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Home > Articles > Biography Of Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison


Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio. He was the seventh child of Samuel Edison, Jr. and Nancy Matthews Elliott. When he was seven years old, the family moved from Ohio to Port Huron, Michigan so Samuel could work in the lumber business and provide his family with a better life.

“Al,” as he was nicknamed, was a very poor student. In fact, he did so poorly that one of his teachers called him “addled” and slow. His furious mother took him out of school and home schooled him from then on, and the two had a very close relationship. In fact, Edison even credited her with instilling in him a drive to succeed.

In 1859, Edison began selling newspapers on the Grand Trunk Railroad. In the train’s baggage car, he set up his own laboratory to conduct experiments until a fire on the train forced him to stop. At age 14, Edison lost nearly all of his hearing, most likely due to scarlet fever he had as a child. Edison viewed his deafness as an asset that allowed him to concentrate on his experiments.

At 16, Edison saved a 3-year-old from a train track when a boxcar almost rolled over him. The child’s father, J.U. Mackenzie, was so touched that he gave Edison railroad telegraphy lessons. Later, Edison went to Port Huron where he used his knowledge to work as an operator of telegraph. He then moved around until 1867, working as a telegrapher.

 

Edison's Beginnings As An Inventor

By 1868, Edison got to Boston and was working in the Western Union office there. He had still been working on all his inventions and the very next year, he quit his job to focus on them. In June of 1869, he completed his first invention to receive a patent, a vote recorder running on electricity. However, the response to the invention was rather cold and from then on, he vowed that he would not invent things that were trivial for people's use.

He then moved to New York City, where he gained employment at Samuel Laws’ Gold Indicator Company after he fixed a broken machine. In October, Edison, his friend Franklin L. Pope, together with someone named James Ashley founded Pope, Edison and Co. where they were electrical engineers and constructors of electrical devices. Edison received several patents for telegraph improvements before the company merged with Gold and Stock Telegraph Co in 1870.

In 1871 , Edison’s mother passed away. He was devastated. That same year, he married a former employee named Mary Stilwell. Although they were in love, their relationship was rocky because he was always busy working and she was often ill. They had three children together: Marion, born in February 1873; Thomas, Jr., born in 1876; and William, born in 1878.

 

Major Inventions Produced By Thomas Edison

In 1874, he began to work on a telegraph system for Western Union. He developed a quadruplex telegraph with capacity to send two messages at once. This invention laid the groundwork for today’s High Speed Internet. In 1876, he opened his own laboratory in New Jersey, the first industrial research lab ever. The laboratory eventually invented the motion picture! The next year, he worked on a telephone transmitter that improved on Alexander Graham Bell’s phone work. These experiments led to his invention of the phonograph that year.

In 1878, Edison turned his attention to developing an electric lighting system. He formed the Edison Electric Light Company. By the next year, the laboratory was attempting to not only invent a light bulb but an entire electrical system. He succeeded in creating a long-lasting light bulb and performed demonstrations.

By 1883, 513 households were using lamps to light their houses and Edison formed several companies to manufacture the apparatus needed for his electrical system. Eventually, the system spread to other countries like France and Russia.

Mary Edison died in 1884 and Edison married a woman named Mina Miller in 1886. By then Edison’s relationship with his children had fragmented severely. He and Mina had three children together: Madeline was born in 1888; Charles was born in 1890; and Theodore was born in 1989. Edison and Mina had a much better relationship as she was actively involved in his life.

By 1901, Edison tried to establish a mining business. He started the Motion Picture Patents Company in 1908, a conglomerate of nine film studios. In 1928, he joined the Fort Myers Citivan Club, a community service club. He was active right up until his death. He even became the owner of Milan, Ohio in 1906.

Edison died on October 18, 1931 of complications from diabetes. He passed away in his New Jersey home. By then, he had not only invented the electrical systems of the present day but obtained patents for over 1,093 inventions, solidifying his place as one of the most influential inventors of all time.

 
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