• Poster for Thomas A. Edison 150th Anniversary, 1847-1997, United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Edison National Historic Site, West Orange, New Jersey. [ Return to text ]
• Melosi, p. 73. [ Return to text ]
• Matthew Josephson, Edison: A Biography , (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1959) p. 386. [ Return to text ]

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A Brief Biography of Thomas Alva Edison

Written by John D. Venable

“But the man whose clothes were always wrinkled, whose hair was always tousled and who frequently lacked a shave probably did more than any other one man to influence the industrial civilization in which we live. 

To him we owe the phonograph and motion picture which spice hours of leisure; the universal electric motor and the nickel-iron-alkaline storage battery with their numberless commercial uses; the magnetic ore separator, the fluorescent lamp, the basic principles of modern electronics. Medicine thanks him for the fluoroscope, which he left to the public domain without patent. Chemical research follows the field he opened in his work on coal-tar derivatives, synthetic carbolic acid, and a source of natural rubber that can be grown in the United States. 

His greatest contribution, perhaps, was the incandescent lamp – the germ from which sprouted the great power utility systems of our day…​Although his formal education stopped at the age of 12, his whole life was consumed by a passion for self-education, and he was a moving force behind the establishment of a great scientific journal.

The number of patents – 1100 – far exceeds that of any other inventor. And the 2500 notebooks in which he recorded the progress of thousands of experiments are still being gleaned of unused material. Once, asked in what his interests lay, Edison smilingly responded, ‘Everything.’ If we ask ourselves where the fruits of his life are seen, we might well answer, ‘Everywhere.’”

Thomas Alva Edison

The story of a great american ​.

Journeying from Holland, the Edison family originally landed in Elizabethport, New Jersey, about 1730.  In Colonial times, they farmed a large tract of land not far from West Orange, New Jersey, where Thomas A. Edison made his home some 160 years later.  Their fortunes fluctuated with their politics.  Like many well-to-do landowners of that time, John Edison, a great-grandfather of the inventor, remained a Loyalist during the revolution, suffered imprisonment and was under sentence of execution from which he was saved only through the efforts of his own and his wife’s prominent Whig relatives.  His lands were confiscated, however, and the family migrated to Nova Scotia, where they remained until 1811, when they moved to Vienna, Ontario.  Edison’s grandfather, Captain Samuel Edison, served with the British in the War of 1812.

In Ontario, Edison’s father, another Samuel, met and married Nancy Elliott, schoolteacher and daughter of a minister whose family had originally come from Connecticut where her grandfather Ebenezer Elliott had served as a captain in Washington’s army.

The younger Samuel now became involved in another political struggle – the much later and unsuccessful Canadian counterpart of the American Revolution known as the Papineau-MacKenzie Rebellion.  Upon the failure of this movement, he was forced to escape across the border to the United States, and after innumerable dangers and hardships, finally reached the town of Milan, Ohio, where he decided to settle.

Thomas Edison’s Early Days

The brick cottage in which Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847, still stands in Milan, Ohio.  Its humble size and simple design serve as a constant reminder that in America, a humble beginning does not hamper the rise to success.

Even as a boy of pre-school age, “Al” Edison was extraordinarily inquisitive; he wanted to find out things for himself.  The story is told of how he tried – unsuccessfully – to solve the mystery of hatching eggs by sitting on them himself, in his brother-in-law’s barn.  Among other tales of his youth in Milan are his narrow escape from drowning in the barge canal that ran alongside the Edison home, and his public spanking in the town square after he accidentally had set fire to his father’s barn.

When he was seven years old, his family moved again; this time to Port Huron, Michigan.  But, unlike their earlier migrations by wagon, the trip was made by railroad train and lake schooner.

Edison’s formal schooling was of short duration and of little value to him.  To use his own words, he “was usually at the foot of the class.”  His teacher did not have the patience to cope with so active and inquisitive a mind, so his mother withdrew him from school and capably undertook the task of his education herself.  In spite of his lack of formal schooling, Edison recognized  the great worth of education and, in his later years, sponsored the famous Edison scholarships for outstanding high school graduates who were selected each year through a national contest.

Young Tom’s First Laboratory

Most of Edison’s vast knowledge was acquired through independent study and training.  At the age of eleven, for example, he had his own chemical laboratory in the cellar of his Port Huron home and had read such books as Gibbon’s  “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” Sears’ “History of the World,”  Burton’s “Anatomy of Melancholy,” and the “Dictionary of Sciences.”

At twelve, his parents permitted him to take a job as newsboy and candy “butcher” on the train of the Grand Trunk Railroad running from Port Huron to Detroit.  In this, his first job, Edison exhibited a knack for business and an ambition that far exceeded that of the average boy of his years.  He maintained a chemical laboratory in the train’s baggage car, which also served to house a printing press on which young Edison ran off copies of “The Weekly Herald,” the first newspaper ever edited, published and printed aboard a moving train.  In addition, he became a middle-man for fresh vegetables and fruit, buying from the farmers along the route and selling to Detroit markets.

When only thirteen years old, he was earning several dollars a day, a tidy sum even for a man in that period.  Already he was putting into practice a theory followed through his life – that hard work and sound thinking recognize no substitutes.

One of the most widely known stories about Edison is the one which attributes his deafness to a quick-tempered trainman who soundly boxed his ears when Edison’s traveling laboratory caused a fire to break out in the baggage car.

Only part of the tale is true:  the fire broke out and the trainman boxed his ears, but Edison himself never believed his deafness resulted from this incident.  He traced it to a later occasion when another trainman thoughtlessly picked him up by the ears to help him aboard a train that was pulling out of a station.

It was during this period that a dramatic incident occurred which altered the entire course of Edison’s career and which, therefore, may well have also altered the course of world progress.  At Mt. Clemens, Michigan, the young Edison risked his own life to save the station agent’s little boy from death under a moving freight car.  The grateful father taught him telegraphy as a reward.  Edison’s association with telegraphy brought to a climax his interest in electricity – a word with which the name of Edison was to become inseparably associated – and led him into studies and experiments which resulted in some of the world’s greatest inventions.

A Telegrapher at Seventeen

Edison’s skill as a sender and receiver earned him a job as a regular telegrapher on the Grand Trunk line at Stratford Junction, Ontario, when only seventeen years of age.  His creative imagination, however, proved his downfall in this instance.  He was fired when a supervisor happened across the secret of one of the young inventor’s creations – a device for automatically “reporting in” on the wire in Morse code every hour, when, in actuality, Edison was napping to make up for sleep lost in pursuing his studies.

As a telegrapher, Edison traveled throughout the middle west, always studying and experimenting to improve the crude telegraph apparatus of the era.  Turning eastward, Edison went to Boston where he went to work for Western Union as an operator.  In his spare time, he created his first invention to be patented – a machine for electrically recording and counting the “Ayes” and “Nays” cast by members of a legislative body.  While the invention earned him no money, because members of Congress could not be interested in any device to speed up proceedings, it did teach him a commercial lesson.  Then and there he decided never again to invent anything unless he was sure it was wanted.

From Boston, Edison went to New York, where he landed, poor and in debt, in 1869.  While working as an employee of the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company and later as a partner with Franklin L. Pope in their own electrical engineering company.  Edison invented the Universal Stock Printer.  For this device he received $40,000, the first money an invention brought him.

To Edison, the mere possession of money meant nothing; its only value rested in its ability to provide the tools and equipment necessary for further work and experiment.  With the $40,000 he opened a factory in Newark, New Jersey, in 1870, where he manufactured stock tickers and devoted his energies to invention.

By the time he was twenty-three, his established methods of hard work and sound thinking  had catapulted him to a point on the road to success rarely attained by one so young.

Edison’s Hectic Years

With his success as an inventor and manufacturer at the age of twenty-three, Thomas Alva Edison in 1870 plunged into a period of feverish endeavor that has no parallel in the lives of other great men of science.  His fertile brain and boundless energy drove him from one great invention to another, each of which, in turn, launched new manufacturing enterprises, giving employment to thousands of people.  Few were his working days that did not extend through twenty of the twenty-four hours.  The group of men who worked closely with him as his immediate assistants earned him the name of the “insomnia squad” as they tried valiantly to follow the pace set by the “boss.”

Actually there was no “boss” since, as the men who worked with him have testified, he worked harder, longer, and looked less like the owner of the plant than anyone present.  A casual visitor, we are told, would have regarded Edison as one of the least likely persons to have been in charge, judging by outward appearances.  Democracy walked with him through his laboratory.

Work in his Newark plants constantly demanded more time for production than creation, so in 1876, in order to devote more of his energies to invention, he turned the management of his factories over to trusted assistants and established laboratories at Menlo Park, New Jersey.

Before moving to Menlo Park, however, Edison made one of his great discoveries, an electrical phenomenon he called “etheric force.”  This was the discovery that electrically generated waves would traverse an open circuit – the principle on which wireless telegraphy and radio are founded.  The idea that electricity would traverse space was almost beyond belief at that time.

In a related field of research, Edison also discovered that messages could be sent through space by induction, in which a current generated in one set of wires induced a  like current to flow through another set of wires between which no connection existed.  As a result of this research, he received patents in 1885 on the transmission of signals, by induction, between moving train and a station and between ship and shore.

Edison Aids Marconi

Guglielmo Marconi had become a personal friend of Edison’s and, because of this friendship, Edison made these patents available to him rather than to a competitor who offered more money.  Thus, these patents helped Marconi to become recognized as the inventor of the wireless telegraph.

Edison was the first to give credit where credit was due, even though some of his earlier experiments and discoveries laid the groundwork for his successors.

It was at Newark, too, that Edison invented the “electric pen,” forerunner of the mimeograph machine.

With the opening of his Menlo Park laboratories, Edison devoted most of his time to invention rather than to the manufacture of things.  The results were astounding.

One of the greatest of the many “firsts” attributed to Edison is the carrying out of research on an organized basis.  Before Edison did this, the process of invention was usually a one-man and one-brain undertaking.  At  Menlo Park, Edison surrounded himself with scientific apparatus and trained assistants who handled the drudgery and time-consuming details of research, making possible his most acclaimed invention, the incandescent electric lamp.  Menlo Park itself was an experiment for Edison, and he did not really perfect his invention of organized research in industry until eleven years later, when he transferred operations to West Orange on a greatly enlarged scale.

Edison’s Favorite – The Phonograph

The carbon telephone transmitter which made the telephone commercially practical was invented by Edison in 1877, the same year he gave the world the phonograph.

Until Edison produced the carbon transmitter, telephone communication had been highly impractical.  He sold his rights in the invention to Western Union which, in turn, reached an agreement with the company backed by Alexander Graham Bell, and for many years thereafter telephone instruments bore the names of both Bell and Edison.  To use Edison’s expression, it was fifty-fifty – he invented the transmitter and Bell the receiver.

Edison’s carbon transmitter later helped to make radio possible in that the same principle was adopted in developing a practical microphone.

The phonograph not only was Edison’s favorite invention, but it probably was one of the most original ever created.  In most instances, the inventor is the man who first perfects a device or method for achieving a result which for a long period of time had been a goal of experimentation and research by others as well as himself.  But in the case of the phonograph, the idea of recording  sound for later reproduction had not been conceived until Edison received inspiration while experimenting with the automatic telegraph.  Just as amazing, perhaps, is the fact that his first phonograph, although just a crude model, was a complete success.

Lawyer Steals Edison Patents

Edison worked at breakneck speed during the decade following 1876.  Not alone was his own tireless constitution responsible for this pace; the period was one of unending competition and no holds were barred by his competitors. Despite his almost inhuman capacity for work, others in some instances gained recognition for creations that were rightfully his.  On one occasion, a lawyer entrusted to file applications for fifty-seven new patents stole the papers instead and sold them to Edison’s rivals.

The desire for revenge formed no part of Edison’s character, as revealed by his reaction to the theft of these patents.  Even after long years had gone by he steadfastly refused to name the dishonest attorney.  “His family might suffer,” he told associates who suggested that he make public the lawyer’s name.

Edison followed a policy which, absurd though it may sound today in contrast to the secrecy now surrounding most inventive endeavor, permitted the press to know and report even minute advances he made in experiments leading to the perfection of the first practical incandescent lamp.

The Edison Lamp

Others before and in the same period with Edison toiled long and hard to produce a practical incandescent lamp.  The idea was not original with him, but it required the Edison genius to solve the difficult problems involved.

Many persons tried to deprive Edison of the honor of having been the first to perfect a practical incandescent electric lamp, but they all met with failure.  Edison’s claim was to genuine to be set aside, even by the courts which, for one reason or another, might have been inclined to bias.

An English jurist considering the claim of an English inventor, for example, might well be inclined to rule against Edison, if such a ruling were at all possible.  But Lord Justice Fry, sitting in one of Great Britain’s Royal Courts of Justice, made this commentary on the claims of Joseph W. Swan, an English inventor: “Swan could not do what Edison did…the difference between a carbon rod (as employed by Swan) and a carbon filament (Mr. Edison’s method) was the difference between success and failure.

“Mr. Edison used the filament instead of the rod for a definite purpose, and by diminution of the sectional area made a physical law subserve the end he had in view.  The smallness of size, then, was no casual matter, but was intended to bring about, and did bring about, a result which the rod could never produce, and so converted failure into success.”

Edison realized that the invention of a practical lamp alone was not enough to replace gas as the most-used means of lighting.  Therefore, his work on the electric light is even more astonishing, because in addition to perfecting a commercially practical lamp he also invented a ‘complete generation and distribution system, including dynamos, conductors, fuses, meters, sockets, and numerous other devices.  Of 1,097 United States patents granted to Edison during his lifetime – by far the greatest number ever granted to one individual – 356 dealt with electric lighting and the generation and distribution of electricity.

The "Edison Effect"

The year 1883 was significant for Edison in that, by his discovery of what was to become known as the “Edison effect,” he pushed aside a veil of darkness behind which were to be found all the wonders of electronics.  Edison in this achievement discovered the previously unknown phenomenon by which an independent wire or plate, when placed between the legs of the filament in an electric bulb, serves as a valve to control the flow of current.  This discovery unearthed the fundamental principle on which rests the modern science of electronics.

