There are many stories about Thomas Edison. His life is so unusual and bizarre, and his genius is so tireless and practical, that the biography of this man every time presents something new.

Almost everyone knows about this prolific inventor. Everyone has heard the concept of "Edison light bulb". This is Thomas Alva Edison, who recently celebrated his 170th birthday. The personality is gifted and contradictory. There are many legends and myths about him.

About Edison“He is actually one of the least known of all known people, and much of what everyone thinks about him is no more reliable than a fairy tale” (historian Keith Nier).

For many Americans, Thomas Edison, whose biography is full of unexpected twists of fate, will forever remain the real embodiment of the American dream, the most successful luck and respectability. We use the telephone and mail, ride trains, listen to music, and we owe it to him. 1093 patented inventions, and according to unofficial data - almost three thousand. A great inventor, talented and successful with an extraordinary biography. And this person was called "limited"!?

Comes from childhood

We return to 1847 in the bustling port of Milan (Milene), Ohio. Here, on February 11, a child, the seventh in a row, was born in the family of a political emigrant from Canada and his wife. Named Thomas. By the way, his three older sisters and brothers did not live up to 10 years.

Little Al did not speak until almost four years old. But it was worth starting, as there was no passage for adults. I had to explain to the inquisitive kid the work of everything he had to deal with. Nobody could refuse. Another question would follow: "Why?"

When Thomas was 7, the family settled in the town of Port Huron in Michigan. It is known that the boy had a broad forehead and a head much larger than that of children of his age.

He started going to elementary school, but after three months he continued his studies at home.

There are different versions of why this happened:

1. His persistent interrogations did not please the teacher too much. He considered the student hyperactive, and his brain "complicated". And when the teacher spoke rudely about Thomas, calling him "stupid", the boy left the school.
2. Mom read aloud the teacher's letter that her son is a genius, and the school is not able to teach him something, so it's better to teach him at home. They say that Edison found the letter after his mother's death. And its content was different: "Your son is mentally retarded ...", and further, that they cannot teach him at school, he must be taught at home. One of the greatest inventors of the century wept like a child. An entry appeared in his personal diary: “Thomas Alva Edison was a mentally retarded child. Thanks to his heroic mother, he became one of the greatest geniuses of his age."
3. And on November 29, 1907, the literary magazine T.P's Weekly published an interview with Thomas Edison, telling another version of this story that refutes the previous ones. The boy himself accidentally heard the words of the teacher and found out that they did not want to keep him at school anymore. He creates problems. running to his mother in tears, he sought her protection. She told the teacher that her son was much smarter than the teacher himself, took the child out of school and herself, being a teacher by training, undertook to teach him. Tom decided that he must become worthy of her trust and show that faith in a son is not in vain.

Nancy Edison is the pious and attractive daughter of the respected Presbyterian minister and accomplished educator Elliot. She always believed in the child's ability. The unusual behavior of her son, the appearance for her served only as signs of an outstanding mind. Tom loved his mother and always said that she made him. Reading, writing and arithmetic, he mastered with her. He didn't want to disappoint her.

Samuel Edison, a rather worldly man, encouraged his son to read the great classics, rewarding him with 10 cents for each book he read. This initiative has borne fruit over time. Thomas's interest in world history and English literature turned out to be very deep. And a special love for Shakespeare even inspired him to try to become an actor. But either the voice was too high, or shyness played a role, but the young man refused this idea. It will be later. For now…

The boy loved to read and craft. The appetite for knowledge grew so much that the parents had to resort to the help of the local library. Starting with the last book on the shelf, he read everything without understanding. Parents managed to stop the messy reading in time, and thanks to them, the hobby became more selective. Reading could not satisfy the ever-increasing interest in the sciences, and his parents were not able to explain to him questions related to the same physics or mathematics.

At the age of ten, he opened a list of inventions, which included a sawmill with a railroad that he made. His first own laboratory began work. He set up chemical experiments here - another hobby.

Young entrepreneur

The kid always had pocket money - relatives did not skimp. Only experiments and numerous experiments required additional funds.

Inventions of Thomas Edison

Let's start with the well-known "Edison bulb". You may have heard negative answers to the question of whether Edison invented the first light bulb. Attempts to light up the world with electricity were made half a century before Edison. The work was carried out with arc lighting, bright enough to illuminate the street, and with an incandescent lamp, which is better used indoors. Arc lighting was started by Charles Kist in 1877. Two years later, breakthroughs with incandescent lamps were noted by Edison:

• His light bulb could burn for a long time and illuminate the house for many hours.
• He invented the electric power system that brought electricity to the house with dynamos, wires, fuses and switches.

But of the more than a thousand patents received, the very first - for the invention of an electric vote recorder during ballots - was received by him in 1869. Members of the Massachusetts Legislative Assembly refused to buy it, even denigrated it in every possible way, referring to the fact that the machine is capable of violating the political “status quo”. For Thomas, this was a disappointment. But he learned the main lesson for himself: do not waste your time on something that people do not want and will not buy.

But the invention of the stock ticker to transmit stock quotes at the end of 1870 was accepted with a bang and brought the inventor 40 thousand dollars. He organized their release in a workshop created with this money in New Jersey (Newark).

In 1876, already in Mentlo Park, his laboratory appeared, well equipped, with a fully staffed staff, suitable for testing, inventing and improving various technical products. The Menlopark Laboratory is considered the real prototype of the current research institutes and industrial laboratories. Someone even considers this invention of Edison to be the greatest. And his first product was a carbon telephone microphone, which greatly increased the volume and clarity of Bell's telephone.

But Edison called the phonograph the first successful invention, the most beloved. He stated this repeatedly. The creator has been working on it for more than half a century. Since its first appearance in 1877, he has made many improvements to his "child".

