Facts You Would Never Know About Thomas Alva Edison

Thomas Edison was a renowned scientist, inventor, and businessman who created over 100 devices in his lifetime. He is best known for his invention of the Electric Light Bulb, but his legacy extends far beyond that. Learn more about the famous inventor in the gallery as he celebrates his 171st birthday.

1. Birth – Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in Ohio. He died on October 18, 1931, at 84 years of age in New Jersey.

2. Schooling – Thomas Edison only received three months of formal schooling before being kicked out due to hyperactivity.

3. Avid Reader – Edison had a ferocious appetite for reading as a child. His method was to read every book in a library, starting from the bottom shelf and working his way to the top.

4. Light Bulb Invention – Edison invented the world’s first practical incandescent light after spending one and a half years building the lamp. It was particularly innovative because it used a small current and lasted a long time before burning out.

5. Infinite Inventions – Edison's most noteworthy inventions were the phonograph, light bulb, motion picture, vote recorder, quadruplex telegraph, storage battery, electric pen, electric generator, and stock ticker, among many others.

6. Big Fan of Shakespeare – Before Edison discovered his aptitude for inventions, he wanted to be an actor. He was inspired by Shakespeare's works.

7. Opportunity – When Thomas Edison was 16, he learned how to operate a telegraph after saving the station master's three-year-old son from a train accident.

8. Telegraph – He spent the following four years of his life as a telegrapher, and travelled thousands of miles all over the country.

9. Kinetograph – In 1896 he became the first person in the world to project a motion picture. The machine would become the prototype for all modern cameras.

10. Scarlet Fever – Edison was affected by scarlet fever and ear infections as a child, leaving him almost completely deaf for the rest of his life.

11. Electric Car – Edison spent eight years developing an electric storage battery that was used in electric cars and even submarines.

12. Failure – The biggest failure of Edison's life was spending millions of dollars trying to create a device that would separate ore from rock.

13. Guest of Honour – He was invited to present his first invention, the tin foil phonograph, to President Rutherford B. Hayes at the White House.

14. First Research Lab – Edison created the world’s first industrial research laboratory in 1876, located in Menlo Park, CA.

15. Telephone System – Edison improved Alexander Bell's invention to such an extent that his telephone system could carry speech over unlimited distances. His system connected New York City to Philadelphia for the first time in 1878.

16. Family – Edison had six children from two different marriages. His two elder children were nicknamed "Dot" and "Dash," a tribute to his days as a telegrapher.

17. Universal Stock Printer – The first of his breakthrough inventions was the Universal Stock Printer, an improvement to the original stock ticker. The money he earned allowed him to create his lab and work full time.

18. Phonograph – The phonograph was Edison's most famous invention. It was patented in 1878.

19. Sound Inventions – After his invention of the aerophone, a device able to pick up sound and amplify it over wide distances, he was criticized by a journalist for inventing machines that could invade people's privacy.

20. Inspirational – One of Edison's mottos was, "I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”

21. Famous Electric Company – The now multinational General Electric Corporation was originally the Edison Illuminating Company, begun in 1880.

22. The Electric Elephant – The inventor had a lifetime rivalry with Nicholas Tesla. As a result of differing views on alternating versus direct electrical current, Edison attempted to prove the hazards of Tesla's alternating current idea by constructing an electric elephant in Coney Island.

23. First Lab – Edison's first chemistry lab was in a train car when he was a teenager. After he started a small fire, the conductor threw him out.

24. Awards – During his lifetime he was awarded the Matteucci Medal (1887), Albert Medal (1892), Rumford Prize (1895), John Fritz Medal (1908), and Congressional Gold Medal (1928).

25. Laboratory – Edison's lab and factory covered 25 acres and employed more than 10,000 people.

26. Sleep – The inventor only slept four hours a night.

27. The First Printer – The mimeograph allowed written text to be duplicated for the first time with an electric machine

28. Books – Edison wrote 2500 books in his lifetime, compiling all of his ideas, experiments, and inventions.

29. Patents – He patented over 1,000 inventions in the US, the first one at the age of 21. He also had over 1,200 non-US patents in 34 different countries

30. Cockroaches – Edison even invented a device to kill cockroaches with electricity.

Sandeep Dave - Story Teller | Innovation Consultant | Entrepreneur

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