thomas edison biography in telugu

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విద్యుత్ బల్బును కనుగొన్న థామస్ ఆల్వా ఎడిసన్ యొక్క సాక్ష్యము

పూర్తిపేరు:- థామస్ ఆల్వా ఎడిసన్ తల్లిదండ్రులు:- శామ్యూల్ ఆగ్డెన్ ఎడిసన్, నాన్సీ మాథ్యూస్ ఎడిసన్ దంపతులు జన్మస్థలం:- అమెరికాలోని ఓహియో రాష్ట్రానికి చెందిన ‘మిలన్’ అనే ప్రాంతం జననము:- ఫిబ్రవరి 11, 1847 మరణము:- అక్టోబర్ 18, 1931

వ్యక్తిగతసాక్ష్యము:- థామస్ ఆల్వా ఎడిసన్ ఫిబ్రవరి 11, 1847 న అమెరికాలోని ఓహియో రాష్ట్రానికి చెందిన మిలన్ అనే ప్రాంతంలో జన్మించి మిషిగాన్ రాష్ట్రంలోని పోర్టుహ్యురాన్ అనే ప్రదేశంలో పెరిగాడు. తండ్రి శామ్యూల్ ఆగ్డెన్ ఎడిసన్ దంపతులకు ఏడవ మరియు చివరి సంతానంగా జన్మించాడు. ఇతని కుటుంబం డచ్ మూలాలు కలిగినది. ఎడిసన్ ను 7 సంవత్సరాల వయస్సులో స్కూలుకు తీసుకొని వెళ్లారు. అయితే ఎడిసన్ పుట్టినప్పటి నుండి ఆరోగ్య పరంగా చాలా బలహీనముగా ఉండేవాడు, మానసికముగా కూడా వెనుకబడినవాడు. ఎవరైనా ఏదైనా చెప్పినా అర్ధం చేసుకునే శక్తి తనకు ఉండేది కాదు, దిక్కులు చూస్తూ నవ్వుకొంటూ ఉండేవాడు. తరువాత అక్కడ స్కూలులో తోటి స్నేహితులు కూడా హేళన చేస్తుంటే, టీచర్ కూడా వీడు పనికి రాడు, తీసుకుని వెళ్ళండి అని చెప్పేసరికి తన తల్లి నాన్సీ ఎడిసన్ హృదయం ఎంతగానో క్రుంగిపోయింది. అప్పుడు ఎడిసన్ తల్లి అక్కడ ఉన్న వారందరితో ఛాలెంజ్ చేసి “మీ అందరికంటే నా కుమారుడు గొప్పవాడుగా రాణించకపోతే నేను దేవుని బిడ్డను కానే కానని” సవాలు చేసి, తన కుమారుడు ఎడిసన్ ని ఇంటికి తీసుకొని వెళ్ళింది. అప్పటి నుండి తన తల్లి ఒడియే బడిగా మారింది ఎడిసన్ కి. దేవుని నామమున చేసిన ఛాలెంజ్ మేరకు ఒకసారి కన్నీటి ప్రార్థనతో అతనికి చదువు నేర్పుటకు ప్రారంభించింది తల్లి నాన్సీ ఎడిసన్. నిజముగా ఆ తల్లి కన్నీటి ప్రార్థన ఫలితముగా మంచి జ్ఞాపక శక్తిని అనుగ్రహించాడు దేవుడు. ఆపై తల్లి చెప్పే ప్రతీది గ్రహిస్తూ తనకు తానే చదువుకొనే శక్తిని పొందాడు. థామస్ ఆల్వా ఎడిసన్ కి 16 సంవత్సరాల వయసులో “టెలిగ్రాఫిస్ట్” పని దొరికినది. కొద్ది రోజుల తరువాత సంఘ కాపరి, తల్లి నాన్సీ సహకారంతో ఒక లాబరేటరీ కూడా ప్రారంభించాడు. అలా తన తల్లి ప్రార్థన ద్వారా దేవుని సహకారంతో ఎదుగుతూ ముందుకు వెళ్ళాడు ఎడిసన్. కొన్ని సంవత్సరాల తరువాత విద్యుత్ బల్బును కనిపెట్టడానికి ప్రయత్నం మొదలు పెట్టాడు ఎడిసన్. ప్రార్థన చేస్తూ తన పని ప్రారంభించాడు.

సెప్టెంబర్ 4, 1882లో న్యూయార్క్ సిటీలో వేలాది మంది ప్రజలు చిమ్మ చీకటి ప్రదేశంలో కూడా ఉండగా, విధ్యుత్ బల్బును వెలిగించడానికి సిద్దపడ్డాడు థామస్ ఆల్వా ఎడిసన్. ప్రార్థనతో కూడిన ప్రయాస పలితముగా స్విచ్ ఆన్ చేసాడు ఎడిసన్, అంతే ఏకధాటిగా 1000 దీపాలు వెలిగాయి. దానితో ఆ ప్రాంతమంతా వెలుగుమయం అయింది. ప్రజలంతా ఎడిసన్ కి జేజేలు కొట్టి చీకటికి గుడ్ బై చెప్పారు. ఆ రోజు అందరూ థామస్ ఆల్వా ఎడిసన్ ని ప్రశంసిస్తూ, ఆయనను ఘనపరచి, తనని మాట్లాడమన్నపుడు, ఎడిసన్ తన తల్లి గురించి, బైబిలు గురించి చెప్పాడు. “నా తల్లి కన్నీటి ప్రార్థన నన్ను మనిషిగా మార్చింది, ఆమె చేసిన కన్నీటి ప్రార్థనే ఈరోజు నన్ను మీ మధ్య ఒక గొప్ప వ్యక్తిగా నిలబెట్టింది” అని చెప్పాడు. తరువాత బైబిలు గురించి మాట్లాడాడు, ఒక రోజు మా పాస్టర్ గారు చెప్తున్న దేవుని వాక్యం వినుచుండగా అప్పుడు యోబు 28:3 వచనమును చదివించి దానిని అత్మీయముగా భోదించారు. మనిషి చీకటి అనే పాపమునకు అంతం కలుగజేసి వెలుగు అనే క్రీస్తులోనికి రావాలని వివరించారు. అయితే ఆ మాటను ఇంటికి వచ్చిన తరువాత నా గదిలోనికి వెళ్లి మరలా చదివాను. మనుష్యులు చీకటికి అంతము కలుగజేయుదురు గాఢాంధకారములోను మరణాంధకారములోను ఉండు రత్నములను వెదకుచు వారు భూమ్యంతముల వరకు సంచరింతురు. (యోబు 28:3)

