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Thomas Edison was born the seventh - and last - child of
his family in the town of Milan, Ohio. When he was a
young boy, he showed remarkable ability that set him
apart from his classmates. So after only three months in
school, his mother, a teacher, decided to instruct him
at home. Edison became a voracious reader and was
particularly interested in chemistry and electricity. He
constructed a make-shift laboratory in the basement of
his house to conduct various experiments on his own. In order to buy more chemicals and apparatus for his
laboratory, Edison got a job selling newspapers and
snacks on board the Grand Trunk Railway. He was then
twelve years old. When he was off duty, he ploughed the
shelves of the Detriot library. With the permission from
the railway authorities, he set up a printing station in
the baggage compartment and began publishing his own
newspaper, the `Weekly Herald'. His business was good
and soon the young entrepreneur began to employ other
children to work for him.
To allow himself more time for his experiments, Edison
relocated his basement laboratory to the baggage
compartment. Unfortunately, a fire ignited by a jar of
phosphorous led to its closure by a very angry train
conductor.
In 1862, Edison saved a boy who was in danger of being overrun by an
oncoming train. The boy's father was so grateful that he
offered to teach Edison telegraphy. Telegraphy was at
that time an important means of communication and
operators were in great demand. Edison soon established
himself as one of the premier operators in the United
States. Edison worked untiringly. At the age of twenty-three, he
set up an engineering firm in New Jersey. During the
next six years, he invented the mimeograph and made
improvements on the telegraph and the typewriter. His
creations are varied. Some of his most notable
contributions to society included the development of the
incandescent light bulb, the phonograph and the movie
camera. It was said that as Edison grew older, he became
increasingly rigid and autocratic. These traits hindered
the promotion of his inventions. He also lost millions
of dollars on projects which were technologically very
impressive but financially not viable. |
