Thomas Edison was considered the most influential figure of the 19th century for his role in developing modern technology and infrastructure. He held over 1,000 patents and invented innovations such as the phonograph, motion picture camera, and incandescent light bulb. Edison established the first industrial research laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, where he and his team conducted experiments and developed new inventions. He went on to found numerous companies to commercialize his inventions and help build the modern electric power industry.

1. "... Thomas Edison was more responsible
than any one else for creating the modern
world we know today.... No one did more to
shape the physical character of modern
civilization.... Accordingly, he was the most
influential figure of the millennium...."
The Heroes Of The Age: Electricity And Man
Father of the phonograph, light bulb and motion picture…

2. “Al”
Surprisingly, little "Al" Edison, who was the last of seven children in
his family, did not learn to talk until he was almost four years of
age. Immediately thereafter, he began pleading with every adult he
met to explain the workings of just about everything he encountered.
If they said they didn't know, he would look them straight in the eye
withhisdeeplysetandvibrantblue-greeneyesandaskthem"Why?"

3. Biography
‘I have far more respect for the person with a
single idea who gets there than for the person
with a thousand ideas who does nothing.…’
‘The thing I lose patience with the most is
the clock. Its hands move too fast.’
Contrarytopopularbelief,ThomasEdison
wasnotbornintopovertyinabackwater
mid-westerntown.Actually,hewasborn-on
Feb.11,1847-tomiddle-classparentsinthe
bustlingportofMilan,Ohio,acommunity
that-nexttoOdessa,Russia.

4. Biography Continued
Thomas'sfatherwasanexiled
politicalactivistfromCanada.His
mother,anaccomplishedschool
teacher,wasamajorinfluencein
Thomas’earlylife.Anearlybout
withscarletfeverlefthimwith
hearingdifficultiesinbothears,
‘
Ruthless Businessman
‘Opportunity is missed by most people because
it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.’

5. NotingthatTom'sforeheadwasunusuallybroadandhishead
was considerably larger than average,he made no secret of his
beliefthatthehyperactiveyoungster'sbrains were"addled"or
scrambled. If modern psychology had existed back then, Tom
would have probably been deemed a victim of ADHD
(attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and proscribed a
heftydoseofthe"miracledrug"Ritalin.
A hyperactive child, prone to distraction, he was deemed "difficult" by his
teacher

6. Homeschooled…Thegeniuswasdiscovered
His mother quickly pulled him from school and taught him at home.
Instead, when his beloved mother - whom he recalled "was the making of
me... [because] she was always so true and so sure of me... And always
mademefeelIhadsomeonetoliveforandmustnotdisappoint."-became
aware of the situation, she promptly withdrew him from school and began
to "home-teach" him. Not surprisingly, she was convinced her son's
slightly unusual demeanor and physical appearance were merely outward
signsofhisremarkableintelligence.

7. Curious“Al”
. At age 11, he showed a voracious appetite for knowledge, reading
books on a wide range of subjects. In this wide-open curriculum
Edison developed a process for self-education and learning
independentlythatwouldservehimthroughouthislife.
More precisely, it was this his highly individualistic style of
acquiring knowledge that eventually led him to question scores of
the prevailing theories on the workings of electricity..... I accept
almost nothing dealing with electricity without thoroughly testing it
first."heoften declared.

8. Atage12,Edisonsetouttoputmuchofthat
educationtowork.Heconvincedhisparentsto
lethimsellnewspaperstopassengersalongthe
GrandTrunkRailroadline.Exploitinghisaccess
tothenewsbulletinsteletypedtothestation
officeeachday,Thomasbeganpublishinghisown
smallnewspaper,calledtheGrandTrunkHerald.
Becausethiswasconsiderablymorethanenough
toprovideforhisownsupport,hehadagooddeal
ofextraincome,mostofwhichwenttowards
outfittingthechemicallaboratoryhehadsetup
inthebasementofhishome…. “Justbecausesomethingdoesn'tdo
whatyouplannedittododoesn't
meanit'suseless.”

