Difference between revisions of "Thomas Edison"

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==Young Adulthood==
 
==Young Adulthood==
  
Edison was also an entrepreneur, and as a child made spending money by selling newspapers, candy, and fresh produce. As a teenager, in 1860, he decided to publish his own newspaper, ''"The Weekly Herald"'' which made a profit it's first edition and each one therafter, and focused on political news and the United States Presidential debates between [[Abraham Lincoln]] and Senator [[Stephen A. Douglas]]. Edison agreed with Lincoln's stance on emancipation, and volunteered to work for his campaign office, distributing campaign literature on his behalf.  
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Edison was also an entrepreneur, and as a child made spending money by selling newspapers, candy, and fresh produce. As a teenager, in 1860, he decided to publish his own newspaper, ''"The Weekly Herald"'' which made a profit it's first edition and each one thereafter, and focused on political news and the United States Presidential debates between [[Abraham Lincoln]] and Senator [[Stephen A. Douglas]]. Edison agreed with Lincoln's stance on emancipation, and volunteered to work for his campaign office, distributing campaign literature on his behalf.  
  
 
Thomas was used to taking the initiative to learn on his own, and had a very inquisitive nature, a strong desire to learn, an excellent memory, and the ability to understand complex concepts. He considered his hearing loss to work in his favor, as he was not distracted by outside noises and able to concentrate on his own thoughts. His hearing loss increased over time, and in later years he lost all hearing in his left ear and about 80% of the hearing in his right ear.  
 
Thomas was used to taking the initiative to learn on his own, and had a very inquisitive nature, a strong desire to learn, an excellent memory, and the ability to understand complex concepts. He considered his hearing loss to work in his favor, as he was not distracted by outside noises and able to concentrate on his own thoughts. His hearing loss increased over time, and in later years he lost all hearing in his left ear and about 80% of the hearing in his right ear.  
  
At 15 years of age, Edison learned [[morse code]] and was hired as a telegraph operator. There were jobs available for workers of all ages, including youngsters, as many adult men were now engaged in fighting in the [[Civil War]].
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At 15 years of age, Edison learned [[Morse Code|Morse code]] and was hired as a telegraph operator. There were jobs available for workers of all ages, including youngsters, as many adult men were now engaged in fighting in the [[Civil War]].
  
 
He worked in several telegraph offices, then decided to accept a job offer from the [[Western Union]] Company in Boston. He chose to move far from home as he felt Boston had a strong scientific community. He was known as a hard worker and routinely worked 12 hour days, 6 days a week. In the evenings after work, he developed his own inventions.
 
He worked in several telegraph offices, then decided to accept a job offer from the [[Western Union]] Company in Boston. He chose to move far from home as he felt Boston had a strong scientific community. He was known as a hard worker and routinely worked 12 hour days, 6 days a week. In the evenings after work, he developed his own inventions.

Revision as of 04:01, July 30, 2007

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Thomas Edison is considered one of the greatest inventors in history. Some of his best known inventions are the light bulb, the mimeograph and phonograph. He patented over 1,000 inventions in his lifetime.

Childhood

Thomas Alva Edison was born on Feb 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio. His parents, Samuel Ogden Edison, Jr. and Nancy Matthews Elliott, had seven children, Thomas was the youngest.

In 1854, his family moved to Port Huron, Michigan, where the family remained while Thomas was growing up.

Edison's mother, Nancy, was born in New York and raised in New England. Her family were Presbyterians, her father was a minister in their church. They stressed the importance of education to young Nancy, who went on to earn a teaching degree.

Education

At the age of 7 years, Edison was sent to the local public school, a one-room schoolhouse with 38 other students. Edison had some congenital hearing loss which became worse after a bout of scarlet fever, which hindered his being able to hear the teacher in the noisy classroom. The teacher became irritated by Edison's constant curiosity and questions, and annoyed by his not following directions due to his inability to hear them, and insisted he was incapable of learning.

Edison's mother did not accept the teacher's evaluation of her son, and after he had spent 3 months in the school, chose to remove him from public school and educate him at home.

She taught him to read from the bible, and his father encouraged him to read classical works. Edison was an avid reader and regularly frequented his local library. He took an interest in poetry, especially the works of Shakespeare and excelled in world history and English. Around the age of 12 he became exceedingly interested in Science and Chemistry, especially the works of Isaac Newton. When he began to ask complex questions about Physics and Science concepts his parents decided to hire a tutor for him.