In that year, 1883, Edison filed a patent on an electrical indicator employing the “Edison effect,” the first application in the field of electronics.

The facilities of Menlo Park were proving inadequate to meet the requirements of Edison’s amazing ability.  He began looking around for a place more suitable for his needs.  This he found in the little Essex County community of West Orange in northern New Jersey.  He gave the orders that set workmen to the task of building a new and greater research laboratory.

The West Orange Laboratory

Thomas Alva Edison entered into a new and the fullest phase of his career when, at age of forty, he moved his talents and tools from Menlo Park to his great new laboratory at West Orange, New Jersey, on November 24, 1887.

One of his first undertakings was the development of his favorite creation, the phonograph.  The pressure of his work in connection with the perfection and installation of electric lighting systems throughout the country had made it impossible for him to concentrate on the phonograph, but now he went to work in earnest to see that the instrument fulfilled the high destiny he had held out for it from its beginning ten years earlier.

During the first four years of his occupancy of his new laboratory at West Orange, he took out more than eighty patents on improvements on the cylinder phonograph and its businessman’s counterpart, the dictating machine.

At the same time, Edison interested himself in an entirely different field, one that was as new to the world as it was to him.  That field was the motion picture.  Eadweard Muybridge and others had done some experimental work, but had only hinted of motion pictures.  Muybridge, for example, by the employment of multiple cameras strung along a racetrack, had taken successive shots of a trotting horse, but he offered no method whereby the pictures could be viewed in motion.

The Motion Picture Camera

Two things led Edison to the invention of the motion picture camera:  His idea that motion could be captured by having one camera that would take repeated pictures at high speed, and a new celluloid film developed by George Eastman for use in still photography that proved adaptable to Edison’s proposed camera.

To Edison’s mind, motion pictures would do for the eye what the phonograph did for the ear.  Thus, we find that on Oct. 6, 1889, when they first projected an experimental motion picture in his laboratory, he gave birth to sound pictures as well.  The first movie actually was a “talkie.”  The picture was accompanied by synchronized sound from a phonograph record.

He applied for a patent on the motion picture camera on July 31, 1891.  The first commercial showing of motion pictures occurred three years later, April 14, 1894, with the opening of a “peephole” Kinetoscope parlor at 1155 Broadway, New York  City.

Several men developed machines for projecting motion pictures.  The best such projector, to Edison’s mind, was one built by Thomas Armat.  Edison acquired rights to Armat’s crude machine and then perfected it in his West Orange laboratory.

Commercial projection of motion pictures as we know it today began on April 23, 1896, at Koster and Bial’s Music Hall, New York City, where  the Edison Vitascope, embodying the basic principles of Armat’s invention with improvements by Edison, was used.

The vitascope was Edison’s name for the motion picture projector.  When he added sound, he called it the kinetophone, which he introduced commercially in 1913, or 13 years before Hollywood adopted that means of improving motion picture entertainment.

With Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen’s discovery of the X-ray in 1895, Edison turned his attention to the mysteries of these invisible rays.  Within a few months he developed the fluoroscope, which invention he did not patent, choosing to leave it to the public domain because of its universal need in medicine and surgery.  On May 16, 1896, he applied for a patent on the first fluorescent electric light, an invention that stemmed directly from his experimentation with the X-ray.

At the turn of the century, Edison propelled himself into one of the greatest sagas of science – his search for the acidless battery.  Others scoffed at his theory that somewhere in nature there existed the elements for a battery which would not destroy itself by corrosive action, but Edison was not to be denied.  After 10 years exhaustive experimentation he produced the alkaline storage battery, which today is employed in hundreds of industrial applications, such as providing power for mine haulage and inter- and intra-plant transportation, and in railway train lighting.

No field of scientific endeavor seemed foreign to his talents.  When, in 1914, a shortage of carbolic acid developed because World War I had cut off European supplies, Edison quickly devised a method of making domestic carbolic acid and was producing a ton a day within a month.

Edison and the War

New problems were heaped on Edison by the approaching entry of the United States into the war and the destruction by fire of his giant West Orange manufacturing plant.  Almost before the embers died, new buildings began to rise from the ruins.

America at that time was almost entirely dependent upon foreign sources for fundamental coal-tar derivatives vital to many manufacturing processes.  These derivatives were to become increasingly essential for the production of explosives, so Edison established plants for  their manufacture.  His work is recognized as having laid the groundwork for the most important development of the coal-tar chemical industry in the nation today.

Josephus Daniels, then-Secretary of the Navy, foresaw the country’s need for technological advances in its preparedness program.  His mind turned to one man, Thomas Edison, to undertake such a program, and in 1915, Edison became president of the newly created Naval Consulting Board, forerunner of the Navy Department’s great research division of today.  A colossal bronze head of the inventor, honoring him as the founder of the Naval Research Laboratories, was unveiled December 3, 1952, on the mall at the Anacostia, Maryland, Laboratories.

Edison arranged for leading scientists to serve with him on the consulting board and also made available to the government the facilities of his laboratory.  Much of the consulting board’s effort was directed against the German submarine menace.  Among the many inventions and ideas turned over to the Navy were devices and methods for detecting submarines  by sound from moving vessels and for detecting enemy planes, for locating gun positions by range sounding, improved torpedoes, a high-speed signalling shutter for searchlights, and underwater searchlights.  These and many other devices and formulas of prime importance came out of the Edison laboratory.

With the end of the war, Edison, although he had passed the 70 mark, thought only in terms of scientific and industrial progress.  There would be time enough to think of taking it easy when he reached 100, he said.  “My desire,” he once said of this period of his life, “is to do everything within my power to further free the people from drudgery, and create the largest possible measure of happiness, and prosperity.”

Honors Come to Edison

A great many honors and awards had been bestowed upon Edison by persons, societies, and countries throughout the world.  To him, such things were nice to have but were not to be sought after.  He could never get over being embarrassed when some new medal came his way.  But one of his greatest honors was yet to come.  On Oct. 20, 1928, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor – the nation’s highest award in recognition of services rendered.

A year later, on Oct. 21, 1929, the 50th anniversary of his invention of the incandescent  light, the world again paid homage to him.  In ceremonies participated in by Herbert Hoover, then-president of the United States, Henry Ford, Albert Einstein, and other world figures, Edison re-enacted the making of the first practical incandescent lamp.

Time was running out for Edison, even though his keen mind and energies refused to admit it.  Creative thought and hard work still constituted his creed, and at the age of 80 he was launched on another great experiment.  Remembering his nation’s lack of preparedness for World War I, he attacked the problem of rubber so that, in the event of another war, the United States would not be dependent upon foreign sources for this vital material.  From goldenrod grown in his experimental gardens at Fort Myers, Fla., Edison was to produce rubber before his death.

A peaceful death enveloped him at his home, Glenmont, in Llewellyn Park, West Orange, on Oct. 18, 1931.  He was 84 years old.  His lifetime had embraced four wars and as many depressions.  His achievements, more so than those of any one man, had helped to lift America to the pinnacle of greatness.  The world was his beneficiary.

Thomas Edison

SCIENTISTS (1847–1931); MILAN, OHIO

Thomas Alva Edison was an inventor unlike any throughout history—and his impact can still be felt in your everyday life. Born in Milan, Ohio, on February 11, 1847, Edison's inventions, which included perfecting the light bulb and phonograph, radically transformed modern civilization and helped make the 20th century one of the most technologically progressive eras ever.

1. Thomas Edison's list of inventions includes more than just the light bulb.

While Thomas Edison's most enduring contribution to modern life will forever remain the incandescent light bulb, he took out a total of 1093 patents that both he and his staff brought to life. Some of Thomas Edison's inventions included:

• The phonograph, the very first machine that could capture and play back sound.
• The stencil-pen, a writing instrument powered by electricity and that is thought to be the predecessor to the tattoo gun.
• The carbon transmitter, which improved the volume and clarity of voices on the telephone.
• He also helped improve existing inventions, such as the stock ticker and the automatic telegraph.

2. Thomas Edison's six children had a lot to live up to, and Thomas Alva Edison Jr. had a lot to live down.

Across two marriages , the first to Mary Stilwell from 1871 to her death in 1884 and the second to Mina Miller in 1886, Edison had six children:

• Marion Estelle Edison (with Stilwell)
• Thomas Alva Edison Jr. (with Stilwell)
• William Leslie Edison (with Stilwell)
• Madeleine Edison (with Miller)
• Charles Edison (with Miller)
• Theodore Miller Edison (with Miller)

Edison attempted to instill a love of knowledge in each of his children, though his methods were not always kind. Admonishing daughter Madeline to answer homework questions at breakfast, Edison would touch her with a hot spoon on her hand if she answered too slowly or incorrectly.

This environment was apparently too hostile for one of his sons, Thomas Alva Edison Jr. , who dropped out of prep school at age 17 and was later chastised by the press for marketing dubious inventions like the Vitalizer, a piece of headgear that promised to make the wearer think faster. In 1904, the post office charged the Vitalizer's distributor with postal fraud. In order to prevent his son from further besmirching the family name, Edison began giving his son an allowance to keep him out of the spotlight.

3. Thomas Edison has a controversial association with an elephant named Topsy.

In the 1890s, Edison's direct current (DC) electrical power was vying for supremacy with Nikola Tesla's alternating current (AC) power. During this time, Edison and his supporters argued that AC was dangerous and tried to prove it by electrocuting animals. Of course, DC could kill just as easily. In 1903, electricity was famously used to kill Topsy, a circus elephant who had been marked for execution after she had killed a spectator. Though Edison is often mentioned in conjunction with the animal's execution, a 2017 Smithsonian article claims he did not witness it and may not have even heard of the story. However, a company working under the Edison Manufacturing banner was on hand to film the sad display, and people erroneously assumed the inventor had something to do with it. But by that point, the Tesla vs. Edison war was long over, and the more versatile AC power had won out.

4. Thomas Edison's Menlo Park property was a site of both triumph and tragedy.

When Edison was 28, he purchased a housing development in Raritan Township, New Jersey, and used the property as the site for his house and laboratory. It was there that, over the course of a decade, Edison and his staff invented more than 400 items. But the site was also home to tragedy. Edison's first wife, Mary, died of a morphine overdose in 1884 while trying to manage pain following the birth of their third child. Edison distanced himself from the area after that, destroying his house and facilities. The township was renamed Edison, New Jersey, in 1954. Today, it's the site of the Thomas Edison Center at Menlo Park, where visitors can get a glimpse of Edison's many inventions.

5. Some of Thomas Edison's siblings suffered unfortunate fates.

Thomas Edison had six siblings:

• William Pitt
• Harriet Ann ("Tannie")

When Edison was born in Milan, Ohio in 1847, he was the seventh and last child of parents Samuel Edison and Nancy Elliott Edison. Unfortunately, Edison didn't get a chance to know all of his siblings. Of his parents' seven children (Marion, William Pitt, Harriet Ann, Carlile, Samuel, Eliza, and Thomas) only four survived . Carlile, Samuel, and Eliza all died in childhood.

6. The Civil War inspired Thomas Edison's interest in invention.

When Thomas Edison was 7 years old, his family relocated to Port Huron, Michigan. Edison, who went by "Al," short for his middle name of Alva, was a disinterested school student and was eventually taught at home by his mother. At 15, he decided to travel across the country, sending and receiving messages over the telegraph for trains and the Union Army during the Civil War. The experience inspired his lifelong passion for invention.

7. Thomas Edison credited a longtime physical ailment as a key factor in his success.

Beginning in childhood, Edison suffered from profound hearing loss. No one is exactly sure what caused it, though Edison himself blamed it on a train conductor who once picked him up by the ears, causing damage. More likely, ear infections affected his ability to hear. However it happened, Edison said his hearing loss led to his incredible ability to concentrate and to deeply focus on whatever task was at hand.

8. Thomas Edison's final breaths before death became a museum piece.

During his career, Edison became friends with automobile pioneer Henry Ford. As Edison's health began to deteriorate and he was eventually relegated to a wheelchair, Ford bought one for himself so that they could race. When, in 1931, it seemed as if Edison's final days were numbered, some believe that Ford asked Edison's son Charles to try and capture his father's last breath in a test tube. While Charles did not do that, Edison's room did contain test tubes during his final moments that were close to his bed. Charles asked that they be sealed with paraffin and he gave one to Ford. Labeled "Edison's Last Breath?" it's currently located at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

Most Notable Thomas Edison Inventions:

• Incandescent light bulb
• Electric vote recorder
• Carbon telephone transmitter
• Alkaline battery
• Electric pen

Famous Thomas Edison Quotes:

• "Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration."
• "The value of an idea lies in the using of it."
• "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

Biography Online

Thomas Edison Biography

Thomas Edison (1847 – 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who developed and made commercially available – many key inventions of modern life. His Edison Electric company was a pioneering company for delivering DC electricity directly into people’s homes. He filed over 1,000 patents for a variety of different inventions. Crucially, he used mass-produced techniques to make his inventions available at low cost to households across America. His most important inventions include the electric light bulb, the phonograph, the motion picture camera, an electric car and the electric power station.

“None of my inventions came by accident. I see a worthwhile need to be met and I make trial after trial until it comes. What it boils down to is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.”

– Thomas Edison, interview 1929

Short Biography Thomas Edison

As a youngster, he tried various odd jobs to earn a living. This including selling candy, vegetables and newspapers. He had a talent for business, and he successfully printed the Grand Trunk Herald along with his other newspapers. This included selling photos of his hero, Abraham Lincoln . He was able to spend his extra income on a growing chemistry set.

Unfortunately, from an early age, Edison developed a severe deafness, which ultimately left him almost 90% deaf. He would later refuse any medical treatment, saying it would be too difficult to retrain his thinking process. He seemed to take his deafness in his stride, and never saw it as a disability.

From childhood, Edison loved to experiment, especially with chemicals. However, these experiments often got Edison into difficulties. A chemistry experiment once exploded on a train, and when working on a night shift at Western Union, his lead-acid battery leaked sulphuric acid through the floor onto his boss’ desk. Edison was fired the next day.

