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Personal Information
Thomas Edison is best known for perfecting the incandescent light bulb. Thomas Edison was born in February 11, 1847 in Milan Ohio. Mary Stillwell was Edison’s first wife. She died in 1884. They had three children. He married Mina Miller in 1886 and had three more children. -
Education
Thomas Edison attended a formal school for only a short time when he was seven years old. His mother was a teacher and taught him to love reading. She did not like strict ways and decided to home school her son. Love for experimenting and mechanical things developed when Edison received his first chemistry set. -
Interesting Facts
Thomas Edison lived through the Civil War, the Spanish American War, World War I and the beginning of the Great Depression. Edison was mostly deaf. He lost most of his hearing at the age of twelve when a conductor pulled him onto a train by his ears. He did not let his disability stop his love of learning. -
Patents
The patent was created to protect a person’s invention from being copied, sold or used without the inventor’s permission. The first United States patent law was passed in 1790. Since 1836 over four million patents have been granted in the United States. A patent is valid for 14-17 years. Edison held 1,093 patents for his inventions. -
The Light Bulb
The Light Bulb Edison began work on the light bulb in 1877. This led to the 1st commercial light system; constructed in Manhattan. Edison gave the company his patents in exchange for large amounts of stock. -
The Phonograph
The phonograph was Edison’s favorite invention, patented in 1878.
It was developed due to his involvement with the telegraph and the telephone.
Edison wanted a phonograph in every home. The first phonograph used tin foil on a cylinder, Edison recorded Mary Had A Little Lamb -
His Passion
Creating experiments was Thomas Edison’s passion. Thomas Edison created 1,093 inventions. He was still inventing when he died on October 18, 1931. He was 84 years old.
