The Inventor

Born in 1847 in a little town of Milan, Ohio; this man, known to his family as AL, made efforts that have impacted over 7 billon people in our current world. Completely deaf in one ear, and mostly deaf in the other, he would credit his poor hearing to his ability to focus well.

Reading and experimenting were how he spent his early adulthood; especially during night hours, as he worked as an employee for western union during the day.?

He is an inventor, and known to create the phonograph, alkaline storage battery, the light bulb, Cardone telephone transmitter, the movie camera & viewer, along with many others. In total he had 1,093 patents.?

He built one of the largest laboratories in the world in West Orange, NJ. On December 10, 1914, a massive explosion occurred in the group of buildings that occupied this laboratory. As he watched the building go up in flames, he walked over to his son Charles and said, “Go get your mother and all her friends. They’ll never see a fire like this again.” Later at the scene he said, “Although I am over 67 years old, I’ll start all over again tomorrow.” The fire damage was estimated to be $919,000 ($23M today). The flames consumed years of his work. Insurance only covered 1/3 of the cost, so a dear friend Henry Ford stepped in to provide a sizable loan to get the plant up and running again. Al and his team went on to make almost $10M in revenue the following year.?

By the time he was older, the whole world thought of him as a genius. But he knew that having a good idea was just a fraction of the equation. It takes hard work to make dreams into reality. That is why Al liked to say, "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration."

Some other famous quotes;

• “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
• “Anything that won’t sell, I don’t want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success.”
• “Unfortunately, there seems to be far more opportunity out there than ability… We should remember that good fortune often happens when opportunity meets with preparation.”
• “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
• “If we all did the things we are really capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”

Who am I? - I am Thomas Edison