However Edison was undimmed and, despite scrapping by in impoverished conditions for the next few years, he was able to spend most of his time working on inventions. He received his first patent on June 1, 1869, for the stock ticker. This would later earn him a considerable sum.

In the 1870s, he sold the rights to the quadruplex telegraph to Western Union for $10,000. This gave him the financial backing to establish a proper research laboratory and extend his experiments and innovations. Edison once described his invention methods as involving a lot of hard work and repeated trial and error until a method was successful.

“During all those years of experimentation and research, I never once made a discovery. All my work was deductive, and the results I achieved were those of invention, pure and simple. I would construct a theory and work on its lines until I found it was untenable. … I speak without exaggeration when I say that I have constructed 3,000 different theories in connection with the electric light, each one of them reasonable and apparently likely to be true. Yet only in two cases did my experiments prove the truth of my theory.”

– “Talks with Edison” by G.P Lathrop in Harper’s magazine, Vol. 80 (Feb. 1890), p. 425

By 1877, he had developed the phonograph (an early form of the gramophone player) This received widespread interest, and people were astonished at one of the first audio recording devices. This unique invention earned Edison the nickname ‘The Wizard of Menlo Park ‘ Edison’s device would later be improved upon by others, but he made a big step in creating the first recording device.

With William Joseph Hammer, Edison started producing the electric light bulb, and it was a great commercial success. Edison’s great advance was to use a carbonised bamboo filament that could last over 1,000 hours. In 1878, he formed the Edison Electric light Company to profit from this invention. Edison successfully predicted that he could make electric light so cheap, it would soon come universal. To capitalise on the success of the electric light bulb, he also worked on electricity distribution. His first power station was able to distribute DC current to 59 customers in lower Manhattan.

Edison’s studios now took up two blocks, and it was able to stock a huge range of natural resources, meaning that almost anything and everything could be used in trying to improve designs. This was a big factor in enabling Edison to be so successful in this era of innovation.

During the fledgeling years of electricity generation, Edison became involved in a battle between his DC current system and the AC (alternative current) system favoured by George Westinghouse (and developed by Nikola Tesla , who worked for Edison for two years before leaving in a pay dispute.)

This became known as the ‘current war’ and both sides were desperate to show the superiority of their system. The Edison company even, on occasion, electrocuted animals to show how dangerous the rival AC current was.

During World War One, Edison was asked to serve as a naval consultant, but Edison only wanted to work on defensive weapons. He was proud that he made no invention that could be used to kill. He maintained a strong belief in non-violence.

“Nonviolence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.”

Edison was also a great admirer of the Enlightenment thinker Thomas Paine . He wrote a book praising Paine in 1925; he also shared similar religious beliefs to Thomas Paine – no particular religion, but belief in a Supreme Being.

Edison made many important inventions and development in media. These included the Kinetoscope (or peephole view), the first motion pictures and improved photographic paper.

After the death of his first wife, Mary Stilwell in 1884, Edison left Menlo Park and moved to West Orange, New Jersey. In 1886, he remarried Mina Miller. In West Orange, he became friends with the industrial magnate, Henry Ford and was an active participant in the Civitan club – which involved doing things for the local community. His pace of invention slowed down in these final years, but he still kept busy, such as trying to find a domestic source of natural rubber. He was also involved in the first electric train to depart from Hoboken in 1930.

Throughout his life, he took an active interest in finding the optimal diet and believed a good diet could play a large role in improving health. In 1903, he was quoted as saying:

“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.”

He had six children, three from each marriage. Edison died of diabetes on October 18, 1931.

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan . “ Biography of Thomas Edison” , Oxford, UK – www.biographyonline.net   Published 17th July 2013. Last updated 5 March 2018.

Quotes by Thomas Edison

“Through all the years of experimenting and research, I never once made a discovery. I start where the last man left off. … All my work was deductive, and the results I achieved were those of invention pure and simple.”

As quoted in Makers of the Modern World: The Lives of Ninety-two Writers, Artists, Scientists, Statesmen, Inventors, Philosophers, Composers, and Other Creators who Formed the Pattern of Our Century (1955) by Louis Untermeyer, p. 227

“We don’t know a millionth of one percent about anything.”

As quoted in Golden Book (April 1931), according to Stevenson’s Book of Quotations (Cassell 3rd edition 1938) by Burton Egbert Stevenson

“If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”

As quoted in Motivating Humans: Goals, Emotions, and Personal Agency Beliefs (1992) by Martin E. Ford, p. 17

“To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.”

As quoted in Behavior-Based Robotics (1998) by Ronald C. Arkin. p. 8

“Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless.”

“Everyone steals in commerce and industry. I’ve stolen a lot, myself. But I know how to steal! They don’t know how to steal!”

As quoted in Tesla: The Modern Sorcerer (1999) by Daniel Blair Stewart, p. 411

“I consider Paine our greatest political thinker. As we have not advanced, and perhaps never shall advance, beyond the Declaration and Constitution, so Paine has had no successors who extended his principles.”

The Philosophy of Paine (1925)

“In ‘Common Sense’ Paine flared forth with a document so powerful that the Revolution became inevitable. Washington recognized the difference, and in his calm way said that matters never could be the same again..”

The Wizard of Menlo Park: How Thomas Alva Edison Invented the Modern World

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Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847–October 18, 1931) was an American inventor who transformed the world with inventions including the lightbulb and the phonograph. He was considered the face of technology and progress in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Fast Facts: Thomas Edison

• Known For : Inventor of groundbreaking technology, including the lightbulb and the phonograph
• Born : February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio
• Parents : Sam Edison Jr. and Nancy Elliott Edison
• Died : October 18, 1931 in West Orange, New Jersey
• Education : Three months of formal education, homeschooled until age 12
• Published Works : Quadruplex telegraph, phonograph, unbreakable cylinder record called the "Blue Ambersol," electric pen, a version of the incandescent lightbulb and an integrated system to run it, motion picture camera called a kinetograph
• Spouse(s) : Mary Stilwell, Mina Miller
• Children : Marion Estelle, Thomas Jr., William Leslie by Mary Stilwell; and Madeleine, Charles, and Theodore Miller by Mina Miller

Thomas Alva Edison was born to Sam and Nancy on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio, the son of a Canadian refugee and his schoolteacher wife. Edison's mother Nancy Elliott was originally from New York until her family moved to Vienna, Canada, where she met Sam Edison, Jr., whom she later married. Sam was the descendant of British loyalists who fled to Canada at the end of the American Revolution, but when he became involved in an unsuccessful revolt in Ontario in the 1830s he was forced to flee to the United States. They made their home in Ohio in 1839. The family moved to Port Huron, Michigan, in 1854, where Sam worked in the lumber business.

Education and First Job

Known as "Al" in his youth, Edison was the youngest of seven children, four of whom survived to adulthood, and all of them were in their teens when Edison was born. Edison tended to be in poor health when he was young and was a poor student. When a schoolmaster called Edison "addled," or slow, his furious mother took him out of the school and proceeded to teach him at home. Edison said many years later, "My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me, and I felt I had someone to live for, someone I must not disappoint." At an early age, he showed a fascination for mechanical things and chemical experiments.

In 1859 at the age of 12, Edison took a job selling newspapers and candy on the Grand Trunk Railroad to Detroit. He started two businesses in Port Huron, a newsstand and a fresh produce stand, and finagled free or very low-cost trade and transport in the train. In the baggage car, he set up a laboratory for his chemistry experiments and a printing press, where he started the "Grand Trunk Herald," the first newspaper published on a train. An accidental fire forced him to stop his experiments on board.

Loss of Hearing

Around the age of 12, Edison lost almost all of his hearing. There are several theories as to what caused this. Some attribute it to the aftereffects of scarlet fever, which he had as a child. Others blame it on a train conductor boxing his ears after Edison caused a fire in the baggage car, an incident Edison claimed never happened. Edison himself blamed it on an incident in which he was grabbed by his ears and lifted to a train. He did not let his disability discourage him, however, and often treated it as an asset since it made it easier for him to concentrate on his experiments and research. Undoubtedly, though, his deafness made him more solitary and shy in dealing with others.

Telegraph Operator

In 1862, Edison rescued a 3-year-old from a track where a boxcar was about to roll into him. The grateful father, J.U. MacKenzie, taught Edison railroad telegraphy as a reward. That winter, he took a job as a telegraph operator in Port Huron. In the meantime, he continued his scientific experiments on the side. Between 1863 and 1867, Edison migrated from city to city in the United States, taking available telegraph jobs.

Love of Invention

In 1868, Edison moved to Boston where he worked in the Western Union office and worked even more on inventing things. In January 1869 Edison resigned from his job, intending to devote himself full time to inventing things. His first invention to receive a patent was the electric vote recorder, in June 1869. Daunted by politicians' reluctance to use the machine, he decided that in the future he would not waste time inventing things that no one wanted.

Edison moved to New York City in the middle of 1869. A friend, Franklin L. Pope, allowed Edison to sleep in a room where he worked, Samuel Laws' Gold Indicator Company. When Edison managed to fix a broken machine there, he was hired to maintain and improve the printer machines.

During the next period of his life, Edison became involved in multiple projects and partnerships dealing with the telegraph. In October 1869, Edison joined with Franklin L. Pope and James Ashley to form the organization Pope, Edison and Co. They advertised themselves as electrical engineers and constructors of electrical devices. Edison received several patents for improvements to the telegraph. The partnership merged with the Gold and Stock Telegraph Co. in 1870.

American Telegraph Works

Edison also established the Newark Telegraph Works in Newark, New Jersey, with William Unger to manufacture stock printers. He formed the American Telegraph Works to work on developing an automatic telegraph later in the year.

In 1874 he began to work on a multiplex telegraphic system for Western Union, ultimately developing a quadruplex telegraph, which could send two messages simultaneously in both directions. When Edison sold his patent rights to the quadruplex to the rival Atlantic & Pacific Telegraph Co. , a series of court battles followed—which Western Union won. Besides other telegraph inventions, he also developed an electric pen in 1875.

Marriage and Family

His personal life during this period also brought much change. Edison's mother died in 1871, and he married his former employee Mary Stilwell on Christmas Day that same year. While Edison loved his wife, their relationship was fraught with difficulties, primarily his preoccupation with work and her constant illnesses. Edison would often sleep in the lab and spent much of his time with his male colleagues.

Nevertheless, their first child Marion was born in February 1873, followed by a son, Thomas, Jr., in January 1876. Edison nicknamed the two "Dot" and "Dash," referring to telegraphic terms. A third child, William Leslie, was born in October 1878.

Mary died in 1884, perhaps of cancer or the morphine prescribed to her to treat it. Edison married again: his second wife was Mina Miller, the daughter of Ohio industrialist Lewis Miller, who founded the Chautauqua Foundation. They married on February 24, 1886, and had three children, Madeleine (born 1888), Charles (1890), and Theodore Miller Edison (1898).

Edison opened a new laboratory in Menlo Park , New Jersey, in 1876. This site later become known as an "invention factory," since they worked on several different inventions at any given time there. Edison would conduct numerous experiments to find answers to problems. He said, "I never quit until I get what I'm after. Negative results are just what I'm after. They are just as valuable to me as positive results." Edison liked to work long hours and expected much from his employees .

In 1879, after considerable experimentation and based on 70 years work of several other inventors, Edison invented a carbon filament that would burn for 40 hours—the first practical incandescent lightbulb .

While Edison had neglected further work on the phonograph, others had moved forward to improve it. In particular, Chichester Bell and Charles Sumner Tainter developed an improved machine that used a wax cylinder and a floating stylus, which they called a graphophone . They sent representatives to Edison to discuss a possible partnership on the machine, but Edison refused to collaborate with them, feeling that the phonograph was his invention alone. With this competition, Edison was stirred into action and resumed his work on the phonograph in 1887. Edison eventually adopted methods similar to Bell and Tainter's in his phonograph.

Phonograph Companies

The phonograph was initially marketed as a business dictation machine. Entrepreneur Jesse H. Lippincott acquired control of most of the phonograph companies, including Edison's, and set up the North American Phonograph Co. in 1888. The business did not prove profitable, and when Lippincott fell ill, Edison took over the management.

In 1894, the North American Phonograph Co. went into bankruptcy, a move which allowed Edison to buy back the rights to his invention. In 1896, Edison started the National Phonograph Co. with the intent of making phonographs for home amusement. Over the years, Edison made improvements to the phonograph and to the cylinders which were played on them, the early ones being made of wax. Edison introduced an unbreakable cylinder record, named the Blue Amberol, at roughly the same time he entered the disc phonograph market in 1912.

The introduction of an Edison disc was in reaction to the overwhelming popularity of discs on the market in contrast to cylinders. Touted as being superior to the competition's records, the Edison discs were designed to be played only on Edison phonographs and were cut laterally as opposed to vertically. The success of the Edison phonograph business, though, was always hampered by the company's reputation of choosing lower-quality recording acts. In the 1920s, competition from radio caused the business to sour, and the Edison disc business ceased production in 1929.

Ore-Milling and Cement

Another Edison interest was an ore milling process that would extract various metals from ore. In 1881, he formed the Edison Ore-Milling Co., but the venture proved fruitless as there was no market for it. He returned to the project in 1887, thinking that his process could help the mostly depleted Eastern mines compete with the Western ones. In 1889, the New Jersey and Pennsylvania Concentrating Works was formed, and Edison became absorbed by its operations and began to spend much time away from home at the mines in Ogdensburg, New Jersey. Although he invested much money and time into this project, it proved unsuccessful when the market went down, and additional sources of ore in the Midwest were found.

Edison also became involved in promoting the use of cement and formed the Edison Portland Cement Co. in 1899. He tried to promote the widespread use of cement for the construction of low-cost homes and envisioned alternative uses for concrete in the manufacture of phonographs, furniture, refrigerators, and pianos. Unfortunately, Edison was ahead of his time with these ideas, as the widespread use of concrete proved economically unfeasible at that time.

