Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio
on February 11, 1847. His parents were Samuel and Nancy Edison.
Thomas's three older brothers and sisters died before he was born
from very harsh winters. He had brother named Pitt and two
sisters named Marion and Harriet Ann. His parents named him
Thomas because of his great uncle.
When he was young, everyone called him Al.
Al asked a lot of questions and was VERY curious. When young
Thomas was six, he started a fire in his father's barn and burned
it to the ground. He was charged with arson. To show that he was
truly sorry, Samuel Edison spanked his son in front of the whole
town the next day. Thomas was very embarrassed.
Sam was afraid that his son had no feelings
because when Thomas was at the creek, his friend drowned and he
showed no emotion. Al's teachers thought that he could not learn
and was stupid, and when his teachers told Nancy Edison, she
became very mad and decided to teach Thomas herself. Thomas's
mother bought him the Dictionary of Science, and he read
it all. After that, all of his allowance was spent buying
chemicals at the drug store.
Before Thomas Alva Edison was ten, he had
already read History of England, Decline and Fall of
the Roman Empire, History of the World, and The Age
of Reason. When he was eleven, he made his own telegraph set
from a picture in a book. Then and there, he decided he wanted to
become a telegrapher. At age twelve, he started selling candy on
trains to people riding.
When he was 13, he was running behind a
train, trying to catch it, when a man snatched his ear and pulled
him up onto the train by his ears. Right then, he started to
slowly become deaf. Another time, at 15, Thomas saw a boy on a
train track, and a train was heading right for him. Al swept by,
grabbing the boy, and put him on the grass. The boy's father was
so happy, he taught Thomas telegraphy in reward.
When Thomas Edison was 21, he experimented
with everything. He was fired from his job at the Boston
Telegraph Service because he became bored and started playing
jokes on his boss. On May 1, 1869, Thomas received a patent for a
vote recording machine, but once it was invented, no one wanted
it.
Later, Thomas invented a device that would
control errors in stock tickers, and engineers liked it. He
wanted at the most, $5,000 for it, but he kept quiet and the
engineers offered him $40,000. When Thomas brought his check to
the bank, the teller began to yell at him, because he could not
hear. He took his check and got out of line. Al went back to the
engineer's office and the engineer identified him to the teller,
and Thomas had his money, which he spent all on shop equipment.
One day, Thomas Edison saw a lady standing
out in the rain, and he fell in love with her. Her name was Mary
Stilwell. He offered her a job in his lab, and she accepted. He
taught her Morse code, and married her. After the wedding, Thomas
went to see the new stock tickers. Mary spent her wedding day
alone. The next day, Thomas took Mary to Niagara Falls for their
honeymoon and Mary took her sister because she was so upset about
Thomas leaving on their wedding day.
The telephone was invented a short time
later by Alexander Graham Bell. Engineers asked Thomas if he
could improve it, and he tried. He invented the first phonograph,
and everyone loved it. Mary later had two baby girls: Madeline,
and Dot. After his daughters were born, his hard work finally had
paid off. He had invented something that would change the world
and technology forever. Thomas Alva Edison had invented the light
bulb.
He installed a lighting system in New York,
and lit it up. Everyone thought that Thomas was a wizard, and
gave him the name "Wizard of Menlo Park". After his
invention of the light bulb, Mary had two baby boys: Junior and
Will. Mary died of Typhoid fever on August 9, 1884. Thomas was
sad, but a short time after, he married a young woman named Mina
Miller. On their wedding day, he was 38, and she was 22. The next
day, they took Thomas's first actual vacation. They went to
Paris.
Mina had a baby boy named Charles, and a
year later, she had another boy, Theodore. After the birth of his
sons, he had invented the motion picture. America was so
astounded, they named him the American Wizard.
Thomas Alva Edison died a short time later
on October 21, 1931 at age 84. He was buried under an oak tree in
Glenmont. The United States were so sad, they turned off their
power for one minute and prayed throughout the whole United
States for a tribute to Thomas Alva Edison.
i was told he tried more than 5000 times to make the light bulb and hes finally succeeded
ReplyDeleteYES KALITO HE DID TRY MORE THAN 5000 TIMES HE EVEN DROPPED OUT OF SCHOOL BUT HES THE WORLDS MOST INSPIRATIONAL MAN IN HISTORY .... ACTUALLY HE INSPIRES ME A LOT !!!
Deletewithout this man, we would have been living in darkness!!
ReplyDeleteLET THEIR BE LIGHT HE SAID ... JUST JOKING :D .... BUT NEVER GIVE UP EASILY BRO
Delete