Thomas Alva Edison and His Contribution to the World

In 1884, Nikola Tesla arrived in the United States from Europe with nothing but his clothes, a letter to Thomas Edison, and a genius idea. Tesla approached Edison, and the latter hired him. The two worked to improve Edison’s direct current system of electricity. However, the two later split due to the two’s clashing personalities; Thomas Edison acted more stubborn and potent while

Thomas Edison was born on February 11, 1847, to middle-class parents in the port of Milan, Ohio. The last of the seven children of Samuel and Nancy Edison. Edison had little education in his young life only learning how to read, write since he only attends school for a few months. His short-tempered teacher grew tired of Edison’s avid and eager questioning also his criticism towards the subject matter so he was expelled. This caused Edison to become a newsboy selling newspapers and candy on the local railroad that ran through Port Huron to Detroit at the age of thirteen. Edison would spend much of his spare time reading scientific, and technical books, and also had the opportunity at this

B. Morse began to develop an interest in electromagnetism and the idea of an electric telegraph. The sudden spark of interest began when his wife died during childbirth to their third son. He was away on an art commission when he was told that his wife a dangerously ill. When he made it back to his home, his wife had already been buried. The next year his father passed away and his mother died three years afterwards. Due to his grief, Morse decided to travel to Europe to recover. On his trip back home to America in 1832, he met inventor Charles Jackson. They had a conversation about how an electronic impulse could be carried on a wire for long distances. This immediately sparked Samuel F. B. Morse's ideas and began to create sketches of an electric device that he believed would be able to allow people to communicate long

Thomas Edison is seen as the grandfather of technology to most but, not all. Edison is seen to some as a villain in history as he has gotten credit for ideas such as the light bulb that had come from someone else. The truth is Edison is both not an angel nor devil. Edison is a hero because of his large amount of inventions, he took challenges and used them for strength over weaknesses, and he is seen as a role model as both an engineer along with a person in general. Edison could also seen as bad from the fact sometimes he let his wealth control him and some of is innovation ideas are believed to have been stolen. The truth is Edison is neither extreme however should be viewed much more positively than negatively.

This is Thomas Edison. Thomas Edison is a famous inventor who invented lots of things that we use today. He was born a very long time ago in the United States of America.

In 1843, Morse and Vail received funding from the U.S. Congress to set up and test their telegraph system between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland. On May 24, 1844, Morse sent Vail the historic first message: “What hath God wrought!” The telegraph system subsequently spread across America and the world, aided by further innovations. Among these improvements was the invention of good insulation for telegraph wires. The man behind this innovation was Ezra Cornell (1807-74), one of the founders of the university in New York that bears his name. Another improvement, by the famed inventor Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) in 1874, was the Quadruplex system, which allowed for four messages to be transmitted simultaneously using the same wire (par 6).

Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, February 11, 1847. The Edisons came from Holland in 1730 first settling in Elizabethport, New Jersey. The Edisons’ had a long proclaimed history of long lived males, with his great grandfather living until 104 and his grandfather until the matured age of 102. Back in the early 1800s, the Edison family fled to Canada among many others interested in the loyalist movement that offered a 600 acre grant to those who moved to the province of Nova Scotia. Thomas Edison’s grandfather was born on Canadian soil, thus hindering the detailed reports of Edison family. Many years later, Samuel Edison was born and without much money in the family. Not much is known about Samuel’s life besides wedding Miss Nancy

The inventor that I chose for this project is Samuel Morse, born April 27, 1791, who invented the electric telegraph in 1835 with the help and inspirations of others such as Alfred Vail.

He would sell newspapers, but also created his own newspaper. He soon became telegraph operator, but was fired. Thomas Edison grew up working hard. He would always be testing different experiments out on top of working a job. He is a true example of an ideal role model.

Thomas Alva Edison was an unconventional genius that played a vital role in shaping the modern world with his inventions, but didn’t accomplish this role easily. Edison led an inquisitive life encompassing his disruptive adolescence, unconventional methods of success, and exceptional ability to endure failure. Although his inventions and ideologies exemplified him, Thomas Edison overcame tremendous obstacles throughout his lifetime before achieving his anticipated goals.

By twenty-three he was considered one of the best electrical engineers in the country. In 1869 he partnered with Franklin Pope, and started a business called Pope. In 1870 he broke his partnership with Pope. In the fall of 1871 he created his own news service called News Reporting Telegraph Co. He also opened his own manufacturing company in Newark, New Jersey the same year. He sold his business in Newark in 1876. He had a lab in Menlo Park, New Jersey. In 1877 he found a way to improve Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone by putting tiny pieces of carbon in the mouthpiece. Thomas Edison called his workers “muckers”. The same year he gave mucker John Kruesi a sketch of the phonograph to make. In 1879 he made the first working light bulb. In 1882 he opened a successful electric power station in New York City. He built a lab about a mile away from Glenmont, New York. The lab was ten times the size of the Menlo Park lab; was three stories high and was 250 feet long. It was the largest, best equipped research lab in the world. The lab contained a physics lab, a chemistry lab, and a metallurgical lab. In 1886 he bought an abandoned factory in Schenectady, New York. In 1889 he started work on an instrument which “Does for the Eye what the phonograph does for the Ear” (Edison). He also opened the world’s first motion picture studio in 1893. During World War I he was asked by the secretary of the Navy to head the Naval Consultation Board. The board was made up of scientists, inventors, and mathematicians. He was known to skip meals and get little sleep when in the middle of inventing. Often he would be found to take cat naps around the

Edison worked for various telegraph companies for about 5 years. During this time, he got to travel around the United States while he was working. Eventually, in 1886, he returned home only to find his mother suffering from mental illness and his father without a job. At this point, Thomas decided that his parents weren’t going to be that beneficial to his future so he traveled to Boston and was employed at the Western Union Company.

This is when he decided to dedicate his life to inventing(“History.com”). In 1870, He created his first small laboratory in Newark, New Jersey(“Bio.com”). Edison employed mechanists to help him(“Bio.com”). Thomas was paid 100,000 dollars for the quadruplex telegraph(“Bio.com”). Edison’s wife died at age 29 from a suspected brain tumor(“Bio.com”). 1876 is when he moved to Menlo Park, New Jersey(“History.com”). In 1877, he created the phonograph, and he built a great laboratory(“Bio.com”). Edison once said, “I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”(“Brainyquote.com”). At the end of his life he worked on the alkaline battery and he experimented with natural rubber(“History.com”). Edison died in his home from diabetes Oct. 18, 1931(“Bio.com”).

Early in 1874 Bell met Thomas A. Watson, a young machinist at a Boston electrical shop. Watson became Bell’s indispensable assistant, bringing to Bell’s experiments the crucial ingredient that had been lacking, his technical expertise in electrical engineering. Together the two men spent endless hours experimenting (Paschoff 43,44). Although Bell formed the basic concept of the telephone using a varying but unbroken electric current to transmit the varying sound waves of human speech, in the summer of 1874, Hubbard insisted that the young inventor focus his efforts on the harmonic telegraph instead. Bell wanted to continue his work on the telephone but he complied. When he patented one of his telegraph designs in February 1875, he found that Elisha Gray had patented a multiple telegraph two days earlier. Greatly discouraged, Bell consulted in Washington with the elderly Joseph Henry, who urged Bell to pursue his “germ of a great invention” speech transmission (Grosvenor and Wesson 55).

I decided to do my report on Thomas Alva Edison because he brought a lot of things into our world. He invented the light bulb, the alkaline battery, the phonograph, and many other things. Many of our modern electronics origins came from Thomas A. Edison. I thought he was very interesting. That is why I chose him.