Motion Pictures

In 1888, Edison met Eadweard Muybridge at West Orange and viewed Muybridge's Zoopraxiscope. This machine used a circular disc with still photographs of the successive phases of movement around the circumference to recreate the illusion of movement. Edison declined to work with Muybridge on the device and decided to work on his motion picture camera at his laboratory. As Edison put it in a caveat written the same year, "I am experimenting upon an instrument which does for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear."

The task of inventing the machine fell to Edison's associate William K. L. Dickson. Dickson initially experimented with a cylinder-based device for recording images, before turning to a celluloid strip. In October 1889, Dickson greeted Edison's return from Paris with a new device that projected pictures and contained sound. After more work, patent applications were made in 1891 for a motion picture camera, called a Kinetograph, and a Kinetoscope, a motion picture peephole viewer.

Kinetoscope parlors opened in New York and soon spread to other major cities during 1894. In 1893, a motion picture studio, later dubbed the Black Maria (the slang name for a police paddy wagon which the studio resembled), was opened at the West Orange complex. Short films were produced using a variety of acts of the day. Edison was reluctant to develop a motion picture projector, feeling that more profit was to be made with the peephole viewers.

When Dickson assisted competitors on developing another peephole motion picture device and the eidoscope projection system, later to develop into the Mutoscope, he was fired. Dickson went on to form the American Mutoscope Co. along with Harry Marvin, Herman Casler, and Elias Koopman. Edison subsequently adopted a projector developed by Thomas Armat and Charles Francis Jenkins and renamed it the Vitascope and marketed it under his name. The Vitascope premiered on April 23, 1896, to great acclaim.

Patent Battles

Competition from other motion picture companies soon created heated legal battles between them and Edison over patents. Edison sued many companies for infringement. In 1909, the formation of the Motion Picture Patents Co. brought a degree of cooperation to the various companies who were given licenses in 1909, but in 1915, the courts found the company to be an unfair monopoly.

In 1913, Edison experimented with synchronizing sound to film. A Kinetophone was developed by his laboratory and synchronized sound on a phonograph cylinder to the picture on a screen. Although this initially brought interest, the system was far from perfect and disappeared by 1915. By 1918, Edison ended his involvement in the motion picture field.

In 1911, Edison's companies were re-organized into Thomas A. Edison, Inc. As the organization became more diversified and structured, Edison became less involved in the day-to-day operations, although he still had some decision-making authority. The goals of the organization became more to maintain market viability than to produce new inventions frequently.

A fire broke out at the West Orange laboratory in 1914, destroying 13 buildings. Although the loss was great, Edison spearheaded the rebuilding of the lot.

World War I

When Europe became involved in World War I, Edison advised preparedness and felt that technology would be the future of war. He was named the head of the Naval Consulting Board in 1915, an attempt by the government to bring science into its defense program. Although mainly an advisory board, it was instrumental in the formation of a laboratory for the Navy that opened in 1923. During the war, Edison spent much of his time doing naval research, particularly on submarine detection, but he felt the Navy was not receptive to many of his inventions and suggestions.

Health Issues

In the 1920s, Edison's health became worse and he began to spend more time at home with his wife. His relationship with his children was distant, although Charles was president of Thomas A. Edison, Inc. While Edison continued to experiment at home, he could not perform some experiments that he wanted to at his West Orange laboratory because the board would not approve them. One project that held his fascination during this period was the search for an alternative to rubber.

Death and Legacy

Henry Ford , an admirer and a friend of Edison's, reconstructed Edison's invention factory as a museum at Greenfield Village, Michigan, which opened during the 50th anniversary of Edison's electric light in 1929. The main celebration of Light's Golden Jubilee, co-hosted by Ford and General Electric, took place in Dearborn along with a huge celebratory dinner in Edison's honor attended by notables such as President Hoover , John D. Rockefeller, Jr., George Eastman , Marie Curie , and Orville Wright . Edison's health, however, had declined to the point that he could not stay for the entire ceremony.

During the last two years of his life, a series of ailments caused his health to decline even more until he lapsed into a coma on October 14, 1931. He died on October 18, 1931, at his estate, Glenmont, in West Orange, New Jersey.

• Israel, Paul. "Edison: A Life of Invention." New York, Wiley, 2000.
• Josephson, Matthew. "Edison: A Biography." New York, Wiley, 1992.
• Stross, Randall E. "The Wizard of Menlo Park: How Thomas Alva Edison Invented the Modern World." New York: Three Rivers Press, 2007.
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Famous Scientists

Thomas Alva Edison

Thomas Alva Edison is one of the greatest American inventors who held countless patents, majority of them related to electricity and power. While two of his most famous inventions are the incandescent lamp and the phonograph, arguably the most significant invention of Edison is considered to be large-scale organized research.

Early Life:

Edison was born on February 11, 1847 in the small village of Milan, Ohio, the youngest of seven children. His father was a versatile person and a man-of-all-work, while his mother was a teacher. Edison was mostly homeschooled by his mother. Edison became a salesman of fruit, paper and other goods on the Grand Trunk Railroad at the tender age of 12. With the help of his tiny handpress in a trash car, he wrote and published the Grand Trunk Herald in 1862, which was sent to 400 railroad employees. The same year Edison worked as a telegraph operator, trained by the father of a child whose life he had saved. Edison was a tramp telegrapher, as he was exempted from military service due to his deafness. In 1868, he was then recruited by Western Union Telegraph Company in Boston.

Early Conceptions:

Perhaps the first invention of Edison was a telegraph repeater in 1864 which worked automatically, while his earliest patent was for an electric vote recorder. He acquired a partnership in a New York electrical company in 1869, where he honed the stock ticker and by 1871 had designed the universal stock printer. The New York Stock Exchange bought nearly 5,000 of Edison’s universal tickers between 1871 and 1874. With the money he received, Edison paid for his own factory in Newark, N.J., where he hired technicians to help him with more inventions. His dream was to create an “invention factory.” Almost 80 “earnest men,” including physicists, mathematicians and chemists, were among his collaborators. “Invention to order” made him good money at his laboratory.

From 1870 to 1875 Edison devised many telegraphic advances including receivers, transmitters, the duplex, tape and automatic printers. He also collaborated in 1871 with Christopher Sholes, known as “father of the typewriter,” to ameliorate the typing machine. Edison claimed to have made twelve typewriters at Newark in 1870. As a result, the Remington Company purchased his interests.

Edison’s carbon telegraph transmitter for Western Union was a useful breakthrough for the development of the commercial Bell telephone. The money he got from Western Union for the transmitter was spent establishing a factory at Menlo Park, N.J. He used scientific talent to register over 300 patents in just 6 years. His electric pen (1877) used as a perforating device, developed stencils to produce copies.

Other Inventions and Contributions:

Probably his most impressive invention, the phonograph, for the mechanical recording and reproduction of sound, was patented in 1877. The Edison Speaking Phonograph Company was established in early 1878, to exploit the new machine. Edison received $10,000 for the manufacturing and sales rights and 20% of the profits; by 1890 he held over 80 phonograph patents.

To explore incandescence, Edison and his fellows, among them J. P. Morgan, developed the Edison Electric Light Company in 1878. Years later, the company became the General Electric Company. Edison invented the first practical incandescent lamp in 1879. With months of hard work researching metal filaments, Edison and his staff analyzed 6,000 organic fibers around the world and determined that the Japanese bamboo was ideal for mass production. Large scale production of these cheap lamps turned out to be profitable. He later patented the first fluorescent lamp in 1896.

In 1882 Edison made an amazing scientific discovery termed the Edison Effect. He discovered that in a vacuum, electrons flowed from a heated element (such as an incandescent filament) to a cooler metal plate. The electrons flow only one way, from the hot element to the cool plate, like a diode. This effect is now called “thermionic emission.”

A method to transmit telegraphic “aerial” signals over short distances was patented by Edison in 1885. The “wireless” patent was later sold to Guglielmo Marconi.

Edison established the huge West Orange, N.J., factory in 1887 and supervised it until 1931. This was probably the world’s most cutting-edge research laboratory, and a forerunner to modern research and development laboratories, with experts systematically investigating and researching for the solution to problems.

The Edison battery, developed in 1910, used an alkaline electrolyte, and proved to be a superb storage device. He enhanced the copper oxide battery, strikingly similar to modern dry cells, in 1902.

He operated his first commercial electric power station in London in 1882, and America’s first electric station opened in New York City later that same year using a DC supply system.

The kinetograph, his motion picture camera, photographed action on 50-foot strips of film, and produced sixteen images per foot. Edison built a small movie production studio in 1893 called the “Black Maria,” which made the first Edison movies. The kinetoscope projector of 1893 displayed the films. The earliest commercial movie theater, a peepshow, was established in New York in 1884. After developing and modifying the projector of Thomas Armat in 1895, Edison commercialized it as the “Vitascope”.

The Edison Company created over 1,700 movies. Edison set the benchmark for talking pictures in 1904 by synchronizing movies with the phonograph. His cinemaphone adjusted the film speed to the phonograph speed. The kinetophone projected talking pictures in 1913. The phonograph, behind the screen, was synchronized by pulleys and ropes with the projector. Edison brought forth many “talkies.”

The universal motor, which utilized alternating or direct current, was devised in 1907. The electric safety lantern, patented in 1914, significantly reduced casualties among miners. The same year Edison devised the telescribe, which unified characteristics of the telephone and dictating phonograph.

Services for the Government:

Edison presided on the U.S. Navy Consulting Board throughout World War I and developed 45 inventions towards the war effort. These inventions included substitutes for antecedently imported chemicals (such as carbolic acid), a ship-telephone system, an underwater searchlight and defensive instruments against U-boats. Later on, Edison launched the Naval Research Laboratory, the eminent American institution for organized research involving weapons.

This multi-genius died on Oct. 18, 1931, aged 84 in West Orange, N.J. The laboratory buildings and equipment affiliated with Edison were upheld in Greenfield Village, Detroit, Michigan by Henry Ford, a friend and admirer.

