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Born
Thomas Edison was born on Febuary 11, 1847. His father was Samuel Edison and his mother was a school-teacher. This was in Milan, Ohio. (Bolton 86) -
War with Mexico
The Mexican-American War was the first war to be fought mostly on un-American soil. Mexico was highly unprepared for this war and stood no chance against America under the presidential leadership of James K. Polk. Mexicon lost roughly a third of their territory, including California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico (Staff). -
Learning Telegraphy
One August morning, Edison was working on the tracks as a newspaper boy. He suddenly spots a child on the tracks as well as a train barreling towards him. Thomas sprinted to the boy and pulled him off the tracks to safety in a nick of time. The boy's father happened to be the station agent and offered to teach Edison how to operate the telegraph. He accepted the offer graciously. -
First Unofficial Invention
Edison was fond of Sleeping on the job. However, his boss wanted him awake for obvious reasons. Edison was to send a message every hour to confirm he was awake. He instead created a machine to send the message for him, and it worked wonders. That is, until the boss actually came to check on him (Dyer, Martin). -
Marion Estelle Edison
Marion Estelle Edison was born in Newark, NJ. Her parents were Thomas Edison and Mary Stilwell (Chronology of...). -
Phonograph
Edison's patent number 200,251 was the first to record a noise and repeat it. It would take in the vibratio made and recreate the vibrations back to the user. The phonograph was widely used and is still but in a more refined variation (Dyer, Martin). -
The New Light Bulb
Edison's new light bulb would be much cheaper and last longer. His bulbs burned bamboo which lasted for up to 1,200 hours, instead of the dangerous oil and natural gas lamps. Because of how much more convenient and safer it was, it was sold rapidly nation wide. -
Edison Phonograph Company
This company was established by Edison himself to produce his new and improved phonograph. This was modeled off of the graphophone of Alexander Bell. The company was later sold to Jesse H. Lippincott (History of the...). -
General Electric Company.
Better known today as GE, this company was formed on October 15, 1878. It was formed when two rival companies, Edison General Electric Company and Thomson-Houston Electric Company joined together. The aim of this combination was to reduce amount of competitors and increase funds (Edison Electric...). -
Panama's Independance
After France's failed attempt at constructing a canal from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific, America requested to make the same attempt. The poeple wanteed this to happen, but their mother country, Columbia, did not. America sent warships to help Panama declare independance so that they could decide for themselves (Building the...). -
Fire
On December 9, 1914 a fire erupts in the West Orange factories where Edison lives. He makes it out all right and states that it is not too late for a fresh start. They immediatly rebuild and get back to work (Feloni). -
Russian Revolution
At the time, it was called the Febuary Revolution because of where Russia was on the Julian calender. Poor and starving protestors took to the streets aof the capital. Police were sent to quell the uprisoing, but the protests were too much for them(Russ...). -
World War 1 Ends
At 11 A.M. on the 11th day of November, Germany signed a temporary truce with the allied forces. This effectively ended the largest global war in history. Their were over 30 million killed or wounded. -
19th Amendment
On August 18, 1920 the 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is passed. This now gives women the right to vote. It took 70 years of protesting and convincing for the women to obtain this right (19th Amendment). -
The Great Depression
On October 29, 1829, the stock markets crashed. The Great Depression had begun. During this time, families starved to death, millions were put out of jobs and american economy was put into a downfall that it would barely recover from. -
Died
Edison died on the 18th of October. He died of diabetes in his home in West Orange, New Jersey. Afterwards he was buried in Rosedale, NJ. (Highlander 173)