But the best invention of a genius is industrial electric lighting. In the electrical distribution system he created, the lamps worked together and economically. Thousands of experiments - and as a result, a lamp with a carbon filament that can burn for 40 hours. The year 1882 is called the beginning of the lighting industry in the States, the first central power plant in New York was launched.

The Edison General Electric Company was organized to manufacture lamps and lighting equipment, so that in 1892, after merging with its largest rival, the Thomson Houston Electric Company, the world's largest industrial concern, the General Electric Company Joint Stock Company, was formed, which today one of the ten most valuable companies in the world.

Edison also owns the discovery of thermionic emission - this is already a "pure" science (1883). It was called the Edison effect and was later used in the detection of radio waves.

Life lessons"Many of life's failures are experienced by people who didn't realize how close they were to success when they gave up."

It sounds strange, but if you look realistically, Thomas Alva Edison did not invent anything new. The telephone and the telegraph were invented before him. But he significantly improved the technique, brought it closer to the consumer. This brilliant inventor worked with many fundamental discoveries, and, I must say, did a great job. The record number for one person is 1093 American patents for inventions, hundreds are patents of France, Great Britain, Germany, etc.

Life lessons“If I get my hands on something, then I immediately look for a way to improve it.”

Hearing

Deafness turned out to be a factor that shaped the personality of the inventor, but it is difficult to judge whether it is negative or positive.

According to Edison, it all happened because of a fever-scarlet fever suffered in childhood. He was absolutely not deaf. I just didn't hear very well. I have not heard birdsong since I was twelve years old - these are the words of Thomas. He also told another story: he was hit in the ear by a conductor for experiments with phosphorus that ended in an explosion in a local depot car. It is hardly possible to name the exact cause of hearing loss.

He was constantly looking for a way to compensate. He acquired knowledge in a rather individualistic style. In the most difficult cases, he showed a mind like a kaleidoscope, a legendary memory, patience and dexterity. And any experiments were carried out, allowing to put forward and substantiate their own theories.

Life lessons"Someday man will use the rising and falling of the tides to sharpen the power of the sun and unleash atomic energy."

About personal life

In many things this great mind remained a typical Victorian man with very definite tastes. Exclusively due to his striving to create a new one, he was reliably protected from women. The only one he idolized, his mother, dominated in his heart.

Having married Mary Stilwell, he soon discovered that his wife was not a partner in his affairs, which upset him a lot. A daughter and two sons were born from the marriage. Mary died early, in 1884. A brain tumor. With his second wife, they gave birth to three more.

A person who has been in search all his life, in discoveries, in new plans, by the end of the 20s, the pace has noticeably slowed down. He received his last 1093rd patent at the age of 83, almost without leaving home, and worked there. Until the last day, Edison remained surrounded by associates and friends. The names of many and success stories are known to everyone: Charles Lindbergh, Marie Curie, Henry Ford, Herbert Hoover.

On the evening of October 18, 1931, Thomas Edison passed away at the West Orange in New Jersey. Many people in the world turned off the power for a short moment in honor of this man.

Life lessons"I want to save and advance human life, not destroy it... I'm proud of the fact that I never invented a weapon to kill."

He was not perfect, much of what was said about him was in fact only myths, but a rare person served humanity so selflessly, worked with such perseverance and did more to make dreams and fantasies come true.

Last life lesson“If there is an afterlife, great. If not, well, that's fine too. I have lived my life with pleasure and have done my best.”

Amazing facts from life

In the Menlo-Patka laboratory, the first scientific center in the history of mankind, there were workshops and libraries. Thousands of workers worked here. Drawings and details replaced sandwiches and soda, Edison sat down at the organ, and then everyone rested. And then again - for wear. All over the world they have heard about a special questionnaire that the inventor came up with for applicants. He wanted talented enthusiasts and originals to work in his laboratory. He might well have preferred an imaginative amateur to a graduate.

About Edison"One of Edison's most outstanding talents is his ability to assemble teams and create an organizational structure that has fueled the creativity of many people." (historian Greg Field)

Obstacles never stopped this man. Once, when his next invention - the printing press - failed, he worked continuously in the attic of the factory for 60 hours until it worked normally. After that, he slept for 30 hours.

Life lessons"Invention is ninety percent perspiration and one percent inspiration."

there are other lessons of the great inventor.

He is called in different ways: a “patent thief”, a deceiver of geniuses, in a modern way - a “producer from science”, an occultist, a self-taught genius, an enthusiast who did not value money, and this list can be supplemented for a long time. At the same time, he was an honorary member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the owner of the highest US award - the Gold Medal of Congress, and according to the New York Table - the greatest living American.

The video that is under the cut is impossible to watch without excitement. About the power of love and the mother's faith in her child, he is about not giving up, even if people have stuck a label on you. And this is the story of a child who was rejected by society.

One day, young Thomas Edison returned home from school and gave his mother a letter from the teacher. Mom read the letter aloud to her son, with tears in her eyes: "Your son is a genius. This school is too small and there are no teachers here who can teach him something. Please teach him yourself."

Many years after his mother's death (Edison was by then one of the greatest inventors of the century), he was looking through old family archives one day and came across this letter. He opened it and read: "Your son is mentally retarded. We can no longer teach him at school with everyone. Therefore, we recommend that you teach him yourself at home."

Edison sobbed for several hours. Then he wrote in his diary: "Thomas Alva Edison was a mentally retarded child. Thanks to his heroic mother, he became one of the greatest geniuses of his century."

When he was 12, Thomas Edison convinced his parents to allow newspapers to be sold on trains along the Grand Trunk. He was hardworking and took every opportunity to increase sales. After some time, he even began to publish his own small newspaper called the Magistralny Bulletin. This was the first entrepreneurial activity of young Thomas.
He was fond of chemical experiments and even created a small laboratory in one of the train cars. Unfortunately, during a chemical experiment, a fire broke out and the conductor kicked Thomas out. After this incident, the boy was selling newspapers only at the stations along the route.