ఈ వాక్యం దైవజనులు ఆత్మీయ అర్థముతో చెప్పారు, అయితే నేను అక్షరార్ధముగా ప్రయత్నించి, బైబిలు ప్రవచనం నెరవేర్చడానికి తలంచి యోబు 28:3 వాక్యం మేరకు ప్రయత్నించాను, దేవుడు నా ప్రయత్నం సఫలం చేసాడు. నేను బల్బును కనిపెట్టుటకు కారణం బైబిలులోని వాక్యం (యోబు 28:3) అని సాక్షమిచ్చాడు థామస్ ఆల్వా ఎడిసన్. 1879వ సంవత్సరంలో బల్బును కనుగొన్న ఎడిసన్ 1882లో ప్రయోగాత్మకముగా బల్బును వెలిగించి, దీనికి మూల కారణం పరిశుద్ధ గ్రంధంలోని ఒక వచనమే అని స్పష్టం చేసాడు. దేవునికే మహిమ కలుగును గాక, ఆమెన్.

గొప్పపలుకు:- “నా తల్లి కన్నీటి ప్రార్థన నన్ను మనిషిగా మార్చింది, ఆమె చేసిన కన్నీటి ప్రార్థనే ఈరోజు నన్ను మీ మధ్య ఒక గొప్ప వ్యక్తిగా నిలబెట్టింది..”

ఆధునిక పరిజ్ఞాన ఆసరాతో, విద్యుత్ రంగంలో వచ్చిన అనూహ్యమైన మార్పులతో, మనిషి జీవన విధానం నేడు LED దీప కాంతులతో వెలిగిపోతున్నది. అయితే దాదాపు 150 సంవత్సరాల క్రితం పరిస్థితిని విశ్లేషిస్తే, నాడు మనిషి సూర్యుని వెలుగు మీదనే ఆధారపడి తన జీవితాన్ని కొనసాగించేవాడు.  సహజ వనరులతో కొవ్వత్తులు, బుడ్డి దీపాలు ఉన్ననూ అవి కేవలం సంపన్నుల వరప్రసాదాలుగా ఉండేవి. నేటి ఆధునిక జీవన విధానంలో సామాన్యునికి కూడా విశేష భోగ వసతులు అందుబాటులో ఉన్నాయి. అందుకు కారణం తమ మెదడులోని ఆలోచనలకు పదునుపెట్టి సరికొత్త విధానాలను, సాంకేతిక వసతులను, పరికరాలను కనుగొన్న ఎందఱో శాస్త్రవేత్తలు. ఆ కోవలోనే పయనిస్తూ తన పరిశోధనల ద్వారా విద్యుత్ రంగంలో ఎన్నో విప్లవాత్మక మార్పులకు అంకురార్పణ చేసి, నేడు మనం అనుభవిస్తున్న అన్ని రకాల ఆధునిక పరిజ్ఞానానికి మూలపురుషుడు అయిన థామస్ ఆల్వా ఎడిసన్ నేటి మన ఆదర్శమూర్తి.

ఎడిసన్ జీవితం అంతా పూలపాన్పుల మయం కాదు. బాల్యంలో తాను కూడా ఎన్నో ఇబ్బందులకు గురైనారు. 1847, ఫిబ్రవరి 11న, యు.ఎస్. ఎ. లోని ఒహాయో రాష్ట్రంలో మిలాన్ అనే పట్టణంలో జన్మించిన ఎడిసన్  పెద్ద చదువులు చదవలేదు. పన్నెండో ఏటనే రైలురోడ్డు కంపెనీ లో చేరి చదువును వదిలేశాడు. కానీ తన ఆలోచనలు మాత్రం ఎప్పుడూ ఎదో కొత్తదనం కోసం వెంపర్లాడుతూనే ఉన్నాయి. అందుకనే సాంకేతిక పరమైన విషయాల గురించి ఎక్కువగా ఆలోచిస్తూ సరికొత్త విధానాలను కనుక్కోవడానికి సమయాన్ని వెచ్చించడం ప్రారంభించాడు.

అమెరికాలో ఏర్పడిన సివిల్ వార్ సమయంలో టెలిగ్రాఫ్ యొక్క ఉపయోగం వెలుగులోకి వచ్చింది. ఒక టెలిగ్రాఫర్ గా ఎడిసన్ పనిలో చేరి ఇంకా ఆ సాంకేతికతను ఏవిధంగా అభివృద్ధి చేయవచ్చని ఆలోచించడం ప్రారంభించాడు.  సహజసిద్ధంగా తనకు ఉన్న చెముడు ప్రభావం వలన ఆ టెలిగ్రాఫ్ కోడ్స్ విని డీకోడ్ చేయడం చాలా కష్టమైంది. అందుకనే ఆ విద్యుత్ తరంగాలను యధాతధంగా అక్షరాలుగా మార్చి ప్రింట్ చేసే పరికరం కోసం శ్రమించడం మొదలుపెట్టారు. ఎన్నో ఒడిదుడుకులను తట్టుకొని తను అనుకొన్న టెలిగ్రామ్ పరికరాన్ని తయారుచేశారు. అది మొదలు ఎన్నో విధములైన విధ్యుత్ పరికరాలు ముఖ్యంగా ధ్వనికి సంబంధించిన విషయాలమీద దృష్టి పెట్టారు. బహుశా తన వినికిడి ఇబ్బంది తనను ఈ విధమైనా పరిశోధనవైపు మళ్ళించిందేమో!