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Ahmed Zewail

		Thomas Alva Edison
		Biography
Document     Of The Age: Electricity and Man" And TIME MAGAZINE MILLENNIAL Surprisingly, little "Al Edison," who was the last of seven children in his family, did not learn to communicate very well until he was three and a half years of age. Soon thereafter, he suddenly began pleading with every adult he met to explain the workings of just about everything he encountered. If they said they didn't know, he would look them straight in the eyes, with deeply set and vibrant blue-green eyes and ask them "Why?" Please Scroll Down For The Story Contrary to popular belief, Thomas Edison was not born into poverty in a backwater mid-western "hicktown." Actually, he was born - on Feb. 11, 1847 - to middle-class parents in the bustling port of Milan, Ohio, a vital community that - next to Odessa, Russia - was the largest wheat shipping center in the world. In 1854, his family moved to the vibrant city of Port Huron, Michigan, which ultimately surpassed the commercial preeminence of both Milan and Odessa.... If modern psychology had existed back then, Tom might have been deemed a victim of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and proscribed a dose of the "miracle drug" Ritalin. Instead, when his beloved mother - whom he often recalled "was the making of me (because) she was so true and so sure of me...and  always made me feel I had someone to live for - and whom I must never disappoint - became aware of this situation, she eventually withdrew him from school and tried to home-teach" him. she believed her son's slightly unusual physical appearance and demeanor were merely outward signs of his above-average intelligence. Its also noteworthy to add here that the contents of a note that Tom's teacher sent home to his mother at this time, informing her that "the child is as dense as a stump and virtually unteachable," was never revealed to him until many years after her death. in any case, "quietly ignoring the its existence and essence, she and her husband utterly dedicated themselves to educating their beloved child by themselves.              A proud descendant of the distinguished old Elliot family of New England, New York born Nancy Edison was the devout and charming daughter of a highly respected Presbyterian minister, as well as an accomplished educator in her own right. After the above incident, she commenced teaching her favorite son the "Three R's" and the Bible. Meanwhile, his rather "worldly and roguish" father, Samuel, encouraged him to focus on the great classics, giving him a ten cents reward for each one he completed.   It wasn't long thereafter that the serious minded youngster developed a deep interest in world history and English literature. Interestingly, many years later, Tom's abiding fondness for Shakespeare's plays lead him to briefly consider becoming an actor. But, because of his high-pitched voice and extreme shyness before every audience - "except those he was trying to influence into helping him finance ever more inventions" - he soon gave up the idea.  At age 11, Tom's parents tried to appease his voracious appetite for knowledge by teaching him how to use the resources of the local library. This skill became the foundation of many factors that gradually caused  him to prefer learning via independent self instruction.   Starting with the last book on the bottom shelf, Tom now set out to systematically read every book in the stacks.  Wisely, however, his parents promptly guided him towards being ever more selective in what he read. So, by age 12, Tom had not only completed Gibbon's Rise And Fall Of The Roman Empire, Sears' History Of The World, and Burton's Anatomy Of Melancholy, he had devoured The World Dictionary of Science and a number of works on Practical Arithmetic and Chemistry. But, in spite of their noble efforts, Tom's dedicated parents soon found themselves incapable of addressing his increasing interest in the Sciences and mathematics. For example, when he began to question them about concepts dealing with Physics and such "overly high-tone" language and mathematics.  things to himself through his own method of objective examination and experimentation." Tom's response to the Principia  enhanced his propensity towards gleaning insights from the writings and activities of great men and women of wisdom, never forgetting that "even might be entrenched in preconceived dogma and mired down in error...." All the while, he was cultivating a strong sense of perseverence, readily expending whatever amount of time and perspiration that was needed to overcome any challenge. Which was a characteristic that he later noted was contrary to the way most people respond to stress and strain on their body. The key upshot of this attribute was that his unique mental and physical, stamina stood him in very good stead when he later took on the incredible rigors of a being a successful inventor in the mid-to-late 19th Century. a positive way, was his poor hearing. Even though this condition - and the fact that he had only three months of formal schooling - prevented him from taking advantage of the benefits of a secondary education in contemporary mathematics, physics, and engineering etc., he never let it interfere with finding ways of compensating.  19th century electrical science. And of course, at the dawn of the "Age Of Electric Lights And Dynamos, nothing could have better served his destiny.... After his hero, Abraham Lincoln, was nominated for president, Tom not only distributed campaign literature on his behalf, he  peddled flattering photographs of this "great emancipator." (Note: Of related interest, 25 years later, Tom's strong feelings about abolition was the key factor in encouraging him to select as the first place on earth to model his "World's first calibrated, perfected and standardized 3 wire, undergound central power system etc., which is fully detailed elsewhere on this website.)  At its peak, Tom's mini-publishing venture netted him more than ten dollars per day. Because this was considerably more than enough to provide for his own support, he had a good deal of extra income, most of which went towards outfitting a chemical laboratory he had set up in the basement of his home. But because his, usually very patient and tolerant, mother was "worried about all the strange odors and dangerous poisons he was amassing," he transferred most of them to a locked room in the basement of his home. And placed the remainder in his locker room on the train.   One day, while traversing a bumpy section of track, the train lurched, causing a stick of phosphorous to roll onto the floor and  burst into flames. Within moments, the baggage car caught fire. The conductor was so angry, he severely chastised the boy and struck him with a powerful blow on the side of his head. Purportedly, this could have enhanced some of the loss of hearing he may have inherited and from a later bout he had with scarlet fever. In any case, the station-master penalized him by restricting him to peddling his newspaper to only venues in railroad stations along the track ....  Remarkably, many years later, and not long after he had acquired the means to have an operation that "might have very likely restored his hearing," he flatly refused to act upon the option. His rationale was that he was afraid he "would have difficulty re-learning how to channel his thinking in an ever more noisy world."              At this juncture, one of the most significant events in Tom's life occurred. As a reward for his heroism - the child's grateful father taught him how to master the use of Morse code and the telegraph. Which in the "age of telegraphy," this was akin to being introduced to learning how to use a state-of-the-art computer.        By age 15, Tom had pretty much mastered the basics of this fascinating new career and obtained a job as a replacement for one of the thousands of "brass pounders" (telegraph operators) who had gone off to serve in the Civil War. He now had a golden opportunity to enhance his speed and efficiency in sending and receiving code and performing experiments designed to improve this device....      Shortly after the Civil War ended, to his mother's great dismay, Tom decided that it was time to "seek his fortune." So, over the next few years, he meandered throughout the Central States, supporting himself as a "tramp telegraph operator".       At age 16, after working in a variety of telegraph offices, where he "was able to squeeze in numerous moonlight experiments of his own," he finally came up with his first invention. Called an "automatic repeater," it transmitted telegraph signals between unmanned stations, allowing virtually anyone to easily and accurately translate Morse code at their own speed and convenience. Curiously, he never patented the initial version of this idea.      In 1868 - after making a name for himself amongst fellow telegraphers for being a rather flamboyant and quick witted character who enjoyed playing "mostly harmless" practical jokes - he returned home one day ragged and penniless. Sadly, he found his parents in an even worse predicament.... First, his beloved mother was beginning to show signs of mental derangement "which was probably brought on by the strains of an often difficult life." Making matters worse, his occasionally impulsive father had just quit his job at the local bank, which was about to foreclose on the family's homestead.      Tom promptly came to grips with the pathos of this overall situation and - perhaps for the first time in his life - resolved to address head-on a number of his own immature shortcomings. After a good deal of soul searching and angiush about leaving his folks, he finally decided that the best thing he could do would be to get right back out on his own - and try to make some money....         Shortly thereafter, Tom accepted the suggestion of a fellow "lightening slinger" named Billy Adams to "Come East and apply for a permanent job as a telegrapher with the relatively prestigious Western Union Company in Boston." His willingness to travel over a thousand miles from home was at least partly influenced by the fact that he had been given a free rail ticket by the local street railway company for some repairs he had done for them. The most important factor, however, was the fact that greater Boston - not greater New York City - was then considered "the hub of the scientific, educational, and cultural universe..."        Throughout the mid-19th century, New England had many features that were somewhat analogous to today's Silicon Valley in California. However, instead of being a haven for the thousands of young "tekkies" - who communicate with each via the internet of today - it was the home of scores of young telegraphers who anxiously stayed abreast of the emerging new age of electricity by communicating via Morse telegraph code.      During these latter days of this "Age of Telegraphy," Tom toiled 12 hours a day and six days a week for Western Union. Meanwhile, he continued his habit of "moonlighting" on his own projects... Within six months, he had applied for and received his very first patent: "But, even though this beautifully constructed , was this first legitimate invention he was to come up with, it turned out to be a disaster."       When he tried to market it to members of the Massachusetts Legislature, they thoroughly denigrated it, claiming "its speed in tallying votes would disrupt the delicate political status-quo." Their specific concern was that - during times of stress - political groups regularly relied upon the brief delays that were provided by the process of counting votes to influence, and hopefully change, the opinions of their colleagues.... "This is exactly what we do want" a seasoned old politician scolded him, adding that "Your invention would not only destroy the only hope the minority would have in influencing legislation, it would deliver them over - bound hand and foot - to the majority!"       Although Tom was very disappointed by this turn of events, he immediately grasped its implications. Even though the remarkable invention allowed each voter to instantly and accurately cast and record his vote from his seat - exactly as it was supposed to do - he realized the idea was so far ahead of its time, it was completely devoid of any sales appeal.       Because of his desperate need for money, Tom now made a critically significant adjustment in his, heretofore, relatively naive outlook on the world of business and marketing.... "From now on,"  he vowed, he would "never waste time inventing things that people would not want to buy."      It is also important to note here that it was during Tom's 17 month stint in Boston that he was first exposed to lectures at Boston Tech (which was founded in 1861 and became the Mass. Institute of Technology in 1916) and the ideas of several associates on the state-of-the-art of "multiplexing" telegraph signals. Specifically, this theory and related experimental quests involved the transmission of electrical impulses at different frequencies over telegraph wires, producing horn-like simulations of the human voice - and even crude images (the first internet?) via an instrument called the .     Not surprisingly, his "casual (same aged) friend and acquaintance" Alexander Graham Bell, who was also living and working in Boston (trying to develop a telephone-like device right along side of Edison's bench at the famous Williams Shop) was equally fascinated by this exciting new aspect of communication science. And no wonder. The principles surrounding it would ultimately lead both men toward far greater heights....      Deeply in debt and about to be fired by Western Union for "not concentrating on his primary responsibilities and  for doing too much moonlighting for his own good "Edison now suddenly  borrowed $35.00 from his fellow telegrapher and "night owl" pal, Benjamin Bredding, to purchase a steamship ticket to the "much more commercially oriented city of New York."   During the third week after arriving in "the big apple" Tom (seen left) was purportedly "on the verge of starving to death." At this precipitous juncture, one of the most amazing coincidences in the annals of technological history now began to unfold. Immediately after having begged a cup of tea from a street vendor, Tom began to meander through some of the offices in New York's financial district. Observing that the manager of a local brokerage firm was in a panic, he eventually determined that a critically important stock-ticker in his office had just broken down....     Noting that no one in the crowd that had gathered around the defective machine seemed to have a clue on how to fix it, he elbowed his way into the scene and grasped a momentary opportunity to have a go at addressing what was wrong, himself. Luckily, since he had been sleeping in the basement of the building for a few days - and was, typically, doing quite a bit of snooping around - he already had a pretty good idea of what the device was supposed to do.      After spending a few more seconds confirming exactly how the stock ticker was intended to work in the first place, Tom boldly reached down and manipulated a loose spring back to where it belonged. And to everyone's amazement, except Tom's, the device began to "purr like a kitten."      The office manager was so ecstatic, he quickly made an on-the-spot decision to hire Edison to make all such repairs for the busy company, for the extraordinary salary of $300.00 per month. This was not only more than what his very talented pal Benjamin Bredding was making back in Boston, but twice the going rate for a top electrician in New York City. Later in life, Edison recalled that the incident was more euphoric than anything he had ever experienced before, "because it made me feel as though I had been suddenly delivered out of abject poverty, into prosperity. ==================================================================================       It should come as no surprise that, during his free time, Edison once again resumed his habit of "moonlighting" with the telegraph, the quadruplex transmitter, and the stock-ticker, etc. Shortly thereafter, he was absolutely astonished - in fact he nearly fainted - when a corporation paid him $40,000 for all of his rights to the latter device.        Convinced no bank would honor the large check he was given for it, which was the first "real" money he had ever received for an invention, young Edison walked around for hours in a stupor, staring at it in amazement. Fearful that someone would steal it, he laid the cash out on his bed and stayed up all night, counting it over and over in disbelief. The next day a wise friend told him to "deposit it in a bank forthwith and to just forget about it for a while.             A few weeks later, Edison wrote a series of extremely poignant letters back home to his father: "How is mother getting along?... I am now in a position to give you folks some cash... Write and say how much....Give mother anything she wants...." (Interestingly, It was during this time that he also repaid Bredding the $35.00 he had borrowed earlier.)      Over the next three years, Edison's progress in creating successful inventions for industry really took off.  For example, in 1874 - with the money he received from the sale of an electrical engineering firm that held several of his patents - he opened his first testing and use. Interestingly, at one point during this intense period, Edison was as close to inventing the telephone as Bell was to inventing the phonograph. Nevertheless, shortly after Edison moved his laboratory to Menlo Park, N.J. in 1876, he invented - in 1877 - the first phonograph.      In 1879, extremely disappointed by the fact that Bell had beaten him in the race to patent the first authentic transmission of the human voice, Edison now "one upped" all of his competition by inventing the first commercially practical incandescent electric light bulb...      And if that wasn't enough to forever seal his unequaled importance in technological history, he  came up with an invention that - in terms of its collective affect upon mankind - has had more impact than any other. In 1883 and 1884, while beating a path from his research lab to the patent office, he introduced the world's first economically viable system of centrally generating and distributing safe electric light, heat, and power. Sometimes properly acknowledged as his "greatest of acheivement" it has enormously impacted the world we know today... Even some of  his worst critics grant that "it was a Herculean achievement that only he was capable of bringing about at this specific point in history." By 1887, Edison was recognized for having set up the world's first full fledged research and development center in West Orange, New Jersey. An amazing enterprise, its significance is as much misunderstood as his work in developing the first practical centralized power system. Regardless, within a year, this fantastic operation was the largest scientific testing laboratory in the world.      In 1890, Edison immersed himself in developing the first Vitascope, which would lead to the first  silent motion pictures.        And, by 1892, his had fully merged with another firm to become the great General Electric Corporation, in which he was a major stockholder.      