Do you ever wonder who invented the light bulb, the movie camera, and the record player? Can you imagine your life without any of these items today? The person we have to thank for all of them is Thomas Edison. He created hundreds of inventions in his lifetime that we continue to use today.
Thomas Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, in 1847. He was the youngest in a household of seven children. When he was young, Thomas was a very curious boy. He always asked questions about everything around him. He wanted to know where things came from. His curiosity often got him in trouble. One day he asked his mother why the hen sat on her eggs, and she told him it was because the hen was hatching her eggs. Without thinking, Thomas sat on a pile of eggs to try to hatch them too and broke them all. Another time he was curious about how fire worked, so he set his father's barn on fire to see what would happen. The barn burned down. His father was very angry with him and punished him by giving him a thrashing in the town square.
When young Thomas started school, he was so curious that he disturbed his classmates by constantly interrupting the teacher with questions. For this reason Thomas was sent home to be taught by his mother. Thomas' mother understood her son's curiosity and patiently let his imagination grow. Thomas loved to conduct experiments. He set up a laboratory in his parents' attic and filled it with different chemicals. Strange smells, sounds, and even small explosions would often come out of the attic.
Thomas wasn't homeschooled for very long. When he turned 16, he got a job as a train boy on the local train. He sold candy, newspapers, fruit, and sandwiches to the passengers. He loved his job because he got to set up a small laboratory in the baggage compartment, where he was able to experiment during the long train rides. The conductor was not very happy about this, and after Thomas lit a small fire in the compartment, he was let go from his job. This did not faze the young inventor; he soon found a new passion—the telegraph machine.
In the 1860s there was a great need for telegraph operators throughout the United States. Thomas learned the telegraph code and was quickly hired, and worked as a telegraph operator for six years. But he was not content with the telegraph machine of the day. He wanted to improve it so that one machine could be used to both send and receive messages. He worked hard on his invention at night, often falling asleep at his desk. Finally he was able to improve the telegraph and sold the patent for his new machine to the Western Union company.
Encouraged by the sale, and now with money to support his work, Thomas began experimenting on new inventions. He set up a small laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. He was busy working on a new machine that would record sound. The telephone had recently been invented by Alexander Graham Bell, and Thomas was interested in this device. He wanted to find ways to record the sounds that came out of the telephone. His new invention was called a phonograph and would become the prototype for the modern record player. It was an instant success.
But Thomas did not stop there. His new passion became finding ways to use electricity. In those days people used oil lamps to light their homes. They were smoky and dangerous, and the light was not very strong. Thomas was convinced that by using electricity he could produce brighter, more uniform light that would be easier to use. He experimented long into the night. He often took short naps with his head on his desk so that he could continue to work. Thomas filled hundreds of books with notes, and at one time, said that he had considered over three thousand theories for creating light from electricity.
Finally he had a breakthrough. He found that he could pass electricity through a cotton thread placed inside a glass bulb. While other inventors had worked on light-bulb designs, Edison was the first to create one that lasted for a long time and was cheap enough to be easily mass-produced. He installed his version of the electric light in his house in Menlo Park. People from all over flocked to see Edison's new invention, and Thomas became an overnight celebrity. People began calling him the Wizard of Menlo Park. Soon towns all over the world lit up their houses and streets with electric lights.
Even though Thomas now had enough money to retire, he continued to work on new inventions. He invented a Kinetoscope, a light box that showed moving pictures, which later became the movie camera. He also worked on developing an electric car, electric batteries, a cement mixer, and a copying machine. In his lifetime Thomas Edison held 1,093 patents and would have continued to invent if he had not fallen sick. He died on October 18, 1931, at the age of 84. In his honor the lights all over the United States were turned off on the night of his funeral.
Thomas Edison left a great legacy. Our everyday life would not be the same if it were not for his curious mind. His inventions are still used today by many people on the planet.