Thomas Edison, 1847-1931, patented nearly 1,100 inventions during his lifetime, and in so doing, laid the groundwork for many of the technological innovations of the twentieth century.

Edison was born in Ohio and grew up in Michigan. He had relatively little formal schooling. He spent his early years as a railroad newsboy, and later as a telegraph operator. During the Civil War, Edison started a newspaper, said to be the first such publication ever typeset and printed on a moving train. He applied for his patent, for an electric vote recorder, in 1868. His first successful invention, the quadruplex telegraph, which could send four simultaneous telegraph signals over the same wire, came in 1874. Western Union bought the patent rights for $10,000. With the money, Edison set up a laboratory at Menlo Park in New Jersey. The lab was said to be the first institution established with the specific purpose of developing technological innovation and improvement.

Wizard of Menlo Park

Edison supervised a staff of technicians. Very few of his inventions were original, but, instead, were improvements which permitted them to be mass produced. For example, Edison did not invent the phonograph and the light bulb; he merely improved work by others so that these devices could be introduced commercially. However, after the first public demonstration of Edison's phonograph, the effect was so magical and unexpected that he came to be called "The Wizard of Menlo Park" The incandescent bulb was first demonstrated publicly on December 31, 1879. Soon afterward, Edison patented the first electrical distribution system. In 1882, fifty-nine customers in Manhattan were the first to be hooked into a power grid.

Edison helped create a working motion picture system, showed how to synchronize pictures with sound, and created the first movie studio. He also did pioneering work with storage batteries. He also helped to create the dictaphone and stock ticker. He formed the company that later became General Electric.

Famous Quote

Thomas Edison often slept only four hours a night, and tried many, many different materials until he found that a carbon filament could be used to create a long-lasting electric light bulb. "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration," he said.