Just at one of these stations, an event occurred that changed Thomas' life. He saved the 3-year-old son of the head of the station from the train. As a reward, he taught him the telegraph business. By the age of 15, the future inventor could boldly apply his skills to work and for the next 5 years he traveled around the Midwest, working in telegraph companies. Thomas read a lot and experimented with telegraph technology, so he became acquainted with electrical science ...

This story shows us what power lies in our words! In what we say, confess, that happens to us in life!
Take care of your children, remember this story every time you want to say that something is not working out for them, or someone considers them not skillful enough! Remember that your child is a Genius unless you convince him otherwise!

Little help

The American inventor and entrepreneur Edison received 1,093 patents in the United States and about 3,000 in other countries of the world. He improved the telegraph, telephone, film equipment, developed one of the first commercially successful versions of the electric lamp.

Thomas Edison as a child

Thomas Alva, the youngest of seven children of Canadian fugitive Samuel Edison, a member of the Mackenzie Rebellion, did not begin to speak until he was four years old. And at school he was so dumb that the teacher, after several months of futility, ordered him not to come to the class anymore, in view of the futility of trying to give at least some kind of education to the defective, who, the annoyed teacher claimed, had clearly run-down brains.

Thomas later recalled: “I heard the teacher tell the inspector who visited the school that I would be of no use and there was no longer any point in keeping me at school. I was so upset by his words that I burst into tears and rushed home to complain to my mother.

His mother, Nancy, brought him back to school and told the teacher that Thomas had more brains than he did. She took him out of school and began to teach at home. She read books to him and Thomas became an avid reader.

At the age of 13, the teenager began to read Thomas Paine, the famous writer and essayist. He also read Gibbon's The Fall of the Roman Empire, David Hume's History of England, Serze's World History and Encyclopedia of Science, and R.G. Parker and Morse Code.

By the age of eleven, Edison was deaf. He himself, in adulthood, told that he received in the ear from the conductor after the experiments with phosphorus ended in the explosion of a makeshift laboratory, which he was allowed to arrange in the car of the local depot. However, the deaf eccentric loved fables about himself - for example, he did not particularly refute the rumors that he was born in Mexico, generated by his strange middle name.

Edison's deafness in times without antibiotics was most likely the result of complications of inflammation after scarlet fever, or scarlet fever. His father and brother were also hard of hearing. Edison claimed that due to his deafness, he did not have to waste time on empty talk.

At the age of 25, having received the first patent for a machine for registering voters, Edison decided to become a professional inventor. And after all, he became the most famous self-taught person in the world. In America alone, not counting England, Germany and France, he was granted 1093 patents. More than anyone else in world history!

In fact, from the age of 7 to 12, Thomas Edison tried to attend school. But due to natural curiosity, quickness of mind, inability to follow the routine, hearing problems, and also due to the strength of character in following his interests, the boy could not fit into the school system. Now he would have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, prescribed Ritalin and sent to a correctional school. At that time, ADHD was not yet known and they simply branded the child as “unteachable”.

It is known for sure that at the age of 12, Edison's official academic education was completed forever. He never studied in any educational institution again: neither in college nor at the university. And if it were not for the mother of the future inventor, who believed in her instincts more than in school authorities, it is unlikely that Thomas Edison's career would have been so successful.

Many years later, the inventor himself noted:

“My mother made me. She was so firm, so sincerely believed in me, that I felt I had someone to live for and I should not disappoint her.

The power of the word ">The power of the word" alt=" A childhood story of the future genius and his heroic motherThe power of the word">!}

A short story from the life of the genius Thomas Edison and his heroic mother. This story shows us what power lies in our words. In what we say, confess, that happens to us in life. Take care of your children, remember this story every time you want to say that something is not working out for them, or someone considers them not smart enough. Remember that your child is a Genius unless YOU convince him otherwise!

One day Thomas Edison came home from school and gave his mother a letter from the teacher. Mom read the letter aloud to her son, with tears in her eyes: “Your son is a genius. This school is too small and there are no teachers here to teach him anything. Please teach it yourself."

Many years after his mother's death (Edison was already one of the greatest inventors of the century), he was going through old family archives one day when he came across this letter. He opened it and read: “Your son is mentally retarded. We can no longer teach it at school with everyone else. Therefore, we recommend that you learn it yourself at home.

Edison sobbed for several hours. Then he wrote in his diary: “Thomas Alva Edison was a mentally retarded child. Thanks to his heroic mother, he became one of the greatest geniuses of his age."

Thomas Alva Edison - who is this?

Starting his career in 1863 as a teenager on the telegraph, when a primitive battery was practically the only source of electricity, he worked until his death in 1931 to approach the age of electricity. From his laboratories and workshops came the phonograph, carbon microphone capsule, incandescent lamps, a revolutionary generator of unprecedented efficiency, the first commercial lighting and power supply system, experimental main elements of cinema equipment and many other inventions.

Brief biography of young years

Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847 in Meilene, the son of Samuel Edison and Nancy Eliot. His parents fled to the United States from Canada after his father's participation in the Mackenzie rebellion in 1837. When the boy turned 7, his family moved to Port Huron, Michigan. Thomas Alva Edison, the youngest of seven children, lived here until he started living on his own at the age of sixteen. At school, he studied very little, only a few months. He was taught reading, writing and arithmetic by his teacher mother. He was always a very inquisitive child and was drawn to knowledge himself.

Thomas Alva Edison spent his childhood reading a lot, and his sources of inspiration were the books The School of Natural Philosophy by R. Parker and The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and the Arts. The desire for self-improvement remained with him throughout his life.

Alva started working at an early age, like most children of that time. At 13, he took a job as a newspaper and candy salesman on a local railroad linking Port Huron with Detroit. He devoted most of his free time to reading scientific and technical books, and also took the opportunity to learn how to operate the telegraph. By the age of 16, Edison was already experienced enough to work as a full-time telegraph operator.

