Thomas Edison was one of the most famous and renowned inventors of his time. He is known for his development of the light bulb and his work in the field of electricity. Edison was born in 1847 in Milan, Ohio and grew up in Port Huron, Michigan. He dropped out of school at the age of fifteen and began working as a telegraph operator. Edison eventually moved to New York City, where he established a successful business as an inventor and manufacturer.
In 1879, Edison developed the light bulb, which revolutionized the world of lighting. He also developed the phonograph, which allowed people to listen to recorded music. Edison’s work in the field of electricity led to the development of the modern electrical grid. He also created the first motion picture camera.
Edison’s inventions and business ventures made him one of the richest men in America. He died in 1931 at the age of eighty-four.
Table of Contents:
1. Early Life
2. Career
3. The Light Bulb
4. The Phonograph
5. Electricity
6. The Motion Picture Camera
7. Wealth
8. Death
9. Legacy
10. Top Thomas Edison Quotes
Early Life:
Thomas Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio. His parents were Samuel and Nancy Edison. His father was a carpenter and his mother was a schoolteacher. Edison had six siblings.
Edison’s family moved to Port Huron, Michigan, in 1854. Edison attended school for a few years, but he dropped out at the age of fifteen. He began working as a telegraph operator.
Career:
In 1864, Edison moved to New York City, where he began working as an inventor. He established a business called the Edison Electric Light Company. The company’s main product was the light bulb.
In 1877, Edison developed a method of recording sound on a piece of paper. This invention was called the phonograph. Edison also invented the incandescent light bulb in 1879.
Edison’s work in the field of electricity led to the development of the modern electrical grid. He also created the first motion picture camera.
Wealth:
Edison’s inventions and business ventures made him one of the richest men in America. He was worth an estimated $12 million at the time of his death.
Death:
Edison died on October 18, 1931, at the age of eighty-four.
Legacy:
Thomas Edison is considered one of the most famous and renowned inventors of his time. He is known for his development of the light bulb and his work in the field of electricity. Edison’s inventions and business ventures made him one of the richest men in America. He died in 1931 at the age of eighty-four.
Top Thomas Edison Quotes:
“The chief function of the body is to carry the brain around.”– Thomas Edison
“I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.”– Thomas Edison
“I never did anything by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work.”– Thomas Edison
“I didn’t fail 1000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1000 steps.”– Thomas Edison
“I have never failed, I’ve only shown the way I did it before doesn’t work.”– Thomas Edison
“There is no substitute for hard work.”– Thomas Edison
“There’s a way to do it better – find it.”– Thomas Edison
“Inspiration can be found in a pile of junk. Sometimes, you can put it together with a good imagination and invent something.”– Thomas Edison
“Personally, I enjoy working about 18 hours a day. Besides the short catnaps I take each day, I average about four to five hours of sleep per night.”– Thomas Edison
“I readily absorb ideas from every source, frequently starting where the last person left off.”– Thomas Edison
“The world owes nothing to any man, but every man owes something to the world.”– Thomas Edison
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”– Thomas Edison
“Mr. Edison worked endlessly on a problem, using the method of elimination. If a person asked him if he were discouraged because so many attempts proved unavailing, he would say, “No, I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.”– Thomas Edison
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”– Thomas Edison
“Restlessness is discontent and discontent is the first necessity of progress. Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure.”– Thomas Edison
“If we all did the things we are really capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”– Thomas Edison
“His genius he was quite content in one brief sentence to define; Of inspiration one percent, of perspiration, ninety nine.”– Thomas Edison
“Education isn’t play–and it can’t be made to look like play. It is hard, hard work. But it can be made interesting work.”– Thomas Edison
“I know this world is ruled by infinite intelligence. Everything that surrounds us- everything that exists – proves that there are infinite laws behind it. There can be no denying this fact. It is mathematical in its precision.”– Thomas Edison
“Negative results are just what I want. They’re just as valuable to me as positive results. I can never find the thing that does the job best until I find the ones that don’t.”– Thomas Edison
“The great trouble is that the preachers get the children from six to seven years of age and then it is almost impossible to do anything with them.”– Thomas Edison
“Unfortunately, there seems to be far more opportunity out there than ability…. We should remember that good fortune often happens when opportunity meets with preparation.”– Thomas Edison
“Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then he gets discouraged. That’s not the place to become discouraged.”– Thomas Edison
