Thomas Alva Edison: A Self-Taught Man
Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) was not a scientist. In fact he was a self-taught man. He had no theoretical or mathematical background. Today his name is among the greatest inventors of all time. During his lifetime he invented about 1000 new things. Most of this success came from perfecting the ideas of other people or improvising on the inventions of others.
Edison was born Milan (Ohia, USA) on 11th February 1847. He was expelled from school, as he never cared to study. However, after this incident he began to study science books. He had always been interested in this subject. As a ten-year old boy itself he had a chemical laboratory in his house. As he was not very well off financially, he sold candy and newspapers in the trains. This was not enough .when he grew older he bought an old printing press and began printing newspapers in the luggage car of the train. He also had his laboratory along with the printing press. When this caught fire one day, the railway authorities threw all his belongings out. Later a train accident deprived him of his hearing.
In 1862 Edison began to learn telegraphy form a grateful man whose child he had rescued from a train accident. In 1868 Edison got his first patent on telegraph. In 1869 he got a patent for inventing an automatic vote recorder. He also worked on improving the type writer. In 1871 he made an improved stock ticker. This helped to make a lot of money. He then founded his own manufacturing plant in Newark, New Jersey.
His most famous invention was that of the incandescent electric bulb in 1879. He constructed a system of electric power distribution to consumers. His improved electric bulbs were soon used for street lighting. Edison’s lights were appearing in the streets of New York. It was established in 1882. Power generating stations of the world today are very similar to the original one. Street lighting had come of age. Earlier streets were lit with kerosene lamps. The roads were quite dark an ill lit. The invention of the electric light made a very strong impact especially on the crimes committed on the dark roads.
Today we take electric lights for granted quite forgetting the dedicated efforts of the great inventor, Edison. In 1889, he set up the Edison Light Company, which today is called the General Electric Company.
Edison went on ahead to invent the movie camera, mimeograph, fluoroscope and an improved version of the battery. He has a long list of inventions to his name. No wonder, Edison is said to be one of the greatest inventors of the world.
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edison is one of my favorite scientists.thanks for writing an article about him.
thanks dee gold, thanks for ur support….
