Thomas Alva Edison: Who Changed The Lives Of People Around The World

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” This was a quote by one of America’s leading businessmen, Thomas Alva Edison. He is regarded as one of the most influential inventors, and his inventions transformed the lives of people across the world. Born on February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio as the youngest of seven children of Samuel and Nancy Edison. His father was an exiled political activist from Canada, and his mother was a school teacher and a major influence on her son’s life. When Edison was very young he had a hard time with scarlet fever as well as ear infections. This left him with hearing difficulties in both ears as a child and nearly deaf as an adult. Some say that

There is no known cause for why Edison lost his hearing, there are just theories. In 1854, Edison’s family moved to Michigan and here he attended public school for only about 12 weeks. His teacher called him “difficult” because he was such a hyperactive child and prone to distraction. He was not able to focus like the other students, because he obviously couldn’t hear like they could. Also, his teacher considered him mentally challenged, and told his parents that he had something wrong with his brain and would never be able to learn. Once this happened, his mother pulled him out of public schooling and just taught him at home. At the early age of 11, he showed an interest for learning and was already reading books on a wide range of subjects. While being homeschooled, he learned to self-educate and learn independently and this stayed with him for the rest of his life. When he was 12, he convinced his parents to let him sell newspapers to the passengers along the railroad line. By doing this, he gained access to the news bulletins that were tele typed to the station office every

He called it the “Grand Trunk Herald” The articles were a very big hit to the passengers and this was the first of many to come of his ambitious ventures. Later, in 1869 at 22 years old, Edison moved to New York City to develop his very first invention. This invention was an improved stock ticker called the Universal Stock Printer and this synchronized several stock tickers’ transactions. After he created this invention, the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company was so impressed that they paid him $40,000 for the rights. After this big achievement he quit his job as a telegrapher and decided to just focus on his inventing. In 1876, Western Union encouraged him to try and compete with Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone but he never did. In December of 1877, he invented a method for recording sound. This was named the phonograph this brought him worldwide fame even though it was not commercially viable for another decade. His next invention was the light bulb and electricity. He was not the first inventor of the light bulb but he invented the technology that helped bring it to everyone. There were 23 others who had invented light bulbs, and some were even still working on them during Edison’s time. His lightbulb so so successful because it was made of a durable incandescent