First invention

The development of the telegraph was the first step in the communications revolution, and it grew at a tremendous pace in the second half of the 19th century. This gave Edison and his colleagues the opportunity to travel, see the country and gain experience. Alva worked in a number of cities throughout the United States before arriving in Boston in 1868. Here Edison began to change his profession as a telegraph operator to an inventor. He patented the Electric Voting Recorder, a device designed for use in elected bodies such as Congress, to expedite the process. The invention became a commercial failure. Edison decided that in the future he would invent only things in the social demand of which he was completely sure.

Thomas Alva Edison: biography of the inventor

In 1869, he moved to New York, where he continued to work on improvements to the telegraph and created his first successful device, the Universal Stock Printer. Thomas Alva Edison, whose inventions brought him $40,000, had the necessary funds in 1871 to open his first small laboratory and manufacturing facility in Newark, New Jersey. Over the next five years, he invented and made devices that greatly increased the speed and efficiency of the telegraph. Edison also found time to marry Mary Stilwell and start a family.

In 1876, he sold all his Newark operations and moved his wife, children, and employees to the small village of Menlo Park, 40 kilometers southwest of New York. Edison built a new facility that contained everything needed for inventive work. This research laboratory was the first of its kind and became a model for later institutions such as Bell Laboratories. It is said that she was his greatest invention. Here Edison began to change the world.

First phonograph

The first great invention in Menlo Park was the steel phonograph. The first machine that could record and reproduce sound made a splash and brought Edison worldwide fame. With her, he toured the country and in April 1878 was invited to the White House to demonstrate the phonograph to President Rutherford Hayes.

Electric light

Edison's next great venture was the development of a practical incandescent light bulb. The idea of ​​electric lighting was not new, and several people were already working on it, even developing some forms of it. But until that time, nothing had been created that could be practical for home use.

Edison's merit is the invention not only of the incandescent lamp, but also of the power supply system, which had everything necessary to be practical, safe and economical. After a year and a half of work, he achieved success when an incandescent lamp, which used a charred filament, shone for 13.5 hours.

The first public demonstration of the lighting system took place in December 1879, when the entire complex of laboratories in Menlo Park was equipped with it. The next few years the inventor devoted to the creation of the electric power industry. In September 1882, the first commercial power plant, located on Pearl Street in Lower Manhattan, began operating, providing electricity and light to customers in an area of ​​one square mile. Thus began the era of electricity.

Edison General Electric

The success of electric lighting catapulted the inventor to fame and fortune as the new technology quickly spread throughout the world. The electrical companies continued to grow until they merged to form Edison General Electric in 1889. Despite the use of the inventor's last name in the name of the corporation, he did not control it. The huge amounts of capital required to develop the lighting industry required the involvement of investment banks such as J.P. Morgan. When Edison General Electric merged with its main competitor Thompson-Houston in 1892, the inventor's surname was dropped from her name.

Widowhood and second marriage

Thomas Alva Edison, whose personal life was overshadowed by the death of his wife Mary in 1884, began to devote less time to Menlo Park. And because of his involvement in the business, he began to visit there even less. Instead, he and his three children—Marion Estel, Thomas Alva Edison, Jr., and William Leslie—lived in New York City. A year later, while vacationing at a friends house in New England, Edison met twenty-year-old Mina Miller and fell in love with her. The marriage took place in February 1886, and the couple moved to West Orange, New Jersey, where the groom bought the Glenmont estate for his bride. The couple lived here until their death.

Laboratory in West Orange

After moving in, Thomas Alva Edison experimented in a makeshift workshop at an electric lamp factory in nearby Harrison, New Jersey. A few months after his marriage, he decided to build a new laboratory in West Orange, a mile from his home. By that time, he had sufficient resources and experience to build the most equipped and largest laboratory, surpassing all others, for the rapid and inexpensive development of inventions.

The new complex of five buildings was opened in November 1887. The three-story main building housed a power plant, mechanical workshops, warehouses, experiment rooms, and a large library. Four smaller buildings, built perpendicular to the main building, housed the physics, chemistry, and metallurgical laboratories, a sample making shop, and a chemical storage facility. The large size of the complex allowed Edison to work on not one, but ten or twenty projects at once. Buildings were added or rebuilt to meet the changing needs of the inventor until his death in 1931. Over the years, factories were built around the laboratory to produce Edison's creations. The entire complex eventually covered over 8 hectares, and 10,000 people worked there during World War I.

Recording industry

After the opening of the new laboratory, Thomas Alva Edison continued to work on the phonograph, but then shelved it in order to work on electric lighting in the late 1870s. By 1890, he was producing phonographs for domestic and commercial use. As with electric light, he developed everything necessary for their operation, including devices for reproducing and recording sound, as well as equipment for their release. In doing so, Edison created an entire recording industry. The development and improvement of the phonograph went on continuously and continued almost until the death of the inventor.

Cinema

At the same time, Edison was engaged in the creation of a device capable of doing for the eyes what the phonograph does for the ears. They became cinema. The inventor demonstrated it in 1891, and two years later the commercial production of "movies" began in a tiny film studio built in a laboratory known as Black Mary.

As in the case of electric lighting and the phonograph, a complete system for making and displaying motion pictures had been developed before. Initially, Edison's work in the cinema was innovative and original. However, many people became interested in this new industry and wanted to improve upon the inventor's early cinematic work. Therefore, many have contributed to the rapid development of cinema. In the late 1890s, a new industry was already flourishing, and by 1918 it had become so competitive that Edison pulled out of the business altogether.

Failure with iron ore

The success of phonographs and motion pictures in the 1890s helped offset the greatest failure of Edison's career. For ten years, he worked in his laboratory and in the old iron mines in northwest New Jersey on methods for extracting iron ore to satisfy the insatiable demand of Pennsylvania's steel mills. To finance this work, Edison sold all of his shares in General Electric.

