Thomas Alva Edison: Thomas Edison's Invention

Thomas Alva Edison was an interesting character and his works are still valued and his contributions to the world were invaluable to today’s modern technology. He was most know as an inventor, especially for the light bulb but there was much more to him as well. He was a successful businessman and entrepreneur. He was born in Ohio on February 11, 1847 but spent his early years of his life in Michigan. This is where his family settled down after his father fought in the war of 1812. As a boy he contracted scarlet fever leading to hearing loss. He concocted different stories to explain his deafness. In the original version of the story he was hit in the ear by a train conductor and later it evolved to where the conductor picked him up by the ears. His first job was selling candy and newspapers on trains. The

By 1870 he was known as a first class inventor and companies would request jobs. His biggest client was Western Bell. His most famous invention was the light bulb. It allowed users to have access to an on demand light source anywhere electricity was present. After his break through invention he essentially through all his eggs in one basket and opened Edison Lighting Companies, which later became known as General Electric. Even though his main focus was his electric company he still made time for his passion, inventing. He managed to invent the phonograph, motion picture camera and the alkaline storage battery among with many others. On top of his professional life he managed to have a satisfying family life. Edison married his first wife, Mary Stilwell in 1871 they had three children together two of them had the nick names Dot and Dash because of his obsession with communication and the Morse code. His wife passed away due to uncertain causes in 1884 and Edison remarried in 1886 to Mina Miller. Together they had three children themselves, in total he had six