Name- Thomas Alva Edison
D.O.B- February 11, 1847
D.O.D- Oct. 18, 1931
Hometown- Milan, Ohio U.S.A
Parents- Samuel Edison Jr. & Nancy Elliot Edison; he was the last of seven children
Spouse(s)- Mary Stilwell (1871–1884) and Mina Edison (1886–1947)
Children- Marion Estelle Edison (1873–1965), Thomas Alva Edison Jr. (1876–1935), William Leslie Edison (1878–1937), Madeleine Edison (1888–1979), Charles Edison (1890–1969), Theodore Miller Edison (1898–1992)
Life Story- At an early age Edison developed hearing problems due to his familial tendency to mastoiditis. When he was seven his family moved to Port Huron, Michigan where he lived until his rebel age of sixteen. Edison had very little formal education as a child, but his mother taught him reading, writing, and arithmetic. Most times, he taught himself much by reading on his own. During this era it wasn't uncommon for a boy to be working at a young age. So he got a job as a newsboy at the age of thirteen delivering newspapers and selling candy at the railroads. By the time he turned sixteen he became a full time telegrapher. Edison traveled all over the U.S gaining knowledge and new experiences. He ended up in Boston in 1868 where he changed from telgrapher to inventor. He made an electric vote recorder that was suppose to speed up the election process but it failed.
Edison moved to New York City in 1869. Where he made his first successful invention which was an improved stock ticker called the Universal Stock Printer. Edison was paid roughly 40,000 for his invention and with the money he started his first laboratory and manufacturing facility in Newark, New Jersey in 1871. He worked on improving the speed and efficiency of telehraphs. Edison married Mary Stillwell. In 1876 Edison sold his company in Newark and moved to a village called Menlo Park where he established a new laboratory for research and development. The first big invention from this lab was the tin foil phonograph that could record and reproduce sound. His next big challenge was to develop a practical incandescent, electric light that was safe and economical. After nearly two years of work he created an incandescent lamp with a filament of carbonized sewing thread which he displayed to the public in December of 1879. In Septemeber of 1882 the first commerical power station went into operation and the Eelctric Age had begun.
In 1889 Edison formed the Edison General Electric company funded by bankers. Edsion was dropped from the title because he didn't own the company and the competition rates were high so it became General Electric. His wife Mary died in 1884 and he remarried to Mina Miller in February of 1886. He moved to West Orange, New Jersey with his new wife and three children. Edison opened a new laboratory in November of 1887 in West Orange where he quotes was "the best equipped and largest laboratory extant and the facilities superior to any other for rapid and cheap development of an invention". During the 1890's he worked on the manufacturing on phongraphs for use in home and business. He wanted to demonstrate motion pictures in 1891 so he began a commercial production of "movies" in the lab, the set was known as the Black Maria. He decided to challenge himself once more by developing a better storage battery for use in electric vehicles, so he began to develop an alkaline battery in 1899.
Edsion created the Thomas A. Edison Incorporated, with him acting as president and chairman. In 1915 he was asked to head the Naval Consulting Board where scientists and inventors gatherd to help create inventions that would benefit American Armed forces in WWI. He did experiments on creating techniques for detecting and locating submarines. Edison fell very ill within the last couple years of his life. He died on October 18, 1931.