Who Is Thomas Edison - History

A Brief History of Thomas Edison

If there ever was a man that revolutionized the world, Thomas Edison has surely secured his place. With an interesting childhood and a number of successful early inventions, and later inventions that would eventually change the world, Thomas Edison has surely made an impact and has made his name well known in a number of different industries. With that being said, it's important to understand that Mr. Edison's life wasn't always one successful invention after another. Here you're going to discover some important information about this iconic inventor, in terms of his early years, and how he eventually grew to be the success he became.

The Early Life of Thomas Edison

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On the day of February 11, 1847, Thomas Alva Edison would be born to Sam and Nancy Edison in the town of Milan, Ohio. Quite frankly, this is an individual that, from an early age, always had an interest in mechanics and chemistry. He learned how to make money early on by selling candy and newspapers in railroad cars on the Grand Trunk Railroad headed to the city of Detroit. Something that not many people knew was that he had prepared his own printing press and chemical lab in one of the baggage cars on the train. This is where he originally published the very first newspaper of his own, conveniently named, the Grand Trunk Herald.

Some of the Early Inventions

Probably one of the most influential jobs Edison would have was that of a telegraph operator. At the age of 16 in Port Huron, MI, he manned the telegraph machine which actually gave him time to work on a number of experiments on the side. One of the most noted early inventions of Mr. Edison was the Electric Vote Recorder. Although this invention was patented, it was used reluctantly because of its automated features. He would later move on to fix a variety of different broken machines in the city of New York. He did this because he wanted to work extremely close to telegraph, which is where he developed a passion. After some time, he partnered with a couple of gentlemen by the name of James Ashley and Franklin L. Pope.

This is where he would create his first organization by the name of Pope, Edison & Company. Eventually - Edison would receive a number of patents that pertained to telegraph and its further development. This is one of his early successful inventions along with the Electric Pen which was invented in 1875.

Thomas Edison and Success 

In or around 1876, in the city of Menlo Park, New Jersey, Edison would successfully invent a variety of extremely useful devices. Working off of Alexander Graham Bell's original idea, he managed to develop what is known today as the telephone. By working on both the telegraph and the telephone, he was able to discover the important ingredients required to develop the phonograph, which he did as well. Of course, one of his most famous inventions was only made possible after over 2000 unsuccessful attempts. This invention would eventually be the electric light bulb. You see - if there was one thing that Mr. Edison knew for sure, it was the fact that if he quit after a number of unsuccessful attempts, he would've never become successful at any one of his inventions.

If you take a closer look at the Thomas Edison story, you'll find that he is a person that never looked at failure as a failure. He only looked at failure as how many ways not to do something. With the information provided above, you now have a better understanding about Mr. Edison, his early life, and some additional information about the successful inventions of his that most of us are aware of. Although Mr. Edison was a very successful inventor, he was also a family man, a loving husband, and a father.

More about this famous person here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison