Facts about Edison

Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in the small Midwestern town of Milan, Ohio. His father was of Dutch descent and his mother, a former elementary school teacher, was of Scottish descent. When Edison was seven years old, his father lost money in the shingle business and moved the family to Fort Gratiot, a northern suburb of Huron, Michigan. Soon after moving here, Edison contracted scarlet fever and was ill for a long time, and it is believed that the disease was the cause of his deafness. Edison went to school at the age of eight, but after only three months of schooling, he was thrown out by his teacher as an "imbecile". From then on, his mother was his "tutor". Because of his mother's good education methods, he has a strong interest in reading. "At the age of 8, he read Shakespeare and Dickens, the most important playwrights of the English Renaissance, as well as many important history books, and by the age of 9, he was able to read and understand difficult books, such as Parker's Philosophy of Nature and Experimentation, at the age of 10, when he was passionate about chemistry. At age 11, he experimented with his first telegraph. He began working to earn money to buy chemicals and equipment, and at age 12, he got a job selling newspapers on trains, traveling between Port Huron and Detroit, Michigan. He sold newspapers and had a fruit and vegetable business on the side, and whenever he could he went to the library and read books. He bought an old printing press and began publishing his own weekly newspaper, the Herald, the first issue of which was printed on the train. With the money he earned he set up a chemical laboratory in the baggage car. Unfortunately, on one occasion the chemicals caught fire and he was thrown out of the car with all his equipment. On another occasion, when Edison was trying to board a freight train, a conductor grabbed him by both ears and helped him on board. This action resulted in Edison becoming deaf for life.

In August 1862, Edison saved a boy who was about to be killed on the train tracks with fearless heroism. The boy's father was grateful for this, but with no money to pay him back, was willing to teach him telegraphy. From then on, Edison became involved with this mysterious new world of electricity and embarked on a journey of science.

In 1863, Edison worked as a telecommunication telegraph operator at Stratford Junction station of the Grand Trunk Railway. From 1864 to 1867, he lived a nomadic life as a telegraph operator throughout the Midwest. Footsteps included Stratford, Adrian, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Nashville, Tennessee, Memphis, Louisville, and Huron.

Edison came to Boston in 1868 as a newspaper clerk. That same year, he received his first patent for an invention. It was a device that automatically recorded the number of votes cast. Edison thought the device would speed up the work of Congress and it would be popular. However, a congressman told him that they had no intention of speeding up the agenda and that there were times when slow voting was politically necessary. From then on, Edison decided that he would never again work on any invention that people didn't need.

In early June 1869, he traveled to New York in search of work. While he was waiting to be summoned at a broker's office, a telegraph broke down. Edison was the only one there who could fix it, so he got a better job than he expected, and in October he joined with Pope to form the Pope-Edison Company, which specialized in scientific instruments for electrical engineering. Here he invented the "Edison Universal Press". He offered this printing press to the manager of a large Wall Street company, wanted to ask for 5,000 dollars, but lacked the courage to say it. So he asked the manager to give him a price, and he gave him $40,000 dollars.

Edison used the money to build a factory on Ward Street in Newark, New Jersey, specializing in all kinds of electrical machinery. He worked through the night. He developed many capable assistants and, coincidentally, met the industrious Mary, his first future bride. In Newark, he made inventions such as waxed paper and the mimeograph, and from 1872 to 1875, Edison invented the two- and four-weight telegraph, