|yod=1931
|dod=18 October
|wife=Mary Stilwell (d. 1884); Mina Miller(d. 1947)
}}
'''Thomas Alva Edison''' is considered by many to be (1847 – 1931) was the greatest inventor in [[history]], and named by ''Life'' magazine as the most influential person of the second millennium. Some of Edison's best known inventions are the light bulb, the phonegraphphonograph, the mimeograph, the electric typewriter, and an improved stock ticker tape. His single most important invention was the central power station that provided electricity to multiple users, and became the foundation of his company, now known as [[General Electric]].
Perhaps his most important contribution was how "[h]e he helped to create a new institution for invention—the invention — the [[industrial research laboratory]] ..."<ref>http://edison.rutgers.edu/inventions.htm</ref>
Edison patented over 1,000 inventions in his lifetime. His favorite invention was the [[phonograph]], who so astounded the world that he was nicknamed the "Wizard of Menlo Park"." <ref>http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/edison/filmmore/transcript/index.html</ref> [[Homeschooled]] as a child, Thomas Edison began his marvelous career as a teenager despite being almost entirely deaf.
==Childhood==
At 15 years of age, Edison learned [[Morse Code]] and was hired as a telegraph operator in several telegraph offices, then took a job with 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 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 received 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 ([[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]]); in 1869 he relocated to New York City.
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 hours, he continued to thinker tinker and experiment with mechanical 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.
===Menlo Park===
[[File:Edison Phonograph 1877.jpg|thumb|President Harding speaking into recording apparatus, 1922.]]
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]].
In 1887 Edison moved his vast organization to West Orange, N.J., and thereafter devoted most of his time to its management. Along with a team of engineers he personally helped invent the first motion pictures. He concurrently worked on developing, then improving the phonograph, and recording equipment. In 1891 Edison patented the kinetoscope and the vitascope; having purchased the patent for a projector invented by Thomas Armat, he made the first commercial showing of motion pictures, at in New York City, on April 23, 1896. In 1913 he demonstrated the synchronization of moving pictures and sound, laying the foundation for the talking motion picture
[[Image:Phonograph-edison.jpg|thumb|280px|1889 phonograph; battery is on left]]
In 1878-81 Edison was at the peak of his intellectual powers. He sought solutions to technological problems through scientific investigations, experimented with multiple ways of technical problem solving, calculated costs and pricing, established methods of production, evaluated the character of potential business partners, negotiated contracts and business partnerships one day and raved back to the lab to scrutinize technical details the next.
===Generating electricity===
[[Image:Edison-pearl-street.jpg|thumb|330px|Model of Pearl Street generating plant]] Edison's development of central-station lighting systems for cities was one of the great achievements in world history because it brought electricity out of the laboratory into actual commercial use. His Pearl Street (New York City) electricity generating station introduced four key elements of a modern electric utility system: reliable central generation, efficient distribution, a successful end use (in 1882, the light bulb), and a competitive price. It was a model of efficiency for its time. At first it served 59 customers for about 24 cents per kilowatt hour. By the late 1880s, power demand for electric motors (especially for elevators and streetcars) brought the industry from mainly nighttime lighting to 24-hour service and dramatically raised electricity demand for transportation and industry needs. By the end of the 1880s, small central stations dotted many U.S. cities; each was limited to a few blocks area because of transmission inefficiencies of direct current (DC). Edison fought a mighty battle with [[George Westinghouse]], who developed a competing system based on alternating current (AC).
In the early 1880s Edison made the transition from entrepreneurial inventor to mass manufacturer and business entrepreneur.
Leaving the laboratory to demonstrate his electric lighting system in a “real world” context, Edison establish established his system in Britain and in Europe. He delegated much of the work to his most trusted assistants and hired talented new associates. Edison steadily improved his business acumen, the court system (where many patent suits were decided), the media, and his judgment of people's character. As always he relied on his intuitive ability to solve technological problems one step at a time.
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. Three days later on the night of October 21, as a national tribute proclaimed by President Herbert Hoover, millions of Americans turned out their lights to plunge the country into momentary darkness. His inventions live on in everyday use by millions of people worldwide. When someone called him a genius, Edison made the famous reply, "Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration."
{{Clear}}
==Religious Viewpoints==
Little is known about the religious beliefs of the young Thomas Edison, when he was most productive.