1879 వ సంవత్సరం ఎడిసన్ కు తన జీవిత కాలంలో ఒక గొప్ప సంవత్సరం అని చెప్పాలి. ఆయనకే కాదు మనందరం నేడు విద్యుత్ దీపకాంతులతో పగలు రేయి అనే బేధం లేకుండా అన్ని పనులనూ చక్కగా చేసుకునేందుకు కారణం ఆ సంవత్సరమే.  విద్యుత్ శక్తిని ఉత్పత్తి చేసే విధానాలను కనుగొని నాటికి ఏభై సంవత్సరాలు అయినను విద్యుత్ ఉపయోగించి కాంతిని సృష్టించే ప్రక్రియ మాత్రం అందని ద్రాక్షపండే అయింది. ఎడిసన్ ఆ దిశగా పరిశోధనలు జరిపి ప్లాటినం ఫిలమెంట్ ను ఉపయోగించి పనిచేసే లైట్ బుల్బ్ రూపొందించారు. అది నిజంగా శాస్త్ర సాంకేతిక రంగంలో సరికొత్త మైలురాయి అని చెప్పవచ్చు. నాడు అమెరికాలో మంచి పేరుపొందిన జె పి మోర్గాన్ కంపెనీ మరియు వాండర్ బెల్ట్ ఫ్యామిలీ కలిసి పెట్టుబడి పెట్టి ఎడిసన్ చేత ఎడిసన్ ఎలక్ట్రిక్ కంపెనీ ని ప్రారంభించి ఆ విధంగా వ్యాపార రంగంలో కూడా ప్రవేశించారు.  ఆ పిమ్మట విద్యుత్ ను నిల్వచేసేందుకు విద్యుద్ఘటమాల (ఆల్కలిన్ బాటరీస్) కూడా కనుగొని అమ్మకాలు ప్రారంభించారు. ఇలా ఎన్నో సరికొత్త సాంకేతిక కల్పనలు, పరికరాలు సృష్టించడమే కాకుండా, వాటి మీద సర్వహక్కులూ తానే ఉంచుకొని (పేటెంట్) వ్యాపార రంగంలో కూడా చక్కగా రాణించారు. ఈ విధమైన రెండు విభిన్న పోకడలు (శాస్త్రవేత్తగా, వ్యాపారవేత్తగా) కలిగిన మహా మనిషి ఎడిసన్ ఒక్కడే కావచ్చు.

ఎడిసన్ యొక్క ముద్ర దాదాపు అన్ని రంగాలలో నేటికీ మనకు కనపడుతుంది. ఉదాహరణకు ఆటో రంగంలో నేడు బాటరీస్ దే ముఖ్య పాత్ర. మరి ఆ విద్యుద్ఘటమాలను మొదట తయారుచేసింది ఆయనే. అలాగే నేడు మనం ఆనందిస్తున్న సినిమాలు చిత్రీకరించిన కెమెరాల మూలపురుషుడు ఆయనే. నాడు ఆయన కనుగొన్న పరికరం పేరు కెనెటోగ్రాఫ్. ఇక నేటి విద్యుత్ బల్బులు ఆయన సృష్టించినవే. కాలక్రమేణ ఎన్నో మార్పులు జరిగి ఆధునికత, సామర్ధ్యం పెరిగి సాంకేతికంగా ఎంతో అభివృద్ధి జరిగి ఉండవచ్చు. కానీ మూల సూత్రాలు ఆయన ఆపాదించినవే కదా!

అతి బీద రైల్ రోడ్ కార్మికుని స్థాయి నుండి సూర్యునికి పోటీగా ప్రపంచానికే వెలుగునిచ్చే స్థాయికి చేరి అంతర్జాతీయంగా అత్యంత పేరు ప్రఖ్యాతులు సంపాదించి ఒక గొప్ప శాస్త్రవేత్తగా, వ్యాపారవేత్తగా మరియు నాయకునిగా వెలుగొందిన ఆ గొప్ప మహనీయుడు, ఆదర్శమూర్తి తన ఎనభై నాలుగవ ఏట పరమపదించారు.

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Thomas Alva Edison | ప్ర‌పంచానికి వెలుగునిచ్చిన ఎడిస‌న్ కంట క‌న్నీరు తెప్పించిన ఆ లెట‌ర్

Thomas alva edison | ప్ర‌పంచంలో మొట్ట‌మొద‌టి క‌రెంటు బ‌ల్బు ఆవిష్కరించిన ప్రముఖ శాస్త్ర‌వేత్త థామస్ అల్వా ఎడిసన్ జీవితంలో ఆయ‌న తల్లి పాత్ర ఎంతో కీల‌క‌మైంది. ఎడిస‌న్ చిన్న‌త‌నంలో అయ‌న‌ తల్లి చేసిన ఒక ప‌ని వ‌ల్ల ఆయ‌న ఒక గొప్ప శాస్త్ర‌వేత్త అయ్యారు . ప్ర‌పంచానికి చీక‌టి నుంచి వెలుగులోకి.

ప్ర‌పంచంలో మొట్ట‌మొద‌టి క‌రెంటు బ‌ల్బు ఆవిష్కరించిన ప్రముఖ శాస్త్ర‌వేత్త థామస్ అల్వా ఎడిసన్ జీవితంలో ఆయ‌న తల్లి పాత్ర ఎంతో కీల‌క‌మైంది. ఎడిస‌న్ చిన్న‌త‌నంలో అయ‌న‌ తల్లి చేసిన ఒక ప‌ని వ‌ల్ల ఆయ‌న ఒక గొప్ప శాస్త్ర‌వేత్త అయ్యారు . ప్ర‌పంచానికి చీక‌టి నుంచి వెలుగులోకి తీసుకువ‌చ్చాడు. ఒక‌విధంగా చూస్తే ఆయ‌న త‌ల్లి వ‌ల్లే ఇదంతా సాధ్య‌మైంది. అదెలాగంటే..