9. But his usually patient andtolerant mother finally complained about
the odors and danger of all the "poisons" he was amassing, he
transferred most of them to a locked room in the basement and put
the remainder in his locker room on the train. Edison also used his
access to the railroad to conduct chemical experiments in a small
laboratory he set up in a train baggage car. During one of his
experiments, a chemical fire started and the car caught fire. The
conductor rushed in and struck Thomas on the side of the head,
probably furthering some of his hearing loss. He was kicked off the
train and forced to sell his newspapers at various stations along the
route.

10. Strange“Al”
Remarkably, yearslaterand notlongafterhehadacquiredthemeansto
have an operation that "would have likely restored his hearing," he flatly
refused to act upon the option.... His rationale was that he was afraid he
"would have difficultyre-learninghow to channelhisthinkinginanever
more noisy world." Tom became totally deaf in his left ear, and
approximately 80% deaf in his right ear. Poignantly, he once stated that
the worst thing aboutthis condition was that he wasunable to enjoy the
beautifulsoundsofsingingbirds

11. Thefortuitousevent
Whileheworkedfortherailroad,anear-tragic
eventturnedluckfortheyoungman.AfterEdison
saveda3-year-old frombeingrunoverbyanerrant
train,thechild’sgratefulfatherrewardedhimby
teachinghimtooperateatelegraph.Byage15,he
hadlearnedenoughtobeemployedasatelegraph
operator.Tomhadprettymuchmasteredthebasics
ofthisfascinatingnewcareerandobtainedajobas
areplacement foroneofthethousandsof"brass
pounders"(telegraphoperators)whohadgoneoff
toserveintheCivilWar. “Thereisnosubstituteforhardwork.”

12. Henowhadagoldenopportunitytoenhancehisspeedandefficiencyinsendingandreceivingcodeand
performingexperimentsdesignedto improvethisdevice....Edisontelegraphyears
Once the Civil War ended, to his mother's great dismay, Tom decided that it was time to "seek his
fortune." So, over the next few years, he meandered throughout the Central States, supporting himself
asa"trampoperator".
Atage16,afterworkinginavarietyoftelegraphoffices,whereheperformednumerous"moonlight"
experiments, he finally came up with his first authentic invention. Called an "automatic repeater," it
transmitted telegraph signals between unmanned stations, allowing virtually anyone to easily and
accurately translate code at their own speed and convenience. In 1868, Edison returned home Upon the
suggestion of a friend, he ventured to Boston, landing a job for the Western Union Company. At the
time,BostonwasAmerica'scenterforscienceandculture,andEdisonreveledinit.Inhissparetime,he
designed and patented an electronic voting recorder for quickly tallying votes in the legislature.
However, Massachusetts lawmakers were not interested. As they explained, most legislators didn't
wantvotestalliedquickly.Theywantedtimetochangethemindsoffellowlegislators.

13. Becominganinventor
In 1869, Edison moved to New York City and developed his
first invention, an improved stock ticker, the Universal Stock
Printer, which synchronized several stock tickers'
transactions. The Gold and Stock Telegraph Company was so
impressed, they paid him $40,000 for the rights. Edison was
only 22 years old. With this success, he quit his work as a
telegraphertodevotehimselffull-timetoinventing.

15.  in1871Edisonmarried16-year-oldMaryStilwell,who
wasanemployeeatoneofhisbusinesses.During
their13-yearmarriage, theyhadthreechildren,
Marion,ThomasandWilliam,whobecamean
inventor.Marydiedofasuspectedbraintumorat
theageof29in1884.In1887,Edisonbuiltan
industrialresearch laboratoryinWestOrange,New
Jersey,whichservedastheprimaryresearch
laboratoryfortheEdisonlightingcompanies.He
spentmostofhistimethere,supervisingthe
developmentoflightingtechnologyandpower
systems. “Ineverdidanythingbyaccident,nor
didanyofmyinventionscomeby
accident;theycamebywork.”

16. Goodfrombad…theindustrialistandbusinessmanager
Onacoupleofoccasions,Edisonwasabletoturnfailureinto
success. During the 1890s, he built a magnetic iron-ore
processing plant in northern New Jersey that proved to be a
commercial failure. Later, he was able to salvage the process
into a better method for producing cement. On April 23, 1896,
Edison became the first person to project a motion picture,
holding the world's first motion picture screening at Koster &
Bial'sMusicHallinNewYorkCity.