Despite ten years of work and millions of dollars spent on research and development, he failed to make the process commercially viable, and he lost all the money invested. This would mean financial ruin if Edison did not continue to develop the phonograph and the cinema at the same time. Be that as it may, the inventor entered the new century still financially secure and ready to throw down a new challenge.

alkaline battery

Edison's new challenge was to develop a battery for use in electric vehicles. The inventor was very fond of cars, and throughout his life he was the owner of many types of them, working on different energy sources. Edison believed that electricity was the best fuel for them, but the capacity of conventional lead-acid batteries was not enough for this. In 1899 he began work on the alkaline battery. This project proved to be the most difficult and took ten years. By the time the new alkaline batteries were ready, gasoline cars had improved so much that electric cars were being used less frequently, mostly as delivery vehicles in cities. However, alkaline batteries proved useful for lighting railroad cars and cabins, sea buoys, and unlike iron ore, the significant investment paid off handsomely, and the battery eventually became Edison's most profitable product.

Thomas A. Edison Inc.

By 1911, Thomas Alva Edison had developed extensive industrial activity in West Orange. Numerous factories were built around the laboratory, and the complex's staff grew to several thousand people. In order to better manage the work, Edison gathered all the companies he founded into one corporation, Thomas A. Edison Inc., of which he himself became president and chairman. He was 64 years old, and his role in the company and in life began to change. Edison delegated much of his daily work to others. The laboratory itself was engaged in less original experiments and improved existing products. Although Edison continued to file and receive patents for new inventions, the days of creating new things that change lives and create new industries are behind him.

Defense work

In 1915, Edison was asked to head the Naval Advisory Committee. The US was nearing involvement in World War I, and the creation of the committee was an attempt to organize the talents of the nation's leading scientists and inventors for the benefit of the US military. Edison accepted the appointment. The council did not make a tangible contribution to the final victory, but served as a precedent for future successful cooperation between scientists, inventors, and the US military. During the war, at the age of seventy, Edison spent several months on Long Island on a Navy ship, experimenting with methods to detect submarines.

golden anniversary

Thomas Alva Edison went from being an inventor and industrialist to becoming a cultural icon, a symbol of American enterprise. In 1928, in recognition of his achievements, the US Congress awarded him a Special Medal of Honor. In 1929, the country celebrated the golden jubilee of electric lighting. The celebration culminated in a banquet in honor of Edison given by Henry Ford at Greenfield Village, the Museum of New American History (which had a complete re-creation of the Menlo Park laboratory). The ceremony was attended by the president and many presenters and inventors.

Replacement for rubber

The last experiments in Edison's life were made at the request of his good friends Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone in the late 1920s. They wanted to find an alternative source of rubber for use in car tires. Until then, tires were made from natural rubber, which comes from a rubber tree that does not grow in the United States. Raw rubber was imported and became more and more expensive. With his characteristic vigor and thoroughness, Edison tested thousands of different plants to find suitable substitutes, and eventually found that goldenrod could serve as a substitute for rubber. Work on this project continued until the death of the inventor.

Last years

During the last two years of Edison's life, his health deteriorated significantly. He spent a lot of time away from the lab, instead working from home in Glenmont. Trips to the family villa in Fort Myers, Florida were getting longer. Edison was in his eighties and was suffering from a range of ailments. In August 1931 he became very ill. Edison's health steadily worsened, and at 3:21 am on October 18, 1931, the great inventor died.

A city in the state of New Jersey, two colleges and many schools are named after him.

There are many stories about Thomas Edison. His life is so unusual and bizarre, and his genius is so tireless and practical, that the biography of this man every time presents something new.

 

Almost everyone knows about this prolific inventor. Everyone has heard the concept of "Edison light bulb". This is Thomas Alva Edison, who recently celebrated his 170th birthday. The personality is gifted and contradictory. There are many legends and myths about him.

About Edison“He is actually one of the least known of all known people, and much of what everyone thinks about him is no more reliable than a fairy tale” (historian Keith Nier).

For many Americans, Thomas Edison, whose biography is full of unexpected twists of fate, will forever remain the real embodiment of the American dream, the most successful luck and respectability. We use the telephone and mail, ride trains, listen to music, and we owe it to him. 1093 patented inventions, and according to unofficial data - almost three thousand. A great inventor, talented and successful with an extraordinary biography. And this person was called "limited"!?

Comes from childhood

We return to 1847 in the bustling port of Milan (Milene), Ohio. Here, on February 11, a child, the seventh in a row, was born in the family of a political emigrant from Canada and his wife. Named Thomas. By the way, his three older sisters and brothers did not live up to 10 years.

Little Al did not speak until almost four years old. But it was worth starting, as there was no passage for adults. I had to explain to the inquisitive kid the work of everything he had to deal with. Nobody could refuse. Another question would follow: "Why?"

When Thomas was 7, the family settled in the town of Port Huron in Michigan. It is known that the boy had a broad forehead and a head much larger than that of children of his age.

He started going to elementary school, but after three months he continued his studies at home.

There are different versions of why this happened:

1. His persistent interrogations did not please the teacher too much. He considered the student hyperactive, and his brain "complicated". And when the teacher spoke rudely about Thomas, calling him "stupid", the boy left the school.
2. Mom read aloud the teacher's letter that her son is a genius, and the school is not able to teach him something, so it's better to teach him at home. They say that Edison found the letter after his mother's death. And its content was different: "Your son is mentally retarded ...", and further, that they cannot teach him at school, he must be taught at home. One of the greatest inventors of the century wept like a child. An entry appeared in his personal diary: “Thomas Alva Edison was a mentally retarded child. Thanks to his heroic mother, he became one of the greatest geniuses of his age."
3. And on November 29, 1907, the literary magazine T.P's Weekly published an interview with Thomas Edison, telling another version of this story that refutes the previous ones. The boy himself accidentally heard the words of the teacher and found out that they did not want to keep him at school anymore. He creates problems. running to his mother in tears, he sought her protection. She told the teacher that her son was much smarter than the teacher himself, took the child out of school and herself, being a teacher by training, undertook to teach him. Tom decided that he must become worthy of her trust and show that faith in a son is not in vain.