అవి థామస్ అల్వా ఎడిసన్ పాఠశాలలో చదువుకుంటున్న రోజులు.. ఒక రోజు ఎడిసన్ స్కూలు నుంచి వస్తూ తనతో పాటు ఒక లెటర్ తీసుకువచ్చాడు. దానిని తన తల్లికి ఇచ్చి.. ఇది స్కూలులో తనకు ఇచ్చారని, దానిలో ఏముందో గట్టిగా చదవి వినిపించమన్నాడు. తల్లి ఆ లెటర్‌ను తెరిచి, చదవడం ప్రారంభించింది. ఆ లెటర్ చదువుతున్న ఆమెకు కన్నీళ్ల‌లో మునిగిపోయింది. తన కుమారుడు థామస్‌ను దగ్గరకు తీసుకుని ఏడ్చింది.

అది చూసిన చిన్నారి థామస్.. ‘అమ్మా అందులో ఏమి రాశారు?’ అని అడిగాడు. అప్పుడు ఆమె ఆ లెటర్‌ను బిగ్గరగా చదవడం ప్రారంభించింది… “మీ కుమారుడు ఒక‌ జీనియస్, థామస్ అద్భుతమైన తెలివితేటలు కలిగినవాడు , అయితే మేము ఇటువంటి కుర్రాడికి మా స్కూలులో చదువు చెప్పలేము, ఇక్కడ థామ‌స్‌కు చ‌దువు చెప్ప‌డ‌ల‌ సరైన ఉపాధ్యాయులు లేకపోవడమే దానికి కారణం. అందుకే థామస్‌కు మీరు ఇంట్లోనే చదువు చెప్పండి” అని రాశారు అంటూ ఆమె థామ‌స్‌కు చెప్పింది.

ఆ రోజు నుంచి థామస్ ఇంట్లోనే త‌న‌ తల్లి వద్ద‌ చదువు నేర్చుకున్నాడు. త‌ల్లి థామ‌స్ చ‌దవు గురించి శ్ర‌ద్ధ తీసుకొని అత‌డిని ఒక గొప్ప మేధావిగా తీర్చిదిద్దింది. తరువాతి కాలంలో థామస్ ఎడిసన్ ప్రపంచంలోనే గొప్ప ఆవిష్కర్తగా మారారు. క‌రెంటు బల్బును కనిపెట్టి 1093లో దానికి పేటెంట్ పొందారు. తరువాత విజయవంతమైన బిజినెస్ మ్యాన్‌గా మారారు. థామస్ విజయపరంపర కొనసాగిస్తున్న సమయంలోనే ఆయ‌న‌ తల్లి కన్నుమూసింది. ఒకరోజు థామస్ తన ఇంట్లోని పాత వ‌స్తువులు తొల‌గిస్తుండ‌గా.. ఒక లెటర్ కనిపించింది. అది తాను పాఠశాలలో చదువుకుంటున్న రోజుల్లో ఉపాధ్యాయులు తనకు ఇచ్చిన లెటర్.

ఆ లెట‌ర్ చ‌దివిన థామ‌స్‌కు ఒక్క‌సారిగా షాక్ త‌గిలింది. అందులో ‘మీ కుమారుడు థామస్ మానసికంగా చాలా బలహీనుడు. ఇలాంటి కుర్రాడికి మా స్కూలులో చదువు చెప్పలేం. దయచేసి మీ అబ్బాయికి మీ ఇంట్లోనే చదువు నేర్పండి’ అని వుంది. ఈ లెటర్ చదవగానే థామస్ క‌న్నీళ్లు ఆపుకోలేక‌పోయాడు.

అప్పుడు థామస్‌కు.. తన తల్లి ప‌డిన ఆవేద‌న, త‌న‌ను ఇంతవాడిని చేయ‌డానికి ఆమె ప‌డిన క‌ష్టం గురించి అర్థ‌మైంది. ఒకవేళ‌ ఆ లెటర్‌లో ఉన్నది ఉన్నట్లు తన తల్లి చదివివుంటే.. తాను ఇన్ని ఆవిష్కరణలు చేసే అవకాశమే ఉండేదికాదని అనుకుంటూ.. థామస్ తన తల్లికి మనసులోనే కృతజ్ఞతలు తెలిపారు.

థామస్ జీవితంలోని ఈ ఘటన ద్వారా మనం ఒక ముఖ్య‌మైన‌ విషయం తెలుసుకోవాలి. సాధారణంగా చాలామంది ఎదుటివారి లోపాలను చూసి వారిని కించపరిచి, వారిలోని ఆత్మవిశ్వాసాన్ని దెబ్బతీస్తుంటారు. ఇలా చేయడం వలన వారు మరింత కుంగిపోతారు. దీనికి బదులు లోపాలున్నవారిలో ఆత్మవిశ్వాసాన్ని నింపే ప్రయత్నం చేయాలి.

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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.

(1847-1931)

Who Was Thomas Edison?

Early life and education.

Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio. He was the youngest of seven children of Samuel and Nancy Edison. His father was an exiled political activist from Canada, while his mother was an accomplished school teacher and a major influence in Edison’s early life. An early bout with scarlet fever as well as ear infections left Edison with hearing difficulties in both ears as a child and nearly deaf as an adult.

Edison would later recount, with variations on the story, that he lost his hearing due to a train incident in which his ears were injured. But others have tended to discount this as the sole cause of his hearing loss.

In 1854, Edison’s family moved to Port Huron, Michigan, where he attended public school for a total of 12 weeks. A hyperactive child, prone to distraction, he was deemed "difficult" by his teacher.

His mother quickly pulled him from school and taught him at home. At age 11, he showed a voracious appetite for knowledge, reading books on a wide range of subjects. In this wide-open curriculum Edison developed a process for self-education and learning independently that would serve him throughout his life.