17. Patents
 Thepatentwascreatedtoprotectaperson’sinvention
frombeingcopied,soldorusedwithouttheinventor’s
permission.
 ThefirstUnitedStatespatentlawwaspassedin1790.
 Since1836overfourmillionpatentshavebeengrantedin
theUnitedStates.
 Apatentisvalidfor14-17years.
 Edisonheld1,093patentsforhisinventions.

18. Edison’s Phonograph
The First Ever
Recorded Message

19. •Thiswasacombinationofthetelephoneandtelegraph.
•Edisoninventedittofitaneedinthemarket.
•WesternUnionneededawaytorecordmessagessentbytelephone,asitwasnoteconomicalto
slowdownthemessagestoallowsomeonetotranscribethemessage.
•Edisonwasworkingonthetelegraphrepeaterandonturningvoicesintoelectricalsignalswhen
heinventedthephonograph.
•ItwasinventedinDecember24th 1877.

20. The Phonograph
 The phonographwasadiaphragm attachedto aheavy stylus.Asthediaphragm vibrated,so did
thestylus.
 Thisscratchedsometinfoilpapermountedonacylindertomakeanindentation.
 Thiswasthenreplayedusingasecondstylus.
 Itwaslaterimprovedbyusingawaxcylinder,and
soldcommercially.
 Edisonforesawfutureusesofthephonograph,like
phonographicbooksfortheblind,music-boxesandtoys,
reproductionofmusic,anddictatingletterssotheydidnot
havetobewritten.

21. Edison’s Companies
 1859 GrandTruckHerald
 1870 NewarkTelegraphWorks
 1878 EdisonSpeakingPhonographCo.
 1878 EdisonElectricLightCo.
 1881 EdisonOreMiningCo.
 1889 EdisonPortlandCementCo.
 1896NationalPhonographCo.
 1911 ThomasA.Edison,Inc.

22. Finalyears
Anuninhibitedegoist,hecouldbeatyranttoemployeesandruthless
tocompetitors.Thoughhewasapublicityseeker,hedidn’tsocializewell
andoftenneglectedhisfamily.Bythetimehediedhewasoneofthe
mostwell-knownandrespectedAmericansintheworld.Hehadbeenat
theforefrontofAmerica’sfirsttechnologicalrevolutionandsetthestage
forthemodernelectricworld.
“Restlessnessisdiscontentanddiscontentisthefirst
necessityofprogress.Showmeathoroughlysatisfied
manandIwillshowyouafailure.”

23. Thomas Edison died of complications of diabetes on October 18,
1931, in his home, "Glenmont," in West Orange, NewJersey. He was 84
yearsold.
Many communities and corporations throughout the world
dimmed their lights or briefly turned off their electrical power to
commemorate his passing. Edison's career was the quintessential
rags-to-richessuccessstorythatmadehimafolkheroinAmerica.
“Ineverdidaday'sworkinmylife.It
wasallfun.”

24. Edison,consideredoneof
America'sleadingbusinessmen,is
creditedtodayforhelpingtobuild
America'seconomyduringthe
nation'svulnerableearlyyears.

25. Edison’s Quotes
 Ourgreatestweaknessliesingivingup.Themostcertainwaytosucceedis
alwaystotryjustonemoretime.
 Manyoflife'sfailuresarepeoplewhodidnotrealizehowclosetheywereto
successwhentheygaveup.
 Ihavenotfailed,Ihavejustfound10,000waysthatwon’twork.
 Beingbusydoesnotalwaysmeanrealwork.Theobjectofallworkis
productionoraccomplishment andtoeitheroftheseendstheremustbe
forethought,system,planning,intelligence,andhonestpurpose,aswellas
perspiration.Seemingtodoisnotdoing.
 Toinvent,youneedagoodimaginationandapileofjunk.

26. More Quotes…
 Yourworthconsistsinwhatyouareandnotinwhatyouhave.
 Anythingthatwon'tsell,Idon'twanttoinvent.Itssaleisproofof
utility,andutilityissuccess.
 Toinvent,youneedagoodimaginationandapileofjunk.
 Geniusisonepercentinspirationandninety-ninepercentperspiration.
 Becourageous.Ihaveseenmanydepressionsinbusiness.Always
Americahasemergedfromthesestrongerandmoreprosperous.Be
braveasyourfathersbeforeyou.Havefaith!Goforward