BIOGRAPHY:

The world knows Thomas Edison as the inventor who managed to improve the electric light bulb, as well as the author of the phonograph, the electric chair and the telephone greeting. However, unlike many geniuses, the man had a brilliant talent for entrepreneurship.

Childhood and youth:

Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847 in the American town of Mailen, into a family of immigrants from Holland. Al, as the future inventor was called in childhood, was not distinguished by great health – short and frail (although in childhood photos Thomas looks well-fed). In addition, the scarlet fever he suffered affected his hearing – the boy became deaf in his left ear. The parents surrounded their son with care, because they had previously lost two children. Thomas was unable to settle down at school; there were enough teachers for a “limited” child for three months, after which his parents took him out of the educational institution with a scandal and sent him to home schooling. Edison was introduced to the basics of school science by his mother, Nancy Eliot, the daughter of a priest with an excellent upbringing and education.

Thomas grew up as an inquisitive child, keenly interested in what was happening around him – he loved to look at steamships, and often hung around carpenters, watching their work. Another unusual activity to which he devoted hours was copying inscriptions on warehouse signs. With the Edisons moving to the city of Porto Huron, seven-year-old Thomas became acquainted with the fascinating world of reading and tried his hand at invention for the first time. At that time, the boy and his mother were selling fruits and vegetables, and in their free time they ran to the town’s People’s Library to buy books.

By the age of 12, the teenager became acquainted with the works of Edward Gibbon, David Hume, Richard Burton, but the first scientific book was read and put into practice at the age of 9. “Natural and Experimental Philosophy” by Richard Greene Parker combined scientific and technological achievements and examples of experiments that Thomas repeated. Chemical experiments required investments, in the hope of earning more money, young Edison got a job as a newspaper seller at a railway station. The young man was even allowed to set up a laboratory in the baggage car of the train, where he conducted experiments. However, not for long – because of the fire, Thomas was expelled along with the laboratory.

While working at the station, an event occurred that helped enrich the work biography of the aspiring inventor. Edison saved the station master’s son from death under the wheels of a moving carriage, for which he received the position of telegraph operator, where he worked for several years.

At the end of his youth, Thomas wandered around America in search of a place in life: he lived in Indianapolis, Nashville, Cincinnati, returned to his home state, but in 1868 he ended up in Boston, and then in New York. All this time I barely made ends meet, because I spent the lion’s share of my income on books and experiments.

Inventions:

The secret of the great self-taught inventor is simple and lies in a quote from Thomas Edison himself, which over time became a catchphrase:

“Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.”

He proved the truth of the statement more than once, spending days and nights in laboratories. As he himself admitted, he was sometimes so carried away that he spent up to 19 hours a day working. Edison has 1093 patents received in the United States and 3 thousand documents on the authorship of inventions issued in other countries. At the same time, they did not buy the first creations from the man. For example, compatriots considered the vote counter in elections useless.

Luck smiled during the period of work at the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company. Thomas got a job thanks to the fact that he repaired the telegraph apparatus – no one could cope with this task, even invited craftsmen. And in 1870, the company happily bought out the system he had improved for telegraphing exchange bulletins about gold and stock prices. The inventor spent the money on opening his own workshop for the production of tickers for stock exchanges; a year later, Edison already owned three such workshops.

Soon things went even better. Thomas founded the company “Pope, Edison & Co”, the next five years were fruitful, in particular, the greatest invention appeared – the quadruplex telegraph, with which it became possible to transmit up to four messages simultaneously on one wire. Inventive activity required a well-equipped laboratory, and in 1876, near New York, in the town of Menlo Park, the construction of an industrial complex for scientific research work began. The laboratory later brought together hundreds of bright minds and skillful hands.

Attempts to convert telegraph messages into sound resulted in the advent of the phonograph. In 1877, Edison recorded the children’s song “Mary Had a Little Lamb” using a needle and tinfoil. The innovation was considered on the verge of fantasy, and Thomas received the nickname The Wizard of Menlo Park.