At age 12, Edison convinced his parents to let him sell newspapers to passengers along the Grand Trunk Railroad line. Exploiting his access to the news bulletins teletyped to the station office each day, Edison began publishing his own small newspaper, called the Grand Trunk Herald .

The up-to-date articles were a hit with passengers. This was the first of what would become a long string of entrepreneurial ventures where he saw a need and capitalized on the opportunity.

Edison also used his access to the railroad to conduct chemical experiments in a small laboratory he set up in a train baggage car. During one of his experiments, a chemical fire started and the car caught fire.

The conductor rushed in and struck Edison on the side of the head, probably furthering some of his hearing loss. He was kicked off the train and forced to sell his newspapers at various stations along the route.

Edison the Telegrapher

While Edison worked for the railroad, a near-tragic event turned fortuitous for the young man. After Edison saved a three-year-old from being run over by an errant train , the child’s grateful father rewarded him by teaching him to operate a telegraph . By age 15, he had learned enough to be employed as a telegraph operator.

For the next five years, Edison traveled throughout the Midwest as an itinerant telegrapher, subbing for those who had gone to the Civil War . In his spare time, he read widely, studied and experimented with telegraph technology, and became familiar with electrical science.

In 1866, at age 19, Edison moved to Louisville, Kentucky, working for The Associated Press. The night shift allowed him to spend most of his time reading and experimenting. He developed an unrestricted style of thinking and inquiry, proving things to himself through objective examination and experimentation.

Initially, Edison excelled at his telegraph job because early Morse code was inscribed on a piece of paper, so Edison's partial deafness was no handicap. However, as the technology advanced, receivers were increasingly equipped with a sounding key, enabling telegraphers to "read" message by the sound of the clicks. This left Edison disadvantaged, with fewer and fewer opportunities for employment.

In 1868, Edison returned home to find his beloved mother was falling into mental illness and his father was out of work. The family was almost destitute. Edison realized he needed to take control of his future.

Upon the suggestion of a friend, he ventured to Boston, landing a job for the Western Union Company . At the time, Boston was America's center for science and culture, and Edison reveled in it. In his spare time, he designed and patented an electronic voting recorder for quickly tallying votes in the legislature.

However, Massachusetts lawmakers were not interested. As they explained, most legislators didn't want votes tallied quickly. They wanted time to change the minds of fellow legislators.

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In 1871 Edison married 16-year-old Mary Stilwell, who was an employee at one of his businesses. During their 13-year marriage, they had three children, Marion, Thomas and William, who himself became an inventor.

In 1884, Mary died at the age of 29 of a suspected brain tumor. Two years later, Edison married Mina Miller, 19 years his junior.

Thomas Edison: Inventions

In 1869, at 22 years old, Edison moved to New York City and developed his first invention, an improved stock ticker called the Universal Stock Printer, which synchronized several stock tickers' transactions.

The Gold and Stock Telegraph Company was so impressed, they paid him $40,000 for the rights. With this success, he quit his work as a telegrapher to devote himself full-time to inventing.

By the early 1870s, Edison had acquired a reputation as a first-rate inventor. In 1870, he set up his first small laboratory and manufacturing facility in Newark, New Jersey, and employed several machinists.

As an independent entrepreneur, Edison formed numerous partnerships and developed products for the highest bidder. Often that was Western Union Telegraph Company, the industry leader, but just as often, it was one of Western Union's rivals.

Quadruplex Telegraph

In one such instance, Edison devised for Western Union the quadruplex telegraph, capable of transmitting two signals in two different directions on the same wire, but railroad tycoon Jay Gould snatched the invention from Western Union, paying Edison more than $100,000 in cash, bonds and stock, and generating years of litigation.

In 1876, Edison moved his expanding operations to Menlo Park, New Jersey, and built an independent industrial research facility incorporating machine shops and laboratories.

That same year, Western Union encouraged him to develop a communication device to compete with Alexander Graham Bell 's telephone. He never did.

In December 1877, Edison developed a method for recording sound: the phonograph . His innovation relied upon tin-coated cylinders with two needles: one for recording sound, and another for playback.

His first words spoken into the phonograph's mouthpiece were, "Mary had a little lamb." Though not commercially viable for another decade, the phonograph brought him worldwide fame, especially when the device was used by the U.S. Army to bring music to the troops overseas during World War I .

While Edison was not the inventor of the first light bulb, he came up with the technology that helped bring it to the masses. Edison was driven to perfect a commercially practical, efficient incandescent light bulb following English inventor Humphry Davy’s invention of the first early electric arc lamp in the early 1800s.

Over the decades following Davy’s creation, scientists such as Warren de la Rue, Joseph Wilson Swan, Henry Woodward and Mathew Evans had worked to perfect electric light bulbs or tubes using a vacuum but were unsuccessful in their attempts.

After buying Woodward and Evans' patent and making improvements in his design, Edison was granted a patent for his own improved light bulb in 1879. He began to manufacture and market it for widespread use. In January 1880, Edison set out to develop a company that would deliver the electricity to power and light the cities of the world.

That same year, Edison founded the Edison Illuminating Company—the first investor-owned electric utility—which later became General Electric .

In 1881, he left Menlo Park to establish facilities in several cities where electrical systems were being installed. In 1882, the Pearl Street generating station provided 110 volts of electrical power to 59 customers in lower Manhattan.

Later Inventions & Business

In 1887, Edison built an industrial research laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey, which served as the primary research laboratory for the Edison lighting companies.

He spent most of his time there, supervising the development of lighting technology and power systems. He also perfected the phonograph, and developed the motion picture camera and the alkaline storage battery.

Over the next few decades, Edison found his role as inventor transitioning to one as industrialist and business manager. The laboratory in West Orange was too large and complex for any one man to completely manage, and Edison found he was not as successful in his new role as he was in his former one.

Edison also found that much of the future development and perfection of his inventions was being conducted by university-trained mathematicians and scientists. He worked best in intimate, unstructured environments with a handful of assistants and was outspoken about his disdain for academia and corporate operations.