At the turn-of-the-century, Edison invented the first practical dictaphone, mimeograph, and storage battery. After creating the "kinetiscope" and the first silent film in 1904, he went on to introduce , which was a ten minute clip that was his first attempt to blend audio with silent moving images to produce       By now, Edison was being hailed world-wide as , The father of the electrical age," and ." And, quite naturally, when World War I began, he was asked by the U. S. Government to focus his genius upon creating devices for submarines and ships. During this time, he also perfected a number of important inventions relating to the enhanced use of rubber, concrete, and ethanol.      And, by the 1920s, Edison was internationally revered. However, even though he was personally acquainted with scores of very important people of his era, he cultivated very few close friendships. And according to his son, Charles, due to the "continuing demands of his unique career, there were still relatively long periods when he felt obliged to spend a shockingly small amount of time with his family. It wasn't until his health began to fail, in the late 1920s, that Edison finally began to slow down and, so to speak, "smell the flowers." Up until obtaining his last (1,093rd) patent at age 83, "he worked mostly at home where, though increasingly frail, he much enjoyed greeting former associates and famous people such as Charles Lindberg, Marie Curie, Henry Ford, and President Herbert Hoover etc. He also enjoyed reading mail from the thousands of his admirers - and puttering around, when  physically able, in his office and home laboratory."     Thomas Edison died At 9 P.M. On Oct. 18th, 1931 in New Jersey. He was 84 years of age. Shortly before passing away, he awoke from a deep coma to strains of his favorite composer, Bethoven, (Who was also deaf) that were "loudly" emanating from his favorite phonograph... Looking upward, to his very religious "ever-faithful" wife, Mina - who had been keeping a vigil all night by his side - and haltingly uttered... "I'm finished... Its very beautiful over there... Eternal GOD! papers" shortly after his death:  dominion it follows that the God is a living, intelligent and powerful Being. And that, from His other perfections, He alone is supreme, or most perfect... He is eternal, infinite, omnipotent and omniscient. That is, His duration reaches from eternity to eternity, and His presence is from infinity to infinity. He governs all things... And he knows all things that are, or can be, done.") Most realized that, even though he was far from being a perfect human being - and may not have really had the always amiable and avuncular  personality that was so often ascribed to him by myth makers -Thomas Edison was an essentially good man with a powerful mission.   Driven by a superhuman desire to fulfill the promise of objective persistent research and create things to serve and uplift all of mankind, no one did more to help realize our founders dream of creating a brand new country that - at its best - would be seen by everyone as "a shining new city upon a hill, whose light would be going out to the world...." Because of the peculiar voids that Edison sometime evinced in areas such as  cognition, speech, grammar, etc., a number of medical authorities have argued  that he may have been plagued by a fundamental learning disability that went well beyond mere deafness....  A few of have conjectured that this mysterious ailment - along with his lack of a formal education - may account for why he always seemed to "think so differently" compared to others of his time: "Always tenaciously clinging to those unique methods of analysis and experimentation with which he alone alwaya seemed to feel so comfortable...."  Whatever the impetus for his unique personality and traits, his incredible ability to come up with a meaningful new patent every two weeks throughout his working career "added more to the collective wealth of the world - and had more impact upon shaping modern civilization - than the accomplishments of any figure since Gutenberg...." Accordingly, most serious science and technology historians grant that he was indeed "The most influential figure of our millennium."   Notes: In 1929, Edison's close friend, Henry Ford, completed the task of moving Edison's original Menlo Park laboratory to the Greenfield Village museum in Dearborn, Mich. In 1962 his existing laboratory and home in West Orange, N.J. were designated as National Historic Sites. Copyright © Gerald Beals June, 1999. All rights registered and reserved.  Please Note: Absolutely no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form - or stored by any means in a database or retrieval system - without the prior written and express permission of the author.   Please note :  Infringements will be (in fact  one is currently being) prosecuted to the full extent of the law. gerrybeals@ verizon.net         Jump to Topic Edison - Age one (Private)       Search Results We are sorry, no results were found for your search . GALLERIES > Science > Thomas Edison Thomas Edison History of Thomas Edison Born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio, Thomas Edison was a notable inventor and businessman. As a child, Edison received minimal education, but his curiosity and determination to learn about the fields of science and technology ultimately led him to become one of America’s most notable inventors. Thomas Edison’s commitment to communication and technology is one of the reasons we are able to enjoy modern technology. Edison’s ambitious journey began in 1876 when he established his first laboratory in Menlo Park, NJ. This facility became the birthplace of several groundbreaking inventions, most notably, the phonograph, which was patented in 1878. This invention revolutionized the music industry by enabling sound recording and playback. In 1879, Edison invented the practical electric lightbulb, which changed the course of the future and transformed the way we live. His steadfast efforts to develop a reliable and commercially viable incandescent lightbulb led to the establishment of the Edison Electric Light Company. Edison’s innovation laid the groundwork for the modern electric utility industry, as his electric light company extended to the development of an electrical distribution system, including power plants and electrical grids. Thomas Edison’s innovations extended beyond light and sound technology. Edison held over 1,000 patents in various fields, including telegraphy, motion pictures, and storage batteries. The invention of the motion picture device known as the Kinetoscope was a pivotal moment for the film industry, as it allowed for the projection of moving images. Aside from his technical achievements, Edison also had remarkable business acumen. He established the Edison General Electric Company (now known as General Electric) in 1889, merging his various businesses to create a powerful corporation. Edison’s ability to develop and commercialize his inventions made him a high-profile figure in the industrial landscape of his time. DID YOU KNOW? Edison held over 1,000 patents in various fields, including telegraphy, motion pictures, and storage batteries. Thomas Edison’s passion for innovation and knowledge led to his numerous contributions, earning him international recognition. Edison was the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, most notably, the French Legion of Honor in 1881 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1928. His lasting legacy of creativity and modernization remains an influence on inventors worldwide. Thomas Edison’s noteworthy history displays his exceptional capabilities as an inventor. His entrepreneurial spirit has an indelible impact on the world. Edison’s inventions are a foundation for the growing world of technology we know today. Edison’s relentless quest for innovation serves as a reminder of the power of curiosity, perseverance, and dedication to shaping the course of history. Fun Facts About Thomas Edison Thomas Edison’s family called him Al, which is an abbreviation of his middle name, Alva. Thomas Edison’s first two children were nicknamed Dot and Dash, inspired by the telegraph. Thomas Edison conducted his first experiments as a child in his parent’s home. Thomas Edison experienced partial deafness. Thomas Edison’s first invention was an electric vote recorder. Thomas Edison had 1,093 patents, which is one of the highest numbers of patents held on record. The first record of Thomas Edison’s voice on the phonograph is his recitation of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” Thomas Edison built a laboratory on a train in his adolescence. One of Thomas Edison’s developments was a talking doll said to have been unsettling. Early Life of Thomas Edison Thomas Edison is an iconic figure in American history. He was an inventor and entrepreneur who achieved significant success. Edison’s work laid the foundation for modern technology and raised the bar for other scientists and inventors. From a young age, Thomas Edison had a demanding need for knowledge, and his natural curiosity led him into the fields of science and technology. His monumental success can be attributed to his need to learn, as it was his motivation behind the numerous experiments and inventions he completed in his lifetime. Around the age of 10, Thomas Edison built a small lab in his parent’s basement, where he would conduct his experiments and tinker, developing his understanding of electricity. By the age of 12, Thomas Edison held a job as a newsboy on a train. This role sharpened his skills in entrepreneurship, and he began publishing his own newspaper called the Grand Trunk Herald. Edison set up shop on the train with a printing press and began selling his newspaper to passengers. His success as a newsboy and publisher initiated his lifelong career as an inventor and businessman. Edison’s quest for knowledge continued as he read books to educate himself on an array of subjects, including engineering, mathematics, and science. He did not receive a formal education, which made it necessary for Edison to study independently and conduct hands-on experiments for a well-rounded expertise. At the age of 27, Thomas Edison invented and patented the quadruplex telegraph, an enhancement of existing telegraph technology that produced a significant advancement in the way people communicate. The quadruplex telegraph was created in 1874 and had a system that enabled multiple messages to be transmitted simultaneously over a single wire. Edison later sold the rights to this device to Western Union, sealing his reputation as a master inventor and businessman. Thomas Edison did not receive a formal education, which made it necessary for him to study independently... Two years after Thomas Edison invented the quadruplex telegraph, he founded his first true laboratory in Menlo Park, NJ. Edison often referred to his lab as the “Invention Factory,” as it was at the heart of his innovation and experimentation. In 1877, the phonograph was invented in the Invention Factory. This device could record and play back sound and became a defining moment in the audio technology industry. It was in his early years that Thomas Edison developed the device that would make him a household name. Edison spent several years researching and conducting experiments to develop an incandescent lightbulb. The electric lightbulb was invented in 1879 and transformed lives all over the world with a safe, reliable, and efficient source of light. Thomas Edison was a pioneer in the technology industry, and his revolutionary contributions to science left a lasting legacy. He became one of the most prominent figures in history, as his inventions paved the path for further advancement in modern technology. Inventions and Accomplishments of Thomas Edison Thomas Edison submitted his first patent application in 1868 for a device called the electric vote recorder. Thomas Edison’s 1874 invention of the quadruplex telegraph, with the ability to simultaneously transmit messages for four individuals over a single wire, was a momentous breakthrough in telegraphic communications. Thomas Edison began work on the carbon telephone transmitter in 1876. Upon completion, this device became an integral part of telegraphic communications. The carbon telephone transmitter was a microphone that enhanced the clarity and quality of sounds. The phonograph was invented in 1877 and paved the way for the advancement of audio technology. The phonograph was crucial for the development of recording and playing back audio. Thomas Edison became a household name in 1879 after applying for a patent for the commercial incandescent lightbulb. Thomas Edison demonstrated the capabilities of the electric power distribution system by powering a square block of commercial and industrial businesses, as well as some private residences, in Manhattan in 1882. Thomas Edison first publicly presented the Kinetoscope and Kinetograph, which became revolutionary for the motion picture (film) industry, in 1893. In addition to his contributions to the realm of electricity, Thomas Edison invented the Kinetograph, one of the early motion picture cameras, thanks to which we can enjoy the visual entertainment of the 21st century. Thomas Edison worked extensively and significantly contributed to early developments in X-ray technology. One of Thomas Edison’s most significant contributions was his work improving the rechargeable battery. Late in Life Thomas Edison passed away on October 18, 1931, at the age of 84. Edison was a renowned inventor and businessman who left a lasting legacy of significant achievements in the fields of science and technology. Many of his inventions have influenced the technology that we enjoy today. Edison created an astonishing number of inventions in his lifetime. Thomas Edison began conducting his experiments around the age of 10, and by the age of 22, he completed his first invention, the electric vote recorder. His steadfast quest for knowledge and innovation established Edison as one of the greatest inventors of all time, even earning him the nickname “The Wizard of Menlo Park.” When people think of Thomas Edison, they think of the lightbulb. Edison spent several years developing the incandescent lightbulb, an invention that changed the future of illumination. The lightbulb soon replaced the use of gas and oil lamps, which also improved fire safety. Edison’s invention of the lightbulb also led to electrical lighting systems. Edison further advanced the electrical power industry by developing a system for electrical power distribution. The first instance of electric power distribution was built in Manhattan and successfully supplied electricity to dozens of businesses, residences, streetlights, theaters, and other entertainment venues. This advancement was a revolutionary invention and led to the development of all homes receiving power through an electrical grid system. Throughout his lifetime, Thomas Edison continued to gift the world with revolutionary inventions. Other than the lightbulb, one of his most notable inventions was the phonograph, which allowed the recording and playback of sound. Edison also invented the Kinetograph, which was a device for recording motion pictures. These two inventions are responsible for the creation and success of today’s entertainment industry. Other than the lightbulb, two of Edison's most notable inventions were the phonograph and Kinetograph. Thomas Edison’s inventions significantly impacted the world. Edison faced many setbacks and failed experiments but continued on, demonstrating determination and resilience. His gift for entrepreneurialism aided in monetizing his inventions and later establishing the Edison General Electric Company, now known as General Electric. Edison’s advancements in the electric utility industry are a direct result of his innovation and business acumen. By the time of his death, Thomas Edison had transformed the world and received several honors and awards for his revolutionary contributions. From his dedication and innovation to his advancements for the modern world, Edison’s legacy continues to influence inventors, scientists, and entrepreneurs. When was Thomas Edison born? Thomas Edison was born on February 11, 1847. When did Thomas Edison die? Thomas Edison died on October 18, 1931. How did Thomas Edison become famous? Thomas Edison became famous through his innovative inventions that would later transform the way the world uses electricity. He is best known for his incandescent lightbulb, the phonograph, and for advancing electrical power distribution. How did Thomas Edison change the world? Thomas Edison’s influence on the world cannot be overstated. A majority of everyday things are possible because of Thomas Edison’s inventions and contributions to science. Some of his inventions that you would easily recognize include electrical lighting, sound recording, and motion pictures. MORE WAX FIGURES FROM Science Florence Nightingale Marie Curie Louis Pasteur Wilbur Wright Alexander Graham Bell George Washington Carver Charles Darwin Galileo Galilei Meet our wax studio. Potter’s studio is where the magic happens! Every part of the process except for fiberglassing the body is done here. Figures are sculpted, painted, dressed, and detailed in view of guests. LET´S KEEP IN TOUCH Sign up to receive special offers & events information. *Your email and personal information will never be shared. Thomas Edison, 1847-1931: America's Great Inventor Welcome to the VOA Special English program, PEOPLE IN AMERICA . Today, Sarah Long and Bob Doughty tell about the inventor Thomas Alva Edison. He had a major effect on the lives of people around the world.  Thomas Edison is remembered most for the electric light, his phonograph and his work with motion pictures. Thomas Edison's major inventions were designed and built in the last years of the eighteen hundreds.  However, most of them had their greatest effect in the twentieth century.  His inventions made possible the progress of technology. It is extremely difficult to find anyone living today who has not been affected in some way by Thomas Edison.  Most people on Earth have seen some kind of motion picture or heard some kind of sound recording.  And almost everyone has at least seen an electric light. These are only three of the many devices Thomas Edison invented or helped to improve.  People living in this century have had easier and more enjoyable lives because of his inventions. Thomas Alva Edison was born on February eleventh, eighteen forty-seven in the small town of Milan, Ohio.  He was the youngest of seven children. Thomas Edison was self-taught.  He went to school for only three months.  His teacher thought he could not learn because he had a mental problem.  But young Tom Edison could learn.  He learned from books and he experimented. At the age of ten, he built his own chemical laboratory.  He experimented with chemicals and electricity.  He built a telegraph machine and quickly learned to send and receive telegraph messages.  At the time, sending electric signals over wires was the fastest method of sending information long distances.  At the age of sixteen, he went to work as a telegraph operator. He later worked in many different places.  He continued to experiment with electricity. When he was twenty-one, he sent the United States government the documents needed to request the legal protection for his first invention.  The government gave him his first patent on an electric device he called an Electrographic Vote Recorder.  It used electricity to count votes in an election. In the summer months of eighteen sixty-nine, the Western Union Telegraph Company asked Thomas Edison to improve a device that was used to send financial information.  It was called a stock printer. Mr. Edison very quickly made great improvements in the device.  The company paid him forty thousand dollars for his effort.  That was a lot of money for the time. This large amount of money permitted Mr. Edison to start his own company.  