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

Source:United States Library of Congress's
Printsand Photographs division under the
 digital ID cph.3c05139

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

The History of Michael Dell

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/49291777@N05/4540424707/,
found on wikipedia.org

Having been born on the 23rd of February 1965, in Houston, Texas, Michael Dell displayed an amazing interest in both gadgets and technology. Amazingly, at the age of eight, he made a serious attempt of earning his high school diploma in a hastened manner by successfully making through a test and subsequently inviting a person from a company mandated with testing. Dell (when he was twelve years of age) started his very first business venture of creating his personal stamp auction. Both stamps and the commercial opportunities presented by the same fascinated Dell. He aimed at surpassing the ordinary auctioneers, by getting to learn more about stamps and at the same time earn a commission in the course of the process. By the time he was celebrating his fifteenth birthday, Dell had bought an Apple Computer of the then era as a way of satisfying his curiosity on how this computer worked. A year later, Dell got a summer job of selling newspaper subscriptions to The Houston Post. It is in this job that he got to learn the power possessed by market segmentation. Additionally, Michael Dell got to learn from this newspaper job the numerous new phone numbers that the telephone company issued and how to cold call these numbers. It is through this that he got to understand the pattern. During his time in college in the University of Texas, Dell kicked off his construction of computers and subsequently selling them to people. This is actually how his business was started, that would later become - Dell Inc. At this time, his focus was cheaper prices and stout customer support. Within no time, Dell owned outside school accounts. At the age of 19, he finished his freshman year but soon left the university, because he wanted to dedicate his time and resources to the venture on a full-time basis. In the 1980s, Michael Dell played a very pivotal role in the inauguration of personal computer (PC) revolution following his creation of the Dell Computers. And by the time he was clocking 26, Dell was announced the youngest Chief Executive Officer of a company to have ever been ranked on the Fortune 500 listing.

Although his parents had compelled him to pursue medicine, Dell followed his early interests in business and technology. It is this personal interest that the success he achieved is not in its entirety a surprise. By 1984, the numbers had become overwhelming as Dell's company was celebrating its first full year in business having made sales amounting to USD 6 million. In 1989, he got married to Susan with whom they have born four children. As the millennium was being ushered in, Dell had become a billionaire and besides, his company had opened offices in approximately thirty four countries with a workforce of over thirty five thousand employees. A year later, Dell Computer became the world's larger maker of personal computers displacing Compaq Computer. Despite the fact that Dell was not only extremely private but also infamously shy, he has been able to come out of this cocoon and his fame is presently known by all. In unity the Dells have displayed their willingness to share their wealth through various foundations such as the Susan Dell Foundation.

Read more about Michael Dell and his company here: http://businessideaslab.com/dell-computers/ and find some more detailed information.