Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison

Thomas (Alva) Edison was one of America's most important and famous inventors. Edison was born into a time and place where there wasn't much technological advancements. His inventions helped a lot of things quickly change in the world. His inventions contributed to many inventions today such as the night light, movies, telephones, and records and CDs.

Edison is most famous for the development of the first electric light bulb. Like I said Edison was born into a time where America wasn't very developed. He was born, and electricity had not been developed. But thanks to Edison when he had passed away on October 18, 1931 whole cities were lit up in electricity. For electricity, much of the credit goes to Edison.

Some of his inventions were improvements on other inventions, like the telephone. He didn't "invent" the telephone he just made it better. Some of his inventions he did try to invent, like the light bulb and the movie projector. The one he is most proud of was pretty much an accident--the phonograph.

Edison invented and improved upon things that changed our world. Some of the things he invented, he did by himself. Some he did with other people. Just about all his inventions are still around today and are commonly used. It was important to Edison that he created and invented things that people could use in their everyday life.

Thomas Edison was born on February 11, 1847 in Milan Ohio. He was the youngest of all 7 children. His parents were Samuel Edison, Jr. and Nancy Elliot Edison. His dad was a man that did everything, from real-estate to running the local grocery store. His mom was a teacher, but with 7 children she stayed home with the kids preparing meals and helping them with homework. When Thomas was seven years old, his family moved to Port Huron, Michigan. He was full of energy and a curious young boy.

When Thomas moved to Port Huron he started to go to school. His teacher, Reverend Engle considered Thomas to be a dull student. Thomas knew this and didn't like it. Thomas didn't like math and asked a lot of questions. Which Reverend Engle did not like. It was told that Reverend Engle whipped students who asked too many questions, cause it was an annoyance to his everyday life. Reverend Engle criticized him one day and Thomas left school and stormed home.

The next day Thomas and his mom went back to school to have a talk with Reverend Engle. He continued to say things about Thomas' knowledge saying such remarks like Thomas can't learn. His mother was extremely offended and decided to take him out of that school. His mom later decided that she would homeschool him. During these times of home schooled he was enrolled in 2 other public schools. His attendance was very sporadic so it is known that most of his schooling was done at home.

Undergoing His Inventions

Automatic Telegraph

Nine years before Edison was born, Samuel Morse was famous for inventing the telegraph. The telegraph sent messages over wires using "Morse code". In Morse code, the alphabet and numbers are written in combinations of dots, dashes, and short and long sounds. By the time Edison began doing experiments, telegraph lines went across the country. He wanted to learn how to be a telegrapher and send messages over telegraph wires.

One day while selling newspapers along the railroad, something happened that was going to change Edison's life. Edison saved the life of a "station official's" child. The child fell onto the tracks of an oncoming train. Edison ran to his helplessness and took the boy off the tracks before the train flew bye. The boy's father thanked Edison by teaching him how to use the telegraph. Edison used scrap metal to build a telegraph set and practiced the Morse code.

When Edison was 16, he moved to Toronto, Canada. He became a telegraph assistant. His job was to report to Toronto every hour by telegraph signal. Edison thought this was a waste of time. He invented a gadget that sent a signal even if he was asleep. This was his first invention - the transmitter and receiver for the automatic telegraph. His boss found him asleep during this process and almost fired him...but didn't.

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When Edison was 21, he moved to New York City. He had no money.