He announced that the company would improve existing telegraph devices and work on new inventions. Mr. Edison told friends that his new company would invent a minor device every ten days and produce what he called a "big trick" about every six months.  He also proposed that his company would make inventions to order.  He said that if someone needed a device to do some kind of work, just ask and it would be invented. Within a few weeks Thomas Edison and his employees were working on more than forty different projects.  They were either new inventions or would lead to improvements in other devices.  Very quickly he was asking the United States government for patents to protect more than one hundred devices or inventions each year.  He was an extremely busy man.  But then Thomas Edison was always very busy. He almost never slept more than four or five hours a night.  He usually worked eighteen hours each day because he enjoyed what he was doing.  He believed no one really needed much sleep.  He once said that anyone could learn to go without sleep. Thomas Edison did not enjoy taking to reporters.  He thought it was a waste of time.  However, he did talk to a reporter in nineteen seventeen.  He was seventy years old at the time and still working on new devices and inventions. The reporter asked Mr. Edison which of his many inventions he enjoyed the most.  He answered quickly, the phonograph.  He said the phonograph was really the most interesting.  He also said it took longer to develop a machine to reproduce sound than any other of his inventions. Thomas Edison told the reporter that he had listened to many thousands of recordings.  He especially liked music by Brahms, Verdi and Beethoven.  He also liked popular music. Many of the recordings that Thomas Edison listened to in nineteen seventeen can still be enjoyed today.  His invention makes it possible for people around the world to enjoy the same recorded sound. The reporter also asked Thomas Edison what was the hardest invention to develop.  He answered quickly again -- the electric light.  He said that it was the most difficult and the most important. Before the electric light was invented, light was provided in most homes and buildings by oil or natural gas.  Both caused many fires each year.  Neither one produced much light. Mr. Edison had seen a huge and powerful electric light.  He believed that a smaller electric light would be extremely useful.He and his employees began work on the electric light. An electric light passes electricity through material called a filament or wire.  The electricity makes the filament burn and produce light.  Thomas Edison and his employees worked for many months to find the right material to act as the filament. Time after time a new filament would produce light for a few moments and then burn up.  At last Mr. Edison found that a carbon fiber produced light and lasted a long time without burning up.  The electric light worked. At first, people thought the electric light was extremely interesting but had no value.  Homes and businesses did not have electricity.  There was no need for it. Mr. Edison started a company that provided electricity for electric lights for a small price each month.  The small company grew slowly at first.  Then it expanded rapidly.  His company was the beginning of the electric power industry. Thomas Edison also was responsible for the very beginnings of the movie industry.  While he did not invent the idea of the motion picture, he greatly improved the process.  He also invented the modern motion picture film. When motion pictures first were shown in the late eighteen  hundreds, people came to see movies of almost anything -- a ship, people walking on the street, new automobiles.  But in time, these moving pictures were no longer interesting. In nineteen-oh-three, an employee of Thomas Edison's motion picture company produced a movie with a story.  It was called "The Great Train Robbery."  It told a simple story of a group of western criminals who steal money from a train.  Later they are killed by a group of police in a gun fight.  The movie was extremely popular.  "The Great Train Robbery" started the huge motion picture industry. Thomas Alva Edison is remembered most for the electric light, his phonograph and his work with motion pictures.  However, he also invented several devices that greatly improved the telephone.  He improved several kinds of machines called generators that produced electricity.  He improved batteries that hold electricity.  He worked on many different kinds of electric motors including those for electric trains. Mr. Edison also is remembered for making changes in the invention process.  He moved from the Nineteenth Century method of an individual doing the inventing to the Twentieth Century method using a team of researchers. In nineteen thirteen, a popular magazine at the time called Thomas Edison the most useful man in America.  In nineteen twenty-eight, he received a special medal of honor from the Congress of the United States. Thomas Edison died on January sixth, nineteen thirty-one.  In the months before his death he was still working very hard.  He had asked the government for legal protection for his last invention.  It was patent number one thousand ninety-three. This Special English program was written and produced by Paul Thompson.  The announcers were Sarah Long and Bob Doughty. I'm Mary Tillotson.  Join us again next week for another PEOPLE IN AMERICA program on the Voice of America. This page is part of Stories About People which is part of Interesting Things for ESL Students . Thomas Edison Occupation: Businessman and Inventor Born: February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio Died: October 18, 1931 in West Orange, New Jersey Best known for: Inventing many useful items including the phonograph and a practical light bulb His middle name was Alva and his family called him Al. His first two kids had the nicknames Dot and Dash. He set up his first lab in his parent's basement at the age of 10. He was partially deaf. His first invention was an electric vote recorder. His 1093 patents are the most on record. He said the words to "Mary had a little lamb" as the first recorded voice on the phonograph. Listen to a recorded reading of this page: 50 US States 52 Thomas Edison Facts: Interesting Facts About Thomas Edison Last updated on March 25th, 2023 Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He is a renowned scientist all over the world for his famous work related to the electric light bulb and many other innovations. With 52 interesting facts about Thomas Edison, let’s learn more about his childhood, personal life, inventions, patents, laboratories and more… Facts about Thomas Edison’s childhood and early years 1. Surprisingly, Edison did not learn to talk until he was almost four years old. 2. Thomas Edison’s  forehead was unusually broad, and his head was considerably larger than average. 3. During his childhood, Edison narrowly escaped from drowning in the barge canal that ran alongside his home. 4. In 1854, at the age of seven, Edison attended school for a short period of 12 weeks. Being a hyperactive child and prone to distraction, Edison’s teachers could not handle him. His mother removed him from school and tutored him at home until the age of 11. Thus, Edison had very little formal education as a child. 5. The removal of Edison from school proved beneficial for his career, as he developed self-learning skills with his ever increasing appetite for knowledge and reading. 6. Edison was fond of Shakespeare’s plays and wanted to be an actor. However, due to his high-pitched voice and his extreme shyness before every audience, he soon gave up the idea. 7. Edison enjoyed reading and reciting poetry. His life-long favorite was Thomas Gray’s “Elegy In A Country Churchyard.” Here is a line that he chanted endlessly: “The boast of heraldry of pomp and power, All that beauty all that wealth ere gave, Alike await the inevitable hour. The path to glory leads but to the grave.” 8. Edison, out of his curiosity and appetite to learn, read every book in the library starting with the last book on the bottom of the shelf. However, his parents guided him to become more selective with his reading. 9. In the beginning of his life, Edison worked as a telegraph operator.  This job inspired many of his inventions in the telecommunications field. 10. Thomas Edison was nearly deaf as an adult as he became affected with scarlet fever and ear infections in the early years of his life. However, Edison cited a train accident as the cause of his hearing loss. 11. At the age of thirteen, after selling newspapers for a short time, Edison decided to publish his own newspaper —the Grand Trunk Herald—and sell copies to his existing clients. He published up-to-date stories that became a hit with his customers. 12. During this time, Edison also set up a small laboratory in a baggage car. However, during one of his experiments a chemical fire started and the car caught fire. Edison was forced to leave the train and sell newspapers once again. 13. Edison had a chance to improve his hearing by way of an operation; however, he refused to take the option. He simply did not want to go through the difficulty of relearning how to channel his thinking in a noisier world. 14. A significant event in Edison’s life: Edison got a chance to learn to operate a telegraph when he saved a three-year-old from a train accident. The child’s grateful father, the station’s agent,  taught Edison telegraphy as a reward. 15. At the age of 16, Edison became a proficient telegrapher and started working as one full-time. 16. Edison also worked for The Associated Press for some time. However, he had to leave his job because of the progress of technology and his hearing disability, which did not allow him to continue his work for the company. He became employed again with the Western Union Company. Facts about Thomas Edison’s inventions 17. In 1876, he set up his first lab in Menlo Park, California . This was the world’s first industrial research laboratory. In some sense, this laboratory is also considered one of his greatest inventions. It was well equipped, and is where Edison worked to change the world. 18. Thomas Edison was dubbed “The Wizard of Menlo Park.” 19. Edison invented the world’s first practical incandescent light. It took him one and a half years to build the lamp, which burned for thirteen and a half hours. The lamp had a filament of carbonized sewing thread. 20. On December 31 st 1879, the Menlo Park laboratory complex was electrically lit for the first time, which demonstrated to the public the great invention that Edison had engineered. Interestingly,  Albert Einstein  was born in the same year. 21. Edison invented an electric light bulb, while Einstein gave the world one of the most famous equations explaining the relationship between energy, mass and the speed of light. The equation is E=MC 2 . 22. Edison’s first invention in Menlo Park was the tin foil phonograph. He was invited to demonstrate it to the president of the United States–Rutherford B. Hayes–in the White House. 23. Some of his inventions, including the electric bulb and motion pictures, have pioneered many other industries in the world. 24. He also developed the first electric power generation and distribution system that would supply electricity to homes in the region. 25. Edison invented the machine for electrically recording and counting votes cast by members of a legislative body, but it was of no commercial value, so he decided to invent only those things that people would want to buy. 26. A funny fact about Edison is that he even made a device to kill cockroaches with electricity. 27. Edison lost millions of dollars while experimenting to invent a method of separating ore from rock. It was the biggest failure of his lifetime. 28. Tomas Edison is the first person in the world to project a motion picture. He did so successfully on April 23, 1896. 29. Edison also designed a battery for the self-starter for the Model T developed by Henry Ford . 30. The phonograph was Edison’s most famous invention. 31. The first of his breakthrough inventions, which yielded him a sum of $40,000, was an improved stock ticker. This was called the “Universal Stock Printer.” At the time of this invention, Edison was only 22 years old. The new financial freedom allowed Edison to focus on his inventions and get involved with them full-time. Facts about Edison’s family and children 32. By the early 1870s, Edison was a rich man and married a 16-year-old employee at one of his businesses. 33. Edison’s first wife, Mary, died in 1884.  Edison remarried in 1886 after falling in love with Mina Miller. 34. Edison nicknamed two of his children he had with his first wife “Dot” and “Dash” in honor of his early telegraph days. . . . continue reading on the next page. 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Library of Congress - Digital Collections - Life of Thomas Alva Edison Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation - Thomas Edison's Inventive Life National Park Service - Biography of Thomas Edison National Academy of Sciences - Biographical Memoirs - "Thomas Alva Edison" Energy.gov - Top 8 Things You Didn’t Know About Thomas Alva Edison The Franklin Institute - Case Files: Thomas A. Edison Official Site of Edison Innovation Foundation The National Museum of American History - Lighting A Revolution - Lamp Inventors 1880-1940: Carbon Filament Incandescent American Chemical Society - Biography of Thomas Edison Thomas Edison - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11) Thomas Edison - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up) Table Of Contents A widower with three young children, Edison, on February 24, 1886, married 20-year-old Mina Miller, the daughter of a prosperous Ohio manufacturer. He purchased a hilltop estate in West Orange , New Jersey , for his new bride and constructed nearby a grand, new laboratory, which he intended to be the world’s first true research facility. There, he produced the commercial phonograph , founded the motion-picture industry, and developed the alkaline storage battery . Nevertheless, Edison was past the peak of his productive period. A poor manager and organizer, he worked best in intimate , relatively unstructured surroundings with a handful of close associates and assistants; the West Orange laboratory was too sprawling and diversified for his talents. Furthermore, as a significant portion of the inventor’s time was taken up by his new role of industrialist, which came with the commercialization of incandescent lighting and the phonograph, electrical developments were passing into the domain of university-trained mathematicians and scientists. Above all, for more than a decade Edison’s energy was focused on a magnetic ore-mining venture that proved the unquestioned disaster of his career. Recent News The first major endeavour at the new laboratory was the commercialization of the phonograph, a venture launched in 1887 after Alexander Graham Bell , his cousin Chichester, and Charles Tainter had developed the graphophone—an improved version of Edison’s original device—which used waxed cardboard instead of tinfoil. Two years later, Edison announced that he had “perfected” the phonograph, although this was far from true. In fact, it was not until the late 1890s, after Edison had established production and recording facilities adjacent to the laboratory, that all the mechanical problems were overcome and the phonograph became a profitable proposition. In the meantime, Edison conceived the idea of popularizing the phonograph by linking to it in synchronization a zoetrope, a device that gave the illusion of motion to photographs shot in sequence. He assigned the project to William K.L. Dickson , an employee interested in photography , in 1888. After studying the work of various European photographers who also were trying to record motion, Edison and Dickson succeeded in constructing a working camera and a viewing instrument, which were called, respectively, the Kinetograph and the Kinetoscope . Synchronizing sound and motion proved of such insuperable difficulty, however, that the concept of linking the two was abandoned, and the silent movie was born. Edison constructed at the laboratory the world’s first motion-picture stage, nicknamed the “Black Maria,” in 1893, and the following year Kinetoscopes, which had peepholes that allowed one person at a time to view the moving pictures, were introduced with great success. Rival inventors soon developed screen-projection systems that hurt the Kinetoscope’s business, however, so Edison acquired a projector developed by Thomas Armat and introduced it as “Edison’s latest marvel, the Vitascope .” Another derivative of the phonograph was the alkaline storage battery , which Edison began developing as a power source for the phonograph at a time when most homes still lacked electricity. Although it was 20 years before all the difficulties with the battery were solved, by 1909 Edison was a principal supplier of batteries for submarines and electric vehicles and had even formed a company for the manufacture of electric automobiles . In 1912 Henry Ford , one of Edison’s greatest admirers, asked him to design a battery for the self-starter, to be introduced on the Model T . Ford’s request led to a continuing relationship between these two Americans, and in October 1929 he staged a 50th-anniversary celebration of the incandescent light that turned into a universal apotheosis for Edison. Most of Edison’s successes involved electricity or communication , but throughout the late 1880s and early 1890s the Edison Laboratory’s top priority was the magnetic ore-separator. Edison had first worked on the separator when he was searching for platinum for use in the experimental incandescent lamp . The device was supposed to cull platinum from iron -bearing sand . During the 1880s iron ore prices rose to unprecedented heights, so that it appeared that, if the separator could extract the iron from unusable low-grade ores , then abandoned mines might profitably be placed back in production. Edison purchased or acquired rights to 145 old mines in the east and established a large pilot plant at the Ogden mine, near Ogdensburg , New Jersey . He was never able to surmount the engineering problems or work the bugs out of the system, however, and when ore prices plummeted in the mid-1890s he gave up on the idea. By then he had liquidated all but a small part of his holdings in the General Electric Company , sometimes at very low prices, and had become more and more separated from the electric lighting field. Failure could not discourage Edison’s passion for invention , however. Although none of his later projects were as successful as his earlier ones, he continued to work even in his 80s. The thrust of Edison’s work may be seen in the clustering of his patents: 389 for electric light and power, 195 for the phonograph , 150 for the telegraph , 141 for storage batteries , and 34 for the telephone . His life and achievements epitomize the ideal of applied research. He always invented for necessity, with the object of devising something new that he could manufacture. The basic principles he discovered were derived from practical experiments, invariably by chance, thus reversing the orthodox concept of pure research leading to applied research. Edison’s role as a machine shop operator and small manufacturer was crucial to his success as an inventor. Unlike other scientists and inventors of the time, who had limited means and lacked a support organization, Edison ran an inventive establishment. He was the