Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison is in most cases thought of as the man who invented the light bulb. That statement is factual, but there is much more to Thomas Edison then just light bulbs. He holds the fourth most U.S. patents ever at 1,093. The world we live in would be much different without the progress he made in the fields of communication, and entertainment.
Early Years
On February 11th 1847 in Milan Ohio Thomas Elva Edison was born. He lived shortly in Milan before moving to Port Huron Michigan. Thomas as a child was known to be interested in almost anything and always asked everyone he met the same question; why? However he had a very short attention span and a lot of energy leading his mother to start home schooling him at a young age. Allow Edison seemed to be a tad out of control, he eventually harnessed his energy to reading. He became quickly fascinated with the sciences and in particular Isaac Newton.
Eventually Edison found a job at a local telegraph company in Michigan. He worked in multiple different states for telegraph companies while at the same time practicing his favorite hobbies of experimenting and reading. Edison finally became financially successful with his invention of a quadruplex telegraph. With the funds from selling the telegraph he was able to buy a research laboratory called Menlo Park. At Menlo Park, Edison came up with most of his inventions.
Notable Inventions
Quadruplex Telegraph: His first breakthrough, it was a telegraph that could send two signals in different directions on the same wire.
Carbon Telephone Transmitter: Improved the microphone in the bell telephone.
Electric Light: Edison came up with a way to have a long lasting light from electricity. (incandescent light)
Motion Picture Camera: Edison helped create the Kinetograph and Kinetoscope which could record and play short films.
General Electric: Thomas Edison created Edison Electric which later merged with another company to form the GE that is known today.
Phonograph: Device to record sound. The first sound he recorded was Marry had a little lamb.
Later Years
In the early 1900s Thomas Edison’s company had set up over 100 power stations in cities across the United States, giving their customers electricity through direct current (DC). A man named George Westinghouse came out and proposed that through use of alternating current (AC), people could receive electricity cheaper and more efficiently. Edison, as the marketing expert he was, then launched a series of propaganda claiming AC is dangerous and uncontrollable. He went on to help create the electric chair using AC and he also publicly executed animals with the use of AC. On one of the more notable executions Edison took out a fully grown circus elephant that it’s owners wanted put down. However DC has its uses, AC eventually has 100% replaced DC in the distribution of electricity. He eventually died on October 18, 1931,
Conclusion
Thomas Edison definitely helped technologically advance the United States in multiple different industries. As founder of an electric company he helped supply electricity to many different people. He also founded the first utility company that was owned by investors. Moreover Edison changed the way people lived with his incandescent electric lights.
Not only did he advance the electric industries, he advanced the entertainment Industries. With his phonograph he helped further the music industry with a new way for musicians to be able to record their music and play it. He also helped create the movie industry by creating a way to film and play back short films. All in all, Thomas Edison helped invent many ground breaking devices and it would be a much different world without them.
Sources:
“Thomas Edison.” Wikipedia. Web. 2 Dec 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison
“The Biography of Thomas Edison.” Thomas Edison. Web. 2 Dec 2012. <http://www.thomasedison.com/biography.html>.
“The Life of Thomas A. Edison.” . Web. 2 Dec 2012. <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edbio.html>.
“Thomas Edison Biography.” Bio. True Story. Web. 2 Dec 2012. <http://www.biography.com/people/thomas-edison-9284349?page=2>.
“The Inventions of Thomas Edison.” About.com. Web. 2 Dec 2012. <http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bledison.htm>.