Thomas Alva Edison- The person who lit the world

Biography:

#Thomas Edison may be the greatest inventor in history. He has over 1000 patents in his name. Many of his inventions still have a major effect on our lives today. He was also a business entrepreneur. Several of his inventions were group efforts in his large invention laboratory where he had lots of people working for him to help develop, build, and test his inventions. #Edison used his inventions to form companies including General Electric, which is one of the biggest corporations in the world today.

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Where did Edison grow up?

#Thomas Edison was born in #Milan, Ohio on February 11, 1847. His family soon moved to Port Huron, Michigan where he spent most of his childhood. Surprisingly, he did not do well in school and ended up being home schooled by his mother. Thomas was an enterprising young man, selling vegetables, candy and newspapers on trains. One day he saved a child from a runaway train. The child's father repaid Edison by training him as a telegraph operator. As a telegraph operator, #Thomas became interested in communications, which would be the focus of many of his inventions.

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What was Menlo Park?

#Menlo Park, New Jersey is where #Thomas Edison built his research labs. This was the first business or institution with the sole purpose of inventing. They would do research and science and then apply it to practical applications that could be manufactured and built on a large scale. There were a lot of employees working for #Edison at #Menlo Park.

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What are Thomas Edison's most famous inventions?

#Thomas Edison has the patents and credits for many inventions. Three of his most famous include:

#The Phonograph - This was the first major invention by Edison and made him famous. It was the first machine that was able to record and playback sound.

#Light Bulb - Although he did not invent the first electric light, Edison made the first practical electric light bulb that could be manufactured and used in the home. He also invented other items that were needed to make the light bulb practical for use in homes including safety fuses and on/off switches for light sockets.

#The Motion Picture - Edison did a lot of work in creating the motion picture camera and helping move forward the progress of practical movies.

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#Fun Facts About Thomas Edison

1. His middle name was Alva and his family called him Al.
2. His first two kids had the nicknames Dot and Dash.
3. He set up his first lab in his parent's basement at the age of 10.
4. He was partially deaf.
5. His first invention was an electric vote recorder.
6. His 1093 patents are the most on record.
7. He said the words to "Mary had a little lamb" as the first recorded voice on the phonograph.

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Nikola Tesla vs. Thomas Edison: Who Was the Better Inventor?

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The Serbian-American scientist was a brilliant and eccentric genius whose inventions enabled modern-day power and mass communication systems.

His nemesis and former boss, #Thomas Edison, was the iconic American inventor of the light bulb, the phonograph and the moving picture. The two feuding geniuses waged a #"War of Currents" in the 1880s over whose electrical system would power the world — Tesla's alternating-current (AC) system or Edison's rival direct-current (DC) electric power.

Amongst science nerds, few debates get more heated than the ones that compare #Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. So, who was the better inventor?

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"They're different inventors, but you can't really say one is greater, because American society needs some Edisons and it needs some Teslas" said W. Bernard Carlson, the author of #"Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age" (Princeton Press, 2013).

From their starkly different personalities to their lasting legacies, here's how the two dueling inventors stack up.

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Awards and achievements 

• He was felicitated with numerous medals and awards for his magnanimous contribution to mankind. Some amongst them include, being distinguished with the 'Officer of the Legion of Honour’ by France, Distinguished Service Medal by US Navy and Congressional Gold Medal by the US.
  
• He was inducted in New Jersey Hall of Fame and Entrepreneur Walk of Fame. He was made the honourable member of several important institutions including Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's fair and the National Academy of Sciences.
  
• He received various medals including John Scott Medal, Edward Longstreth Medal, John Fritz Medal, Franklin Medal andEdison Medal. His birthday is marked as National Inventor's Day.
  

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• Death

#WEST ORANGE, N. J., Oct. 18. ─ (AP) ─ #Thomas A. Edison died peacefully before dawn today at the hilltop estate where he labored to give light, work and recreation to millions.

The 84-year-old inventor, who lay deep in a coma at the end, did not wish to live, Dr. Hubert S. Howe disclosed, when he realized his complete recovery was improbable.

His wife and six children, close in attendance during the last stages of the 11 weeks' sickness, had been told by Mr. Edison that his work was finished. He would rather leave the world, he said, than burden them with the disabilities of age and illness.

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