“I have better use for my brain than to poison it with alcohol. To put alcohol in the human brain is like putting sand in the bearings of an engine.”– Thomas Edison
“The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will instruct his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease. They may even discover the germ of old age.”– Thomas Edison
“Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people think they think; and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.”– Thomas Edison
“The injurious agent in cigarettes comes principally from the burning paper wrapper. The substance thereby formed is called “acrolein.” It has a violent action on the nerve centers, producing degeneration of the cells of the brain, which is quite rapid among boys. Unlike most narcotics, this degeneration is permanent and uncontrollable. I employ no person who smokes cigarettes.”– Thomas Edison
“When I have fully decided that a result is worth getting I go ahead of it and make trial after trial until it comes.”– Thomas Edison
“Failure is really a matter of conceit. People don’t work hard because, in their conceit, they imagine they’ll succeed without ever making an effort. Most people believe that they’ll wake up some day and find themselves rich. Actually, they’ve got it half right, because eventually they do wake up.”– Thomas Edison
“The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are: Hard work, Stick-to-itiveness, and Common sense.”– Thomas Edison
“People are not remembered by how few times they fail, but by how often they succeed. Every wrong step is another step forward.”– Thomas Edison
“If parents pass enthusiasm along to their children, they will leave them an estate of incalculable value.”– Thomas Edison
“Having a vision for what you want is not enough…Vision without execution is hallucination.”– Thomas Edison
“The thing I lose patience with the most is the clock. Its hands move too fast.”– Thomas Edison
“The most necessary task of civilization is to teach people how to think. It should be the primary purpose of our public schools. The mind of a child is naturally active, it develops through exercise. Give a child plenty of exercise, for body and brain. The trouble with our way of educating is that it does not give elasticity to the mind. It casts the brain into a mold. It insists that the child must accept. It does not encourage original thought or reasoning, and it lays more stress on memory than observation.”– Thomas Edison
“I have far more respect for the person with a single idea who gets there than for the person with a thousand ideas who does nothing.”– Thomas Edison
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”– Thomas Edison
“It’s obvious that we don’t know one millionth of one percent about anything.”– Thomas Edison
”Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then he gets discouraged. That’s not the place to become discouraged.”– Thomas Edison
“I cannot believe in the immortality of the soul. No, all this talk of an existence for us, as individuals, beyond the grave is wrong. It is born of our tenacity of life – our desire to go on living – our dread of coming to an end.”– Thomas Edison
“A teacher sent the following note home with a six-year-old boy ‘He is too stupid to learn.’ That boy was Thomas A. Edison.”– Thomas Edison
“Maturity is often more absurd than youth and very frequently is most unjust to youth.”– Thomas Edison
“Waste is worse than loss. The time is coming when every person who lays claim to ability will keep the question of waste before him constantly. The scope of thrift is limitless.”– Thomas Edison
“Anything that won’t sell, I don’t want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success.”– Thomas Edison
“A genius is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework.”– Thomas Edison
“We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles.”– Thomas Edison
“Be courageous. I have seen many depressions in business. Always America has emerged from these stronger and more prosperous. Be brave as your fathers before you. Have faith! Go forward!”– Thomas Edison
“The man who doesn’t make up his mind to cultivate the habit of thinking misses the greatest pleasure in life.”– Thomas Edison
“I am not overly impressed by the great names and reputations of those who might be trying to beat me to an invention. It’s their ‘ideas’ that appeal to me. I am quite correctly described as ‘more of a sponge than an inventor.”– Thomas Edison
“Someday, man will harness the rise and fall of the tides, imprison the power of the sun, and release atomic power.”– Thomas Edison
“Hard work, nothing to divert my thought, clear air and simple food made my life very pleasant.”– Thomas Edison
“The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary.”– Thomas Edison
“Until man duplicates a blade of grass, nature can laugh at his so-called scientific knowledge…”– Thomas Edison
“One might think that the money value of an invention constitutes its reward to the man who loves his work. But… I continue to find my greatest pleasure, and so my reward, in the work that precedes what the world calls success.”– Thomas Edison
“We are like tenant farmers chopping down the fence around our house for fuel when we should be using Nature’s inexhaustible sources of energy–sun, wind and tide. I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.”– Thomas Edison
“The best thinking has been done in solitude. The worst has been done in turmoil.”– Thomas Edison
“Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.”– Thomas Edison
Sources: Wikipedia ritannica History New Yorker loc biography smithsonian