Nancy Edison is the pious and attractive daughter of the respected Presbyterian minister and accomplished educator Elliot. She always believed in the child's ability. The unusual behavior of her son, the appearance for her served only as signs of an outstanding mind. Tom loved his mother and always said that she made him. Reading, writing and arithmetic, he mastered with her. He didn't want to disappoint her.

Samuel Edison, a rather worldly man, encouraged his son to read the great classics, rewarding him with 10 cents for each book he read. This initiative has borne fruit over time. Thomas's interest in world history and English literature turned out to be very deep. And a special love for Shakespeare even inspired him to try to become an actor. But either the voice was too high, or shyness played a role, but the young man refused this idea. It will be later. For now…

The boy loved to read and craft. The appetite for knowledge grew so much that the parents had to resort to the help of the local library. Starting with the last book on the shelf, he read everything without understanding. Parents managed to stop the messy reading in time, and thanks to them, the hobby became more selective. Reading could not satisfy the ever-increasing interest in the sciences, and his parents were not able to explain to him questions related to the same physics or mathematics.

At the age of ten, he opened a list of inventions, which included a sawmill with a railroad that he made. His first own laboratory began work. He set up chemical experiments here - another hobby.

Young entrepreneur

The kid always had pocket money - relatives did not skimp. Only experiments and numerous experiments required additional funds.

Inventions of Thomas Edison

Let's start with the well-known "Edison bulb". You may have heard negative answers to the question of whether Edison invented the first light bulb. Attempts to light up the world with electricity were made half a century before Edison. The work was carried out with arc lighting, bright enough to illuminate the street, and with an incandescent lamp, which is better used indoors. Arc lighting was started by Charles Kist in 1877. Two years later, breakthroughs with incandescent lamps were noted by Edison:

• His light bulb could burn for a long time and illuminate the house for many hours.
• He invented the electric power system that brought electricity to the house with dynamos, wires, fuses and switches.

But of the more than a thousand patents received, the very first - for the invention of an electric vote recorder during ballots - was received by him in 1869. Members of the Massachusetts Legislative Assembly refused to buy it, even denigrated it in every possible way, referring to the fact that the machine is capable of violating the political “status quo”. For Thomas, this was a disappointment. But he learned the main lesson for himself: do not waste your time on something that people do not want and will not buy.

But the invention of the stock ticker to transmit stock quotes at the end of 1870 was accepted with a bang and brought the inventor 40 thousand dollars. He organized their release in a workshop created with this money in New Jersey (Newark).

In 1876, already in Mentlo Park, his laboratory appeared, well equipped, with a fully staffed staff, suitable for testing, inventing and improving various technical products. The Menlopark Laboratory is considered the real prototype of the current research institutes and industrial laboratories. Someone even considers this invention of Edison to be the greatest. And his first product was a carbon telephone microphone, which greatly increased the volume and clarity of Bell's telephone.

But Edison called the phonograph the first successful invention, the most beloved. He stated this repeatedly. The creator has been working on it for more than half a century. Since its first appearance in 1877, he has made many improvements to his "child".

But the best invention of a genius is industrial electric lighting. In the electrical distribution system he created, the lamps worked together and economically. Thousands of experiments - and as a result, a lamp with a carbon filament that can burn for 40 hours. The year 1882 is called the beginning of the lighting industry in the States, the first central power plant in New York was launched.

For the manufacture of lamps and lighting equipment, the Edison General Electric Company was organized, so that in 1892, after merging with its largest rival, the Thomson Houston Electric Company, the world's largest industrial concern, the General Electric Company Joint Stock Company, which today one of the ten most valuable companies in the world.

Edison also owns the discovery of thermionic emission - this is already a "pure" science (1883). It was called the Edison effect and was later used in the detection of radio waves.

Life lessons"Many of life's failures are experienced by people who didn't realize how close they were to success when they gave up."

It sounds strange, but if you look realistically, Thomas Alva Edison did not invent anything new. The telephone and the telegraph were invented before him. But he significantly improved the technique, brought it closer to the consumer. This brilliant inventor worked with many fundamental discoveries, and, I must say, did a great job. The record number for one person is 1093 American patents for inventions, hundreds are patents of France, Great Britain, Germany, etc.

Life lessons“If I get my hands on something, then I immediately look for a way to improve it.”

Hearing

Deafness turned out to be a factor that shaped the personality of the inventor, but it is difficult to judge whether it is negative or positive.

According to Edison, it all happened because of a fever-scarlet fever suffered in childhood. He was absolutely not deaf. I just didn't hear very well. I have not heard birdsong since I was twelve years old - these are the words of Thomas. He also told another story: he was hit in the ear by a conductor for experiments with phosphorus that ended in an explosion in a local depot car. It is hardly possible to name the exact cause of hearing loss.

He was constantly looking for a way to compensate. He acquired knowledge in a rather individualistic style. In the most difficult cases, he showed a mind like a kaleidoscope, a legendary memory, patience and dexterity. And any experiments were carried out, allowing to put forward and substantiate their own theories.

Life lessons"Someday man will use the rising and falling of the tides to sharpen the power of the sun and unleash atomic energy."

About personal life

In many things this great mind remained a typical Victorian man with very definite tastes. Exclusively due to his striving to create a new one, he was reliably protected from women. The only one he idolized, his mother, dominated in his heart.

Having married Mary Stilwell, he soon discovered that his wife was not a partner in his affairs, which upset him a lot. A daughter and two sons were born from the marriage. Mary died early, in 1884. A brain tumor. With his second wife, they gave birth to three more.