Two years later, the world accepted Thomas Edison’s most famous invention – he managed to improve the light bulb, extending its operating time and simplifying production. Existing lamps burned out after a couple of hours, consumed a lot of current, or were expensive. Edison announced that soon all of New York would be illuminated by fireproof light bulbs, and the price of electricity would become affordable, and began an experiment. For the filament, I tried 6,000 materials and finally settled on carbon fiber, which burned for 13.5 hours. Later the service life increased to 1200 hours.

Edison demonstrated the possibility of using light bulbs, as well as the developed system for producing and consuming electricity, by creating a power plant in one of the New York districts: 400 light bulbs flashed. The number of electricity consumers increased from 59 to half a thousand over several months.

In 1882, the “War of Currents” broke out and lasted until the beginning of the second millennium. Edison favored the use of direct current, which, however, was transmitted without loss only over short distances. Nikola Tesla, who joined Thomas’s laboratory, tried to prove that alternating current was more efficient – it was transmitted over hundreds of kilometers. The future legendary inventor proposed using it for power plants and generators, but did not find support.

Tesla, at the request of the owner, created 24 alternating current machines, but did not receive the promised 50 thousand dollars for the work from Edison, was offended and became a competitor. Together with industrialist George Westinghouse, Nikola began to introduce alternating current everywhere. Thomas sued and even conducted black PR campaigns, using the killing of animals to prove the dangers of this type of current. The apogee was the invention of the electric chair for executing criminals.

The war ended only in 2007: the chief engineer of the Consolidate Edison company ceremoniously cut the last cable through which direct current was supplied to New York.

The prolific inventor also patented an X-ray device, calling it a fluoroscope, and a carbon microphone that increased the volume of telephone communications. In 1887, Thomas Edison built a new laboratory in West Orange, larger than the previous one and equipped with the latest technology. A voice recorder and an alkaline battery appeared here.

Edison also left a mark on the history of cinematography. In Thomas’s laboratory, the kinetoscope, a device capable of showing moving images, saw the light of day. In essence, the invention was a personal cinema – a person watched a film through a special eyepiece. A little later, Edison opened the Kinetoscope Parlor hall and equipped it with ten boxes.

Personal life:

Thomas’s personal life also turned out well – he managed to get married twice and have six children. The inventor almost walked down the aisle with his first wife, telegraph operator Mary Stillwell, two months after they met. However, the wedding had to be postponed due to the death of Edison’s mother. The wedding took place in December 1871. A funny event is connected with the celebration: Thomas immediately after the festivities went to work and forgot about the wedding night.

In this union, a daughter and two sons were born, the eldest children – Marriott and Thomas – with the light hand of their father at home, bore the nicknames Dot and Dash, in honor of Morse code. Mary died at age 29 from a brain tumor.

Soon Edison married again, according to historians, out of great love. The chosen one was 20-year-old Mina Miller, whom the inventor taught Morse code, and even proposed marriage in this language. Edison also had two sons and a daughter from Mina – the only heiress who gave her father grandchildren.

Death:

The great inventor did not live to see his 85th birthday for four months, but he carried on business until the last. Thomas Edison suffered from diabetes, a terrible disease that caused complications that were incompatible with life.

He died in the fall of 1931, in a house in the town of West Orange, which he bought 45 years ago as a gift to his bride, his future wife Mina Miller. Edison’s grave is located in the backyard of this house.

Interesting Facts:

• Edison is credited with inventing the simplest tattoo machine. The reason was five points on Thomas’s left forearm, and then the Stencil-Pens engraving device, which was patented in 1876. However, Samuel O’Reilly is considered the father of the tattoo machine.
• The inventor is responsible for the death of the elephant Topsy. Three people died due to the animal’s fault, so they decided to kill it. In the hope of winning the “war of currents,” Edison proposed executing the elephant with an alternating current of 6000 volts, and recorded the “performance” on film.
• The biography of the American genius includes a failed project, for the implementation of which they even built an entire plant to extract iron from low-grade ore. Compatriots laughed at the inventor, arguing that it was easier and cheaper to invest money in ore deposits. And they turned out to be right.
• In 1911, Edison built an uninhabitable house consisting of concrete, including window sills and electrical pipes. At the same time, the man tried himself as a furniture designer, presenting concrete interior items to future buyers. And again he failed. One of the wild ideas was the creation of a helicopter powered by gunpowder.
• The invention of the long-life lamp did humanity a disservice – people’s sleep was reduced by 2 hours. By the way, when improving the light bulb, calculations took 40,000 pages of notebooks.
• The word “hello”, which starts a telephone conversation, is also Edison’s idea.