During the 1890s, Edison built a magnetic iron-ore processing plant in northern New Jersey that proved to be a commercial failure. Later, he was able to salvage the process into a better method for producing cement.

Motion Picture

On April 23, 1896, Edison became the first person to project a motion picture, holding the world's first motion picture screening at Koster & Bial's Music Hall in New York City.

His interest in motion pictures began years earlier, when he and an associate named W. K. L. Dickson developed a Kinetoscope, a peephole viewing device. Soon, Edison's West Orange laboratory was creating Edison Films. Among the first of these was The Great Train Robbery , released in 1903.

As the automobile industry began to grow, Edison worked on developing a suitable storage battery that could power an electric car. Though the gasoline-powered engine eventually prevailed, Edison designed a battery for the self-starter on the Model T for friend and admirer Henry Ford in 1912. The system was used extensively in the auto industry for decades.

During World War I, the U.S. government asked Edison to head the Naval Consulting Board, which examined inventions submitted for military use. Edison worked on several projects, including submarine detectors and gun-location techniques.

However, due to his moral indignation toward violence, he specified that he would work only on defensive weapons, later noting, "I am proud of the fact that I never invented weapons to kill."

By the end of the 1920s, Edison was in his 80s. He and his second wife, Mina, spent part of their time at their winter retreat in Fort Myers, Florida, where his friendship with automobile tycoon Henry Ford flourished and he continued to work on several projects, ranging from electric trains to finding a domestic source for natural rubber.

During his lifetime, Edison received 1,093 U.S. patents and filed an additional 500 to 600 that were unsuccessful or abandoned.

He executed his first patent for his Electrographic Vote-Recorder on October 13, 1868, at the age of 21. His last patent was for an apparatus for holding objects during the electroplating process.

Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla

Edison became embroiled in a longstanding rivalry with Nikola Tesla , an engineering visionary with academic training who worked with Edison's company for a time.

The two parted ways in 1885 and would publicly clash in the " War of the Currents " about the use of direct current electricity, which Edison favored, vs. alternating currents, which Tesla championed. Tesla then entered into a partnership with George Westinghouse, an Edison competitor, resulting in a major business feud over electrical power.

Elephant Killing

One of the unusual - and cruel - methods Edison used to convince people of the dangers of alternating current was through public demonstrations where animals were electrocuted.

One of the most infamous of these shows was the 1903 electrocution of a circus elephant named Topsy on New York's Coney Island.

Edison died on October 18, 1931, from complications of diabetes in his home, Glenmont, in West Orange, New Jersey. He was 84 years old.

Many communities and corporations throughout the world dimmed their lights or briefly turned off their electrical power to commemorate his passing.

Edison's career was the quintessential rags-to-riches success story that made him a folk hero in America.

An uninhibited egoist, he could be a tyrant to employees and ruthless to competitors. Though he was a publicity seeker, he didn’t socialize well and often neglected his family.

But by the time he died, Edison was one of the most well-known and respected Americans in the world. He had been at the forefront of America’s first technological revolution and set the stage for the modern electric world.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Thomas Alva Edison
• Birth Year: 1847
• Birth date: February 11, 1847
• Birth State: Ohio
• Birth City: Milan
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: 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.
• Technology and Engineering
• Astrological Sign: Aquarius
• The Cooper Union
• Interesting Facts
• Thomas Edison was considered too difficult as a child so his mother homeschooled him.
• Edison became the first to project a motion picture in 1896, at Koster & Bial's Music Hall in New York City.
• Edison had a bitter rivalry with Nikola Tesla.
• During his lifetime, Edison received 1,093 U.S. patents.
• Death Year: 1931
• Death date: October 18, 1931
• Death State: New Jersey
• Death City: West Orange
• Death Country: United States

We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us !

CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Thomas Edison Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/inventors/thomas-edison
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: May 13, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014
• Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
• Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.
• I am proud of the fact that I never invented weapons to kill.
• I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don't have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.
• Restlessness is discontent — and discontent is the first necessity of progress. Show me a thoroughly satisfied man — and I will show you a failure.
• To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.
• Hell, there ain't no rules around here! We're trying to accomplish something.
• I always invent to obtain money to go on inventing.
• The phonograph, in one sense, knows more than we do ourselves. For it will retain a perfect mechanical memory of many things which we may forget, even though we have said them.
• We know nothing; we have to creep by the light of experiments, never knowing the day or the hour that we shall find what we are after.
• Everything, anything is possible; the world is a vast storehouse of undiscovered energy.
• The recurrence of a phenomenon like Edison is not very likely... He will occupy a unique and exalted position in the history of his native land, which might well be proud of his great genius and undying achievements in the interest of humanity.” (Nikola Tesla)

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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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• Thomas Alva Edison Biography

Inventor Thomas Alva Edison Biography

Thomas Alva Edison was an American businessman and inventor whose most important inventions changed the world. Edison is known as one of history's most prolific inventors, with 1,093 U.S. patents and various patents in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. He sought practical knowledge with passion, took the initiative to prove his ingenuity beyond the technological norms of the time, and created many devices that had a major effect on life in the twentieth century and beyond.

In fields including electric power generation, mass media, sound recording, and motion pictures, he invented various devices. The phonograph, motion picture camera, and early models of the electric light bulb are among the innovations that have had a significant influence on the modern industrialized world. Working with a large number of researchers and workers, he was one of the first inventors to apply the concepts of organized science and collaboration to the method of innovation. He was the first to create an industrial research laboratory.

Thomas Alva Edison Information

Thomas Edison Full Name - Thomas Alva Edison

Thomas Edison Birthday - February 11, 1847

Thomas Edison Death Date - October 18, 1931

Burial Place - Thomas Edison National Historical Park

Nationality - American

Spouse(s) - Mary Stilwell ​(m. 1871; d. 1884)​

          Mina Miller ​(m. 1886)​

Children - 6

Who is Thomas Edison?

