Thomas+Edison

Summer's Page on THOMAS EDISON!!!
Information: Born: February 11, 1847 (So if he were still alive, he would have turned 163 last Thursday!) Died: October 18, 1931 (Ok, so not exactly 165, but 79 years old is not too bad either) Parents: Samuel and Nancy Edison



Thomas Edison was born into a middle class family in Milan, Ohio. He never received much of a formal education, but he learned basic subjects, like math and reading, from his mother. Throughout his teenage years, he spent most of his free time reading scientific books. By the time he was sixteen, Edison was a professional telegrapher, and with the spread of the telegraph, he was able to travel around the country. He arrived in Boston in 1868 and became an inventor. Edison's first invention an electric vote counter, was a failure. When he moved to New York in 1869, he invented a stock printer, the sale of which gave him enough money to open his own laboratory. He located his laboratory in Newark, New Jersey in 1871.

While in Newark, Thomas Edison was wed to Mary Stilwell. In 1876, Edison moved his family to a town near New York City called Menlo Park where he established yet another facility, one that was better equipped for an inventor of his sort.

Although Thomas Edison is best known for his invention of the light bulb, he also created many other things that were extremely beneficial. His first really influential invention was a Foil Phonograph. The Foil Phonograph was the only invention of his time that could both record and reproduce sound. Thomas Edison looked for many ways to bring an electric light source into the normal home. After slightly over a year of work, Edison came through with an incandescent lamp. The electric age began in September 1882 when a power station in Manhattan lit a square mile area of homes. The Edison General Electric Company was created even though Edison never actually owned part of it. Eventually. Edison's name was dropped from the title, and the company was simply named General Electric.

After his creation of the lightbulb, Edison's first wife, Mary Stilwell passed away, and Edison remarried to Mina Miller. Edison opened a number of companies and enjoyed a life of prosperity. He died on October 18, 1931,but his legacy still strives today.

http://www.thomasedison.com/ http://inventors.about.com/od/estartinventors/a/Edison_Bio.htm Garbedian, H. Gordan. Thomas Alva Edison: Builder of Civilization. New York. Julian Messner, Inc. 1960 Ellis, Keith. Thomas Edison: Genius of Electricity. Priory Press Limited.1978