Discoveries:

• 1860 – Aerophone
• 1868 – electric vote counter for elections
• 1869 – ticker machine
• 1870 – carbon telephone membrane
• 1873 – quadruplex telegraph
• 1876 ​​– mimeograph
• 1877 – phonograph
• 1877 – carbon microphone
• 1879 – incandescent lamp with carbon filament
• 1880 – magnetic iron ore separator
• 1889 – kinetoscope
• 1889 – electric chair
• 1908 – iron-nickel battery

Books:

1. Thomas Edison. “The Inventing Man”

The book presents a fictionalized biography of the great American inventor Thomas Alva Edison. Edison is a legend, a symbol. A symbol of technical progress, perseverance, determination. During his long life, Edison made thousands of inventions. And these inventions still serve humanity. A self-taught genius, a great worker, a talented organizer, industrialist, public figure – Edison was an extremely gifted person. He was also a loyal friend, a gentle father and husband. And at the same time, Thomas Edison is not an angel. Possessing a strong character, he could be unfair, even cruel. But does this diminish the image of the great inventor? On the contrary, mistakes, failures, funny situations in which he sometimes found himself make his image more humane, more understandable and sympathetic… Biographical stories about Edison are illustrated with rare photographs taken at different periods of his life.

2. Truly a bright idea. Edison. Electric lighting:

Thomas Alva Edison is one of those people who made the greatest contribution to the appearance of the world as we see it today. This American inventor, the most prolific of the 20th century, patented more than a thousand inventions, which made him legendary during his lifetime. He participated in the creation of the phonograph, telegraph, telephone and the first devices that captured movement – the predecessors of cinema. However, there is no doubt that his main achievement is electric lighting, which came to all corners of the planet with the creation of the incandescent lamp, as well as the development of the first power station. His way of working – organizing large centers with many of the best specialists of his time – set an important precedent for the emergence of modern research institutes.

3. Last breath:

There is a magical way to gain immortality by eating ghosts, swallowing the last breath. And there are forces that live by this. Kuti had no idea how his rebellion would turn out. After breaking a bust of Dante, the boy finds a test tube containing the spirit of the legendary scientist – the ghost of Thomas Edison. Both ghosts and people begin to hunt them. Sullivan tries to escape his memories. He learns that his father’s ghost is in danger and decides to help. Dr. Elizeld feels guilty over the death of a patient and seeks a way to atone. Fatal events bring them together to solve the crime and give peace to the dead.

4. Last days. Volume 1

The first part of the final novel of the Shift Trilogy. The magical King of the West has been murdered in California, and his killer is one of the many personalities in Janice Plumtree’s head. Sid Cochran, a former winemaker who blames the god Dionysus for his wife’s suicide, escapes from a mental hospital with Janice. From Los Angeles, fate leads them to San Francisco and the Valley of Wine to try to bring Scott Crane, the murdered Fisher King, back to life. They are haunted by ghosts, gangsters, a maniac psychiatrist and even Dionysus himself. There is only one thing left – to save the world in order to simply survive!

5. Last days. Volume 2

The second part of the final novel of the Shift Trilogy. The magical King of the West has been murdered in California, and his killer is one of the many personalities in Janice Plumtree’s head. Sid Cochran, a former winemaker who blames the god Dionysus for his wife’s suicide, escapes from a mental hospital with Janice. From Los Angeles, fate leads them to San Francisco and the Valley of Wine to try to bring Scott Crane, the murdered Fisher King, back to life. They are haunted by ghosts, gangsters, a maniac psychiatrist and even Dionysus himself. There is only one thing left – to save the world in order to simply survive!