A person who has been in search all his life, in discoveries, in new plans, by the end of the 20s, the pace has noticeably slowed down. He received his last 1093rd patent at the age of 83, almost without leaving home, and worked there. Until the last day, Edison remained surrounded by associates and friends. The names of many and success stories are known to everyone: Charles Lindbergh, Marie Curie, Henry Ford, Herbert Hoover.

On the evening of October 18, 1931, Thomas Edison passed away at the West Orange in New Jersey. Many people in the world turned off the power for a short moment in honor of this man.

Life lessons"I want to save and advance human life, not destroy it... I'm proud of the fact that I never invented a weapon to kill."

He was not perfect, much of what was said about him was in fact only myths, but a rare person served humanity so selflessly, worked with such perseverance and did more to make dreams and fantasies come true.

Last life lesson“If there is an afterlife, great. If not, well, that's fine too. I have lived my life with pleasure and have done my best.”

Amazing facts from life

In the Menlo-Patka laboratory, the first scientific center in the history of mankind, there were workshops and libraries. Thousands of workers worked here. Drawings and details replaced sandwiches and soda, Edison sat down at the organ, and then everyone rested. And then again - for wear. All over the world they have heard about a special questionnaire that the inventor came up with for applicants. He wanted talented enthusiasts and originals to work in his laboratory. He might well have preferred an imaginative amateur to a graduate.

About Edison"One of Edison's most outstanding talents is his ability to assemble teams and create an organizational structure that has fueled the creativity of many people." (historian Greg Field)

Obstacles never stopped this man. Once, when his next invention - the printing press - failed, he worked continuously in the attic of the factory for 60 hours until it worked normally. After that, he slept for 30 hours.

Life lessons"Invention is ninety percent perspiration and one percent inspiration."

there are other lessons of the great inventor.

He is called in different ways: a “patent thief”, a deceiver of geniuses, in a modern way - a “producer from science”, an occultist, a self-taught genius, an enthusiast who did not value money, and this list can be supplemented for a long time. At the same time, he was an honorary member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the owner of the highest US award - the Gold Medal of Congress, and according to the New York Table - the greatest living American.

Thomas Edison is known to the world 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 was distinguished by a bright talent for entrepreneurship.

Childhood and youth

Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847 in the American town of Meilen, in a family of immigrants from Holland. Al, as the future inventor was called in childhood, did not differ in good health - short, frail (although Thomas looks well-fed in childhood photos). In addition, the transferred scarlet fever affected his hearing - the boy became deaf in his left ear. Parents surrounded their son with care, because before that they had lost two children.

Thomas did not manage to settle down at school, the teachers were enough for a “limited” child for three months, after which his parents with a scandal took him out of the educational institution and put him in home schooling. Edison was introduced to the basics of school sciences by his mother, Nancy Eliot, the daughter of a priest with a brilliant upbringing and education.

Thomas grew up as an inquisitive child; Another unusual occupation to which he devoted hours was copying the inscriptions on the signs of warehouses.

With the Edisons moving to Porto Huron, seven-year-old Thomas was introduced to the fascinating world of reading and tried his hand at inventing for the first time. At that time, the boy, along with his mother, was selling fruits and vegetables, and in his free time he ran to the People's Library of the town for books.

By the age of 12, the teenager got 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 brought together scientific and technological advances 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 happened that helped to enrich the working biography of the novice inventor. Edison saved the son of the head of the station from death under the wheels of a moving car, for which he received the position of a 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 native state, but in 1868 ended up in Boston, and then in New York. All this time he barely made ends meet, because he spent the lion's share of his income on books and experiments.

inventions

The secret of the great self-taught inventor is simple and lies in a quote by Thomas Edison himself, which over time has become a catch phrase:

"Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration."

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

Luck smiled while working at the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company. Thomas got a job in the state thanks to the fact that he repaired the telegraph machine - no one could cope with this task, even the invited masters. And in 1870, the company gladly bought out the system of telegraphing exchange bulletins about the exchange rate of gold and shares, improved by him. 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 got even better. Thomas founded the Pope, Edison & Co company, 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 research work began. The laboratory later united hundreds of bright minds and skillful hands.

Attempts to convert telegraphic messages into sound resulted in the advent of the phonograph. In 1877, Edison recorded the children's song "Mary Had a Lamb" using a needle and foil. The innovation was considered to be on the verge of fantasy, and Thomas was nicknamed the Wizard of Menlo Park.

Two years later, the world adopted the most famous invention of Thomas Edison - he managed to improve the electric light bulb, extending its life 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 lit by fireproof light bulbs, and the price of electricity would become affordable, and set about experimenting. For the filament, I tried 6000 materials and finally settled on carbon fiber, which burned for 13.5 hours. Later, the service life increased to 1200 hours.

Thomas Edison and his light bulb

Edison demonstrated the possibility of using light bulbs, as well as the developed system for the production and consumption of electricity, by creating a power plant in one of the New York districts: 400 lamps flashed. The number of electricity consumers has increased from 59 to 500 in a few months.

In 1882, a "war of currents" broke out, which lasted until the beginning of the second millennium. Edison was proud of the use of direct current, which, however, was transmitted without loss only over short distances. , who came to work in Thomas' laboratory, tried to prove that alternating current was more efficient - it was transmitted hundreds of kilometers. The future legendary inventor suggested 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 work from Edison, was offended and became a competitor. Together with industrialist George Westinghouse, Nicola began to introduce alternating current everywhere. Thomas sued and even conducted black PR campaigns, proving the danger of this type of current by killing animals. The apogee was the invention of the electric chair for the execution of criminals.

An end to the war was put only in 2007: the chief engineer of Consolidate Edison solemnly cut the last cable through which direct current flowed to New York.