== See also Also ==*[[Gallery of American Heroes]]* [[World Famous Pictures]]* [[:Category:American Inventions]]* [[:Category:British Inventions]] == External links ==[[Image:Movie-edison.jpg|thumb|320px|Sound movies: 1913 Edison's Kinetophone. The viewer looks at film through the peep-hole while listening to the accompanying phonograph through two rubber ear tubes. The 1895 version worked poorly; this one was dropped because labor contracts required a union operator to be present.<ref> See [http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bledison_kinetoscope.htm Kinetophones]</ref>]] * [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edbiohm.html Library of Congress]* [http://edison.rutgers.edu/biogrphy.htm Rutgers University]* [http://edison.rutgers.edu/famchron.htm Chronology of Edison's Family]* [http://www.projectshum.org/Edison/ Edison Project]* [http://www.gelighting.com/na/home_lighting/gela/students/history_bio_edison.htm GE]* [http://www.famous-inventors.com/thomas-edison-biography.html Famous Inventors]* [http://www.nps.gov/archive/edis/edisonia.htm National Park Service]* [http://edison.rutgers.edu/patents.htm Edison’s Patents]* [http://ariwatch.com/VS/TheDiaryOfThomasEdison.htm The Diary of Thomas Edison] – complete text, with explanatory footnotes.* [http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bledisonpatents.htm Patent list.]
==Bibliography==
* Israel, Paul. ''Edison: A Life of Invention'' (2000), 552pp; the standard scholarly biography [http://www.amazon.com/Edison-Life-Invention-Paul-Israel/dp/0471362700/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229892178&sr=8-7 excerpt and text search]
* Stross, Randall E. '' The Wizard of Menlo Park: How Thomas Alva Edison Invented the Modern World'' (2007) 376 pages; a debunking account that says his inventions were exaggerated and that after 1882 Edison was mostly a PR genius
* Wasik, John F. ''The Merchant of Power: Sam Insull, Thomas Edison, and the Creation of the Modern Metropolis'' (2006) 280pp
===Primary sources===
* Israel, Paul W., ed. ''The Papers of Thomas A. Edison,'' (6 vol
** vol 5: ''The Papers of Thomas A. Edison: Research to Development at Menlo Park, January 1879-March 1881'' (2004) [http://www.amazon.com/Papers-Thomas-Edison-Development-1879-March/dp/0801831040/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229892178&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
** vol 6: '' Electrifying New York and Abroad, April 1881--March 1883'' (2007) 940pp
* Association of Edison Illuminating Companies. Committee on St. Louis Exposition. ''"Edisonia," a brief history of the early Edison electric lighting system'' (1904) [http://books.google.com/books?id=zA0LAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA61&dq=%22pearl+street%22+intitle:edison&lr=&num=30&as_brr=1&as_pt=ALLTYPES#PPA63-IA1,M1 complete text online], shows many of Edison's inventions
== External links ==
[[Image:Movie-edison.jpg|thumb|320px|Sound movies: 1913 Edison's Kinetophone. The viewer looks at film through the peep-hole while listening to the accompanying phonograph through two rubber ear tubes. The 1895 version worked poorly; this one was dropped because labor contracts required a union operator to be present.<ref> See [http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bledison_kinetoscope.htm Kinetophones]</ref>]]
*[http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edbiohm.html Library of Congress]
* [http://edison.rutgers.edu/biogrphy.htm Rutgers University]
*:[http://edison.rutgers.edu/famchron.htm Chronology of Edison's Family]
* [http://www.projectshum.org/Edison/ Edison Project]
* [http://www.gelighting.com/na/home_lighting/gela/students/history_bio_edison.htm GE]
* [http://www.famous-inventors.com/thomas-edison-biography.html Famous Inventors]
* [http://www.nps.gov/archive/edis/edisonia.htm National Park Service]
*[http://edison.rutgers.edu/patents.htm Edison’s Patents]
*[http://ariwatch.com/VS/TheDiaryOfThomasEdison.htm The Diary of Thomas Edison] – complete text, with explanatory footnotes.
== References ==
<references/>
[[Category:People who were Educated at Home]]
[[Category:Business]]
[[Category:Economic historyInventors]][[Category:Inventions]][[Category:American Inventors]][[Category:American Inventions]]
[[Category:United States History]]
[[Category:Economic history]]
[[Category:Technology]]
[[Category:American History]]