Young Adulthood

Edison was also an entrepreneur, and as a child made spending money by selling newspapers, candy, and fresh produce. As a teenager, in 1860, he decided to publish his own newspaper, "The Weekly Herald" which made a profit it's first edition and each one thereafter, and focused on political news and the United States Presidential debates between Abraham Lincoln and Senator Stephen A. Douglas. Edison agreed with Lincoln's stance on emancipation, and volunteered to work for his campaign office, distributing campaign literature on his behalf.

Thomas was used to taking the initiative to learn on his own, and had a very inquisitive nature, a strong desire to learn, an excellent memory, and the ability to understand complex concepts. He considered his hearing loss to work in his favor, as he was not distracted by outside noises and able to concentrate on his own thoughts. His hearing loss increased over time, and in later years he lost all hearing in his left ear and about 80% of the hearing in his right ear.

At 15 years of age, Edison learned Morse code and was hired as a telegraph operator. There were jobs available for workers of all ages, including youngsters, as many adult men were now engaged in fighting in the Civil War.

He worked in several telegraph offices, then decided to accept a job offer from the Western Union Company in Boston. He chose to move far from home as he felt Boston had a strong scientific community. He was known as a hard worker and routinely worked 12 hour days, 6 days a week. In the evenings after work, he developed his own inventions.

Adulthood

He obtained his first patent on his first "real" invention, an automatic vote-recording machine. However, as with many inventors first attempts, it was not well recieved and turned out to be unmarketable. This was not because it did not work; it worked well, it was because the market was not receptive to the invention.

While in Boston, Edison attended several lectures at Boston Tech, which would later be renamed the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also known as MIT. In 1869, after a year and a half in Boston, Edison decided to relocate to New York.

Due to his exceptional mechanical ability and knowledge he was able to find work as a repairman of automated devices for a financial firm. After work, he continued to tinker and experiment with machanical devices. He had some success and was able to sell some of his inventions. The most important and profitable was a stock ticker he named the "Universal Stock Printer", which he sold for $40,000.

With the profits he established a laboratory in Newark, New Jersey, where he continued to develop his inventions. In his experiments, he always took a "hands-on" approach, and took nothing for granted, insisting on performing tests himself to compare his outcomes with previously recorded results.

He met and married Mary Stilwell, and they had three children, Marion Estelle, Thomas Alva Jr, and William. (Later after Mary's death in 1884, he remarried. He wed his 2nd wife Mina Miller in 1886, they had 3 children, Madelene, Charles and Theodore, and remained together until his death).

Inventions

In 1876 Edison left his Newark lab and established a laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, where he earned the nickname "The Wizard of Menlo Park". The following year, in 1877, he invented the first phonograph. The tin foil phonograph was the first machine that could record and reproduce sound. This invention brought him worldwide recognition and acclaim and he was invited to meet U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes in the White House.

2 years later, in 1879, he developed the first working incandescent electric light bulb. The original idea for the light bulb had already been proposed, and different versions attempted, but no one had yet been able to develop an electric lighting system that was practical and economical enough for common use.

By 1882 Edison had established the first commercial power station, and began providing light and power to customers. In 1887, he established an electrical research and development center in West Orange, New Jersey, where he continued to work on electrical inventions and to developing technology that led to the first (silent) motion pictures. He concurrently worked on developing, then improving the phonograph, and recording equipment.

In 1890 Thomas Edison established the Edison General Electric Company, and in 1892 Edison's company and the Thomson-Houston Company combined to form the General Electric Company, which is a large and profitable company today, commonly known as GE.

Edison gained worldwide acclaim for his inventions. He continued working even with advancing age and in frail health, amassing a total of 1093 patents, more than any other inventor at that time. His last patent was obtained at age 83. He died at age 84, Oct 18th, 1931 in New Jersey. His inventions live on in everyday use by millions of people worldwide.

References

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edbiohm.html

http://edison.rutgers.edu/biogrphy.htm

http://www.projectshum.org/Edison/

http://www.gelighting.com/na/home_lighting/gela/students/history_bio_edison.htm

http://www.famous-inventors.com/thomas-edison-biography.html

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/aa/edison