The prolific inventor also patented an X-ray instrument called a fluoroscope, and a carbon microphone that increased the volume of telephone calls. 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 left a mark on the history of cinematography. In the laboratory of Thomas, he saw the light of a kinetoscope - a device capable of showing moving images. In fact, the invention was a personal cinema - a person watched a movie through a special eyepiece. A little later, Edison opened the Parlor Kinetoscope room 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. With his first wife, telegraph operator Mary Stillwell, the inventor almost went down the aisle two months after they met. However, the marriage had to be postponed due to the death of Edison's mother. The wedding was played in December 1871. A funny event is connected with the celebration: immediately after the festivities, Thomas went to work and forgot about the wedding night.

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

Soon Edison remarried, according to historians, out of great love. The chosen one was 20-year-old Mina Miller, whom the inventor taught Morse code, and in this language he even offered his hand and heart. Edison from Mina also had two sons and a daughter - 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 did business until the last. Thomas Edison suffered from diabetes, a terrible disease gave complications incompatible with life.

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

• Edison is credited with inventing the simplest tattoo machine. The reason was the five dots on Thomas's left forearm, and then the Stencil-Pens engraving tool, which was patented in 1876. However, the parent of the tattoo machine is Samuel O'Reilly.
• On the conscience of the inventor is the death of the elephant Topsy. Through the fault of the animal, three people died, so they decided to kill him. Hoping to win the "current war", Edison proposed to execute the elephant with 6000 volt alternating current, and recorded the "performance" on film.

• In the biography of the American genius, there is a failed project, for the implementation of which they even built a whole plant - to extract iron from low-grade ore. Compatriots laughed at the inventor, arguing that it was easier and cheaper to invest in ore deposits. And they turned out to be right.
• In 1911, Edison built an uninhabitable house made of concrete, including window sills and electric pipes. At the same time, the man tried himself as a furniture designer, presenting concrete interior items to the judgment of future buyers. And failed again.

• One of the wild ideas was the creation of a helicopter powered by gunpowder.
• The invention of a lamp with a long working life did a disservice to mankind - people's sleep was reduced by 2 hours. By the way, with the improvement of the light bulb, the calculations took 40,000 pages of notebooks.
• The word "hello" that starts a telephone conversation is also Edison's idea.

Discoveries

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

(facts from biographies)

1.

Thomas Edison was kicked out of school after the first four months of school, the teacher said that he was mentally retarded.

Later life:

Edison received 1093 patents in the USA and about 3 thousand in other countries of the world. He improved the telegraph, telephone, film equipment, developed one of the first commercially successful versions of the electric incandescent lamp, and invented the phonograph. It was he who suggested using the word "hello" at the beginning of a telephone conversation.

2.

Darwin, who had abandoned medicine, was bitterly reproached by his father: “You are not interested in anything but catching dogs and rats!”
And then:

Darwin's book, The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favorable Races in the Struggle for Life, was published in 1859, and its success exceeded all expectations. His idea of ​​evolution met with passionate support from some scientists and harsh criticism from others. This and subsequent works of Darwin "Changes in animals and plants during domestication", "The origin of man and sexual selection", "The expression of emotions in man and animals" were translated into many languages ​​immediately after the publication.

3.

Walt Disney was fired from the paper for lack of ideas.

To further become the creator of the first sound, musical and full-length cartoons in the history of cinema. During his extraordinarily busy life, Walt Disney made 111 films as a director and produced 576 more films. Disney's outstanding achievements in the field of cinematography have been recognized with 26 Oscars and the Irving Thalberg Award, which has the status of an Oscar, as well as many other awards and prizes.

4.

Beethoven's teacher considered him a completely mediocre student.

And afterwards: Ludwig van Beethoven is recognized as a key figure in Western classical musicbetween classicism and romanticism , one of the most respected and performed composers in the world. He wrote in all the genres that existed in his time., including opera , music for dramatic performances, choral essays. The most significant in his legacy are instrumental works: piano, violin and cello sonatas., concerts for piano, for violin, quartets, overtures, symphonies . Beethoven's work had a significant impact on symphony XIX and XX centuries.

5.

Einstein did not speak until the age of four. His teacher described him as mentally retarded.

Well, in later life, Albert Einstein is the author of more than 300 scientific papers on physics, as well as about 150 books and articles in the history and philosophy of science, journalism, etc. He developed several significant physical theories:

6.

Rodin's father said: “My son is an idiot. He failed three times in art school.”

And became famous great sculptorFrançois Auguste Rene Rodin becauseachieved virtuoso skill in conveying the movement and emotional state of his characters by artistic means and in depicting the human body. Among the main works of Rodin are the sculptures The Thinker, The Citizens of Calais and The Kiss.

7.

Mozart, one of the most brilliant composers, Emperor Ferdinand said that in his "The Marriage of Figaro" "too little noise and too many notes."

According to contemporaries, he had a phenomenal ear for music, memory and the ability to improvise. Mozart is widely recognized as one of the greatest composers: his uniqueness lies in the fact that he worked in all musical forms of his time and achieved the highest success in all. Along with Haydn and Beethoven, he belongs to the most significant representatives of the Vienna Classical School.

8.

Our compatriot Mendeleev had a triple in chemistry.

Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev - Russian encyclopedic scientist: chemist, physical chemist, physicist, metrologist, economist, technologist, geologist, meteorologist, teacher, aeronaut, instrument maker. Professor of St. Petersburg University; Corresponding member in the category of "Physics" of the Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Among the most famous discoveries is the periodic law of chemical elements, one of the fundamental laws of the universe., indispensable for everything natural sciences.

9.

When Marconi invented the radio and told his friends that he would transmit words over a distance through the air, they thought he was crazy and took him to a psychiatrist. But within a few months, his radio saved the lives of many sailors.

Guglielmo Marconi (ital. Guglielmo marchese marconi) - Marquis, Italian radio engineer and entrepreneur, one of the inventors of radio; winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1909.

Worth considering!