antithesis of the lone inventive genius , although his deafness enforced on him an isolation conducive to conception . His lack of managerial ability was, in an odd way, also a stimulant. As his own boss, he plunged ahead on projects more prudent men would have shunned, then tended to dissipate the fruits of his inventiveness, so that he was both free and forced to develop new ideas. Few men have matched him in the positiveness of his thinking. Edison never questioned whether something might be done, only how. Edison’s career, the fulfillment of the American dream of rags-to-riches through hard work and intelligence , made him a folk hero to his countrymen. In temperament he was an uninhibited egotist, at once a tyrant to his employees and their most entertaining companion, so that there was never a dull moment with him. He was charismatic and courted publicity, but he had difficulty socializing and neglected his family. His shafts at the expense of the “long-haired” fraternity of theorists sometimes led formally trained scientists to deprecate him as anti-intellectual; yet he employed as his aides, at various times, a number of eminent mathematical physicists, such as Nikola Tesla and A.E. Kennelly . The contradictory nature of his forceful personality, as well as such eccentricities as his ability to catnap anywhere, contributed to his legendary status. By the time he was in his middle 30s Edison was said to be the best-known American in the world. When he died he was venerated and mourned as the man who, more than any other, had laid the basis for the technological and social revolution of the modern electric world. Scientific Methods Famous Physicists Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison Thomas Alva Edison, being one of the most creative inventors of all time, was considered a true gem in the world of inventions. He also spent a significant part of his life giving contributions to the world of designs that had an incredible influence on modern life. The creation of the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture camera, as well as improving the workings of telegraph and the telephone, were some of his astonishing inventions. Thomas Alva Edison was also a successful businessman and innovator who managed to change the lifestyle of people through his essential innovations and improvements in a wide range of fields. Table of Contents About thomas alva edison, education, career and achievements, the invention of the light bulb, the phonograph. Edison’s Contribution in the Field of Electricity Thomas Alva Edison was the phenomenal American inventor who holds the world-record of 1093 patents. Also, he created the world’s first industrial research laboratory. Edison was born on 11th February 1847, in Milan, Ohio – U.S. Edison’s patents and numerous inventions contributed significantly to mass communications and telecommunications. Stock ticker, phonograph, the practical electric light bulb , motion picture camera, mechanical vote recorder and a battery for the electric car were some of his notable inventions. He sold newspapers to passengers traveling along the Grand Trunk Railroad line during his early years. This led him to start his own newspaper named as the ‘Grand Trunk Herald’. The access to up-to-date information in this newspaper became quite a hit between the masses. Also, it was the first of the many more to come business ventures by Edison. Thomas Alva Edison always had a thrust of knowledge within him, and due to that, at an early age, he started reading a wide range of books and different subjects.  Edison’s higher education did not include any university or attending college; instead, he was primarily self-taught.  The absence of a well-defined curriculum led him to develop the skill of self-education and independent learning, which remained with him all his life. He began his career as an inventor when he moved to New York.  He devoted the decade of the 1870s to conducting experiments on the telephone, phonograph, electric railway, electric lighting, and other developing inventions.  His first round of fame was brought by the design of the phonograph in 1877, which took his status to greater heights.  He formed Edison Electric Light Company in 1878 in New York City. Achievement: He was felicitated with several awards and medals for his generous contribution to humankind.  Some of them include the Distinguished Service Medal by the U.S. Navy and Congressional Gold Medal by the U.S. Also, he was decorated with the  “Officer of the Legion of Honour”  by France.  He was welcomed into the New Jersey Hall of Fame and Entrepreneur Walk of Fame. The greatest challenge faced by Thomas Alva Edison was to develop a practical luminous, electric light. He accomplished this using lower current electricity , an improved vacuum inside the globe and a small carbonized filament which is a stitched thread that burned for thirteen and a half hours. He was successful in producing a reliable, long-lasting source of light. Did Edison really invent the light bulb? The tinfoil Phonograph was Thomas Edison’s first greatest invention in 1877. It was the first machine to record and play a person’s voice. Edison recited the rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb” on a tin cylinder that captured the recording. He also recommended other uses for the phonograph, such as letter writing and dictation, record music boxes, etc. Edison’s device phonograph played using cylinders rather than discs. It consisted of two needles, one for recording and one for playback. Edison’s contribution in the field of electricity A system of conductors , meters, current switches, etc. was designed by Edison as he knew that his light bulb invention would be ineffective without a proper method to deliver electricity. Edison improved the designs of generators, which led him to invent more efficient power output generators than the existing ones at that time. Hence, this was marked as the beginning of the electric age. For more such interesting articles, stay tuned to BYJU’S. Also, register to “BYJU’S – The Learning App” for loads of interactive, engaging Physics-related videos and an unlimited academic assist. Frequently Asked Questions Name some of the incredible inventions of thomas alva edison.. Thomas Alva Edison is famous for his incredible inventions like the light bulb, phonograph and motion picture cameras. How did Thomas Alva Edison invent the lightbulb? Edison invented the light bulb by passing electricity through a thin platinum filament packed inside a glass vacuum bulb. What is a filament? A filament is a metallic thin wire or thread inside a bulb that lights up when electricity is passed through it. What is a phonograph? It is a form of gramophone using cylinders to record and reproduce sounds. How many times did Thomas Alva Edison fail while inventing the light bulb? Thomas Alva Edison made 1000 unsuccessful attempts before getting the final result. PHYSICS Related Links Leave a Comment Cancel reply Your Mobile number and Email id will not be published. Required fields are marked * Request OTP on Voice Call Post My Comment Register with BYJU'S & Download Free PDFs Register with byju's & watch live videos. Thomas Edison's Near-Death Experience Set Him on the Road to Fame Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in the small town of Milan, Ohio, before moving with his family to Port Huron, Michigan in 1854. The youngest of seven children, young Edison was known as “Al” to friends and family. He was a bright child but struggled with traditional teaching methods of the time, and only briefly attended public school. Modern-day historians and medical professionals have surmised that Edison may have had Attention-Deficiency/Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD. His former schoolteacher mother home-schooled him, and he made use of his father’s small library, developing a lifelong love of reading. Edison's entrepreneurial streak started at a young age Edison became fascinated with technology as a child and spent hours working on experiments at home. He developed hearing problems at an early age, through illness or an accident, which he later credited with helping, and not hindering, his success. He believed his hearing loss allowed him to avoid distractions and more easily concentrate on his work. In 1859, the Grand Trunk Railroad built a stop in Port Huron, connecting it to the city of Detroit some 100 miles away. Young “Al” got a job selling candy, newspapers and magazines on the train, traveling back and forth to Detroit several days a week. He spent his spare time reading in Detroit’s library and created his own small newspaper that he hawked on the train, earning extra income for the family and to fund his hobbies. His rescuing of a small boy changed the course of his life One of Edison’s early interests was in electrical telegraphy. This was the system of communication used to transmit messages long distances. It was also crucial to the operation of the new transcontinental railroads crisscrossing the nation in the decades after the American Civil War. Thanks to his frequent trips along the Grand Trunk, Edison became friendly with James U. Mackenzie, the station master and telegraph officer at nearby Mount Clemens. In August 1862, when Edison was 15, he was standing outside the Mount Clemens station, where freight cars were being transferred to a side track. When one of the cars approached the station at high speed, Edison noticed Mackenzie’s two-year-old son, Jimmie, playing on the tracks in the freight train’s path. Edison jumped into action, grabbed Jimmie and moved them both out of harm’s way. The pair received just minor wounds. A deeply grateful Mackenzie struggled to figure out how to thank Edison for saving his son’s life. The next day, he offered to teach Edison the Morse telegraphic system, developed by famed inventor Samuel Morse . Despite already having his job on the railroad, Edison immediately accepted, spending all of his free time with Mackenzie and practicing at home whenever he could. Edison’s telegraphy career was the launching pad for his later success Within months, Edison had become proficient in the difficult Morse system, which required operators to quickly convert words and phrases into shortened code and vice versa. Despite his youth, he began working full-time as a telegraph operator. For many ambitious young men of the era, it was a career path that offered the opportunity for travel and advancement. In the 1850s, Andrew Carnegie had gotten his start as a telegraph operator, before building a career as a steel magnate, industrialist and philanthropist. Edison, working for Western Union Telegraph Company, traveled from city to city throughout much of the Midwest for the next six years, developing a particular skill in sending and receiving news reports. For a while he worked alongside reporters for the Associated News, forging friendships with newsmen who would help further his later career. He spent all of his downtime working on his experiments, which had now become focused on electricity and its possible uses. In 1868, he moved to Boston, and the following January, he received his first U.S. patent for a machine that electronically recorded votes in the Massachusetts State Legislature. He left his job as a telegrapher and moved to New York to devote himself to his inventions full-time. But it was the skills he learned thanks to his saving of Jimmie Mackenzie that brought Edison his first financial success. In 1874, he developed an advanced “quadruplex” system that allowed four separate signals (two in each direction) to be sent along a single telegraph line. Western Union, Edison’s former employer, purchased the rights to the invention for $10,000 (more than $215,000 in today’s money). Edison used the funds to build his first great, groundbreaking laboratory, at Menlo Park, New Jersey. Edison’s work in that lab, as the “Wizard of Menlo Park,” would lead to the invention of the phonograph, the first commercially viable electric lights, and hundreds of other scientific and technological innovations. Famous Inventors Louis Braille Inventor Garrett Morgan’s Lifesaving 1916 Rescue Frederick Jones Lonnie Johnson 11 Famous Black Inventors Who Changed Your Life Lewis Howard Latimer Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla's Secrets to Longevity Garrett Morgan Sarah Boone Henry Blair Alfred Nobel 253 IMAGES Biography of Thomas Edison, American Inventor Biography Of Thomas Edison Thomas Edison Thomas Edison Biografi Thomas Edison Thomas Edison Inventions VIDEO Thomas Alva Edison Story/Biography in English 🔥Thomas Edison Story/information || Trading Apps Thomas Edison (USA) Facts About Thomas Edison Mystery Of Thomas Edison Invention ❓ #shorts #shortvideo Thomas Edison: The Genius Behind the Lighting Revolution The untold secrets of Thomas Edison COMMENTS Thomas Edison Thomas Edison is credited with inventions such as the first practical incandescent light bulb and the phonograph. He held over 1,000 patents for his inventions. Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 - October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. [ 1][ 2][ 3] He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. [ 4] These inventions, which include the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and early versions of the electric light bulb, have had a widespread ... Thomas Edison Thomas Edison, the prolific American inventor and entrepreneur, revolutionized the world with his inventions such as the phonograph and practical electric lighting systems, forever changing our way of life. Thomas Edison: Facts, House & Inventions ‑ HISTORY Thomas Edison was a prolific inventor and businessman whose inventions include the phonograph, incandescent light bulb, motion picture camera and alkaline battery. Edison Biography Edison Biography. Young Thomas Edison. Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio; the seventh and last child of Samuel and Nancy Edison. When Edison was seven his family moved to Port Huron, Michigan. Edison lived here until he struck out on his own at the age of sixteen. Edison had very little formal education as a child ... Life of Thomas Alva Edison One of the most famous and prolific inventors of all time, Thomas Alva Edison exerted a tremendous influence on modern life, contributing inventions such as the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture camera, as well as improving the telegraph and telephone. In his 84 years, he acquired an astounding 1,093 patents. Aside from being an inventor, Edison also managed to ... A Brief Biography of Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison was born February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio (pronounced MY-lan). In 1854, when he was seven, the family moved to Michigan, where Edison spent the rest of his childhood. Thomas Edison's Life A Brief Biography of Thomas Alva Edison Written by John D. Venable Thomas Edison Biography & Facts: Inventions, Quotes, and Children Inventor Thomas Edison's life was about more than just the light bulb. Find out more about this 20th-century trailblazer. Thomas Edison Biography Thomas Edison Biography Thomas Edison (1847 - 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who developed and made commercially available - many key inventions of modern life. His Edison Electric company was a pioneering company for delivering DC electricity directly into people's homes. He filed over 1,000 patents for a variety of different inventions. Crucially, he used mass-produced ... Biography of Thomas Edison, American Inventor Biography of Thomas Edison, American Inventor Thomas Edison at the lightbulb's golden jubilee anniversary banquet in his honor, Orange, New Jersey, October 16, 1929. Thomas Alva Edison summary Thomas Alva Edison, (born Feb. 11, 1847, Milan, Ohio, U.S.—died Oct. 18, 1931, West Orange, N.J.), U.S. inventor. He had very little formal schooling. He set up a laboratory in his father's basement at age 10; at 12 he was earning money selling newspapers and candy on trains. He worked as a telegrapher (1862-68) before deciding to pursue ... Thomas Alva Edison Thomas Alva Edison is one of the greatest American inventors who held countless patents, majority of them related to electricity and power. While two of his most famous inventions are the incandescent lamp and the phonograph, arguably the most significant invention of Edison is considered to be large-scale organized research. Edison Biography A proud descendant of the distinguished old Elliot family of New England, New York born Nancy Edison was the devout and charming daughter of a highly respected Presbyterian minister, as well as an accomplished educator in her own right. After the above incident, she commenced teaching her favorite son the "Three R's" and the Bible. Thomas Edison Biography Born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio, Thomas Edison was a notable inventor and businessman. As a child, Edison received minimal education, but his curiosity and determination to learn about the fields of science and technology ultimately led him to become one of America's most notable inventors. Thomas Edison's commitment to ... Biography People living in this century have had easier and more enjoyable lives because of his inventions. Thomas Alva Edison was born on February eleventh, eighteen forty-seven in the small town of Milan, Ohio. He was the youngest of seven children. Thomas Edison was self-taught. He went to school for only three months. Thomas Edison Inventions Thomas Alva Edison has been described as America's young entrepreneur and greatest inventors. More about Thomas Edison's life, inventions and quotes. Thomas Edison Biography Thomas Edison was born in Milan, Ohio on February 11, 1847. His family soon moved to Port Huron, Michigan where he spent most of his childhood. Surprisingly, he did not do well in school and ended up being home schooled by his mother. Thomas was an enterprising young man, selling vegetables, candy and newspapers on trains. Thomas Edison Thomas Edison was an American inventor and entrepreneur. He was born Thomas Alva Edison on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio. He was the last of seven children born to Samuel Edison, Jr. and Nancy ... 52 Thomas Edison Facts: Interesting Facts About Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He is a renowned scientist all over the world for his famous work related to the electric light bulb and many other innovations. With 52 interesting facts about Thomas Edison, let's learn more about his childhood, personal life, inventions, patents, laboratories and more… Thomas Edison Thomas Edison - Inventor, Innovator, Scientist: A widower with three young children, Edison, on February 24, 1886, married 20-year-old Mina Miller, the daughter of a prosperous Ohio manufacturer. He purchased a hilltop estate in West Orange, New Jersey, for his new bride and constructed nearby a grand, new laboratory, which he intended to be the world's first true research facility. There ... Thomas Alva Edison Thomas Alva Edison Thomas Alva Edison, being one of the most creative inventors of all time, was considered a true gem in the world of inventions. He also spent a significant part of his life giving contributions to the world of designs that had an incredible influence on modern life. The creation of the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture camera, as well as ... Thomas Edison's Near-Death Experience Set Him on the Road ... Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in the small town of Milan, Ohio, before moving with his family to Port Huron, Michigan in 1854. essay homework paper phd review speech study thesis