Thomas Edison was born in Milan, Ohio in 1847, but moved to Port Huron, Michigan with his family in 1854. Samuel Ogden Edison Jr. (1804–1896, born in Marshalltown, Nova Scotia) and Nancy Matthews Elliott (1810–1871, born in Chenango County, New York) had seven children.

Thomas Edison Real Name: His patrilineal family line came from New Jersey, and his nickname was "Edeson".

Edison's mother, a retired schoolteacher, taught him reading, writing, and arithmetic. He just went to school for a few months. However, according to one biographer, he was a very curious boy who acquired the bulk of his knowledge by reading on his own.

At the age of twelve, Edison started to have hearing issues. His deafness was caused by a bout of scarlet fever as an infant, as well as recurrent untreated middle-ear infections. Following that, he concocted elaborate fabrications about the cause of his deafness.

Edison is said to have listened to a music player or piano by clamping his teeth into the wood to absorb the sound waves into his skull, despite being deaf in one ear and barely hearing in the other. Edison felt that his hearing loss helped him escape distractions and focus better on his job as he grew older. He may have had ADHD, according to modern historians and medical professionals.

Thomas Edison Scientist - Early Career

On the trains between Port Huron and Detroit, Thomas Edison started his career selling sweets, newspapers, and vegetables. By the age of 13, he had amassed a weekly profit of ＄50, the majority of which he used to purchase equipment for electric and chemical experiments.

After saving three-year-old Jimmie MacKenzie from being hit by a speeding train, he became a telegraph operator. Jimmie's father, Mount Clemens, Michigan station agent J. U. MacKenzie, was so thankful that he trained Edison as a telegraph operator. The Grand Trunk Railway in Stratford Junction, Ontario, was Edison's first telegraphy job away from Port Huron. He was found to be at fault for a near-collision.

Edison secured the exclusive right to sell newspapers on the lane, and he set in type and printed the Grand Trunk Herald, which he sold alongside his other journals, with the help of four assistants. This was the start of Edison's long career as an entrepreneur, as he discovered his abilities as a businessman. In the end, his business talents were instrumental in the founding of 14 businesses, including General Electric, which is now one of the world's largest publicly traded firms.

Edison moved to Louisville, Kentucky, when he was 19 years old, to work for Western Union on the Associated Press bureau news wire.

On June 1, 1869, he received his first patent for an electric vote recorder, U.S. Patent 90,646. Edison moved to New York City soon after, finding little demand for the unit. Franklin Leonard Pope, a fellow telegrapher and inventor, was one of Edison's early mentors, enabling him to live and work in the basement of his Elizabeth, New Jersey, home while Edison worked for Samuel Laws at the Gold Indicator Company. Working as electrical engineers and inventors, Pope and Edison formed their own company in October 1869. In 1874, Edison started working on a multiplex telegraphic device that could send two messages at the same time.

Thomas Alva Edison Discovery

In 1876, Edison founded an industrial research lab, which was his most important invention. It was founded with funds from the selling of Edison's quadruplex telegraph in Menlo Park, a part of Raritan Township (now called Edison Township in his honour) in Middlesex County, New Jersey. Edison was unsure if his initial proposal to sell the telegraph for ＄4,000 to ＄5,000 was correct after seeing it demonstrated, so he asked Western Union to make an offer. He was taken aback when he received a ＄10,000 bid (＄226,000 in today's dollars), which he gladly accepted.

Edison's first major financial achievement was the quadruplex telegraph, and Menlo Park became the first organization committed to continuous technological advancement and development. While several workers carried out research and development under Edison's leadership, he was legally credited with the majority of the inventions made there. In conducting research, his staff was usually told to follow his instructions, and he pushed them hard to achieve results.

Nearly all of Edison's patents were utility patents, which were valid for 17 years and covered electrical, mechanical, or chemical inventions or processes. Around a dozen were design patents, which last for up to 14 years and cover an ornamental design. The inventions he mentioned were, like most patents, advances over the prior art. The phonograph patent, on the other hand, was the first to identify a system that could capture and replicate sounds.

Edison started his career as an inventor in Newark, New Jersey, with the automatic repeater and other improved telegraphic devices, but it was the phonograph, which he invented in 1877, that made him famous. This achievement was so unexpected by the general public that it seemed almost mystical. "The Wizard of Menlo Park" was Edison's nickname.

His first phonograph used tinfoil wrapped around a grooved cylinder to record music. Despite its poor sound quality and the fact that recordings could only be played a few times, Edison became a star thanks to the phonograph.

Carbon Telephone Transmitter

Edison invented a carbon microphone, which consists of two metal plates separated by granules of carbon that change resistance with the pressure of sound waves, in 1876 to enhance the microphone for telephones (at the time called a "transmitter"). A constant direct current is passed between the plates through the granules, and the varying resistance allows the current to modulate, resulting in a varying electric current that reproduces the sound wave's varying pressure.

Mice, such as those created by Johann Philipp Reis and Alexander Graham Bell, operated by generating a weak current up until that point. The carbon microphone operates by modulating a direct current and then transferring the signal to the telephone line through a transformer.

Many inventors worked on the issue of making a functional microphone for telephony by modulating an electrical current passing through it. Edison was one of them. Emile Berliner's loose-contact carbon transmitter (who later lost a patent case against Edison over the carbon transmitter’s invention) and David Edward Hughes' research and published paper on the physics of loose-contact carbon transmitters were both performed at the same time (work that Hughes did not bother to patent).

Electric Light

Edison started working on an electrical lighting system in 1878, aiming to compete with gas and oil-based lighting. He started by attempting to create a long-lasting incandescent lamp, which would be needed for indoor use. The light bulb, however, was not invented by Thomas Edison.

Warren de la Rue, a British scientist, invented a powerful light bulb with a coiled platinum filament in 1840, but the bulb's commercial success was limited by the high cost of platinum. Alessandro Volta's demonstration of a glowing wire in 1800, as well as discoveries by Henry Woodward and Mathew Evans, were among the many other inventors who devised incandescent lamps.

