Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison (English: Thomas Alva Edison; February 11, 1847 - October 18, 1931) was an American scientist, inventor, entrepreneur, and engineer known for his contributions to incandescent lamps, phonographs, electrical distribution systems, and motion pictures. He held 1,093 patents. His company, Edison General Electric Company, merged with Thomson-Houston Electric Company in 1892 to form General Electric Company. Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, in 1847, grew up in Michigan, and received little formal education. He was deaf at an early age and began working as a railway telegraph operator at an early age, working to improve the telegraph system. In 1869, Edison sold several of his early inventions and moved to New York City to focus on engineering. Edison and his first wife, Mary, had three children, but he neglected to take care of them. Edison subsequently received capital injections with the help of friends, and in 1876 he owned a telegraph recorder factory in Newark. He also established his first laboratory facility in Menlo Park, New Jersey, where many of his early inventions were made. He later established a botanical laboratory in Fort Myers, Florida, working with industrialists Henry Ford and Harvey S. Firestone, and built a laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey, which housed the world's first movie studio, Black Maria. Edison's most famous patented inventions are the light bulb, the phonograph, the kinetoscope, the direct current system, and the wax printing cylinder, which have had a great impact on the world. One of the two greatest patents of his life was the phonograph, which could retain and play sound; the other was a controversial patent, the light bulb known to the world. After a long court battle of six years, Edison finally succeeded in obtaining the patent. Edison was also one of the first inventors to apply the principles of organizational science and teamwork to the invention process, collaborating with many researchers and employees. He also founded the first industrial research laboratory. Edison holds 1,093 patents in the United States, and more than 150 patents in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and other countries, making him one of the inventors with the most patents in American history. Edison was married twice and had six children. Edison died at his home in West Orange, New Jersey, in 1931 at the age of 84 due to complications from diabetes.