Humphry Davy, James Bowman Lindsay, Moses G. Farmer, William E. Sawyer, Joseph Swan, and Heinrich Göbel were among those who invented early and commercially impractical incandescent electric lamps.

Edison founded the Edison Electric Light Company in New York City in 1878 with the help of many financiers, including J. P. Morgan, Spencer Trask, and Vanderbilt family members. On December 31, 1879, in Menlo Park, Edison gave the first public demonstration of his incandescent light bulb.

Electric Power Distribution

On October 21, 1879, after inventing a commercially the viable electric light bulb, Edison established an electric "utility" to compete with the existing gas light utilities. He founded the Edison Illuminating Company on December 17, 1880, and in the 1880s, patented an electricity distribution system.

In 1882, the company founded the first investor-owned electric utility in New York City's Pearl Street Station. On September 4, 1882, Edison turned on the electrical power distribution system at his Pearl Street generating station, which supplied 110 volts direct current (DC) to 59 customers in lower Manhattan.

Thomas Edison Scientist, Inventor and his Other Projects

Fluoroscopy -

The first commercially available fluoroscope, a system that uses X-rays to take radiographs, was developed and manufactured by Edison. Until Edison discovered that calcium tungstate fluoroscopy screens provided clearer images than Wilhelm Röntgen's barium platinocyanide screens, the technology could only generate very faint images.

While Edison abandoned the project after nearly losing his eyesight and seriously injuring his assistant, Clarence Dally, the basic design of Edison's fluoroscope is still in use today.

Dally volunteered to be a human guinea pig for the fluoroscopy experiment and was exposed to a lethal dose of radiation; he eventually died (at the age of 39) from complications resulting from the exposure, including mediastinal cancer.

Telegraph Improvements

Edison's early reputation and popularity were built on his work in the field of telegraphy. He mastered the mechanics of electricity from years of training as a telegraph operator. This, combined with his chemistry studies at Cooper Union, allowed him to make a fortune early on with the stock ticker, the first electricity-based broadcast machine. His inventions included the invention of the quadruplex, the first device capable of simultaneously transmitting four messages over a single cable.

Motion Pictures

The motion picture camera, also known as the "Kinetograph," was granted a patent by Thomas Edison. He was in charge of the electromechanical design, while his photographer employee William Kennedy Dickson was in charge of the photographic and optical production. Dickson deserves a lot of credit for the invention. Thomas Edison invented the Kinetoscope, or peep-hole viewer, in 1891. People could watch brief, easy films on this screen, which was installed in penny arcades. The kinetoscope and kinetograph were both first seen in public on May 20, 1891.

The Vitascope, designed by Thomas Armat and produced by the Edison factory and sold under Edison's name, was first used to project motion pictures in public screenings in New York City in April 1896. Later, he showed motion pictures with cylinder recordings of voice soundtracks that were mechanically synchronized with the film.

Edison became interested in and associated with mining in the late 1870s. On the east coast of the United States, high-grade iron ore was scarce, so Edison mined low-grade ore. Edison devised a method that used rollers and crushers to pulverize rocks weighing up to ten tonnes. The dust was then passed through three massive magnets, which drew the iron ore from the sand. Edison used some of the materials and machinery from his mining business, the Edison Ore Milling Company, to make cement despite its failure.

Rechargeable Battery

Edison worked on developing a lighter, more efficient rechargeable battery in the late 1890s (at that time called an "accumulator"). He saw them as something customers could use to power their phonographs, but he also saw other applications for them, such as electric cars. Because the lead-acid rechargeable batteries available at the time were inefficient and the market had already been cornered by other companies, Edison pursued the use of alkaline rather than acid. He had his lab experiment with a variety of materials (over 10,000 combinations) before settling on a nickel-iron combination.

In 1901, Edison received the US and European patents for his nickel-iron battery, and he founded the Edison Storage Battery Company, which employed 450 people by 1904. The first rechargeable batteries they made were for electric cars, but there were numerous flaws in the product, which led to customer complaints.

When the company's capital was depleted, Edison used his personal funds to pay for it. Until 1910, Edison did not show a fully developed product: a highly efficient and long-lasting nickel-iron battery with lye as the electrolyte.

Thomas Alva Edison Information on Marriage

On December 25, 1871, at the age of 24, Edison married Mary Stilwell (1855–1884), a 16-year-old employee at one of his stores, whom he had met two months before. They were the parents of three children.

Mary Edison died on August 9, 1884, at the age of 29, from an unknown cause, possibly a brain tumour or a morphine overdose. In those years, doctors frequently prescribed morphine to women for a variety of reasons, and researchers believe her symptoms were caused by morphine poisoning.

Edison preferred to spend his time in the laboratory rather than with his family.

Edison married Mina Miller (1865–1947) in Akron, Ohio, on February 24, 1886, at the age of 39. She was the daughter of Lewis Miller, the inventor, and co-founder of the Chautauqua Institution, as well as a Methodist charity benefactor. They had three children together as well.

Mina lived longer than Thomas Edison, passing away on August 24, 1947.

To summarise, Edison created the phonograph, assisted in the creation of the light bulb, and created the first motion picture camera. In a wide variety of areas, including telecommunications, electric power, sound recording, motion pictures, primary and storage batteries, mining, and cement technology, he amassed a remarkable 1,093 patents.

FAQs on Thomas Alva Edison Biography

Q1. Does Thomas Alva Edison Matter Worldwide?

Ans. Thomas Alva Edison was one of the most well-known and influential inventors of all time, contributing innovations such as the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture camera, as well as developing the telegraph and the telephone. His inventions are being used all over the world, even today.

Q2. Who is Thomas Edison’s Biggest Competitor?

Ans. Nikola Tesla, a Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist, was born on July 10, 1856. He is best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system. In the 1880s, the two rivalling geniuses fought a "Battle of Currents" over which electrical device would control the world: Tesla's alternating-current (AC) or Edison's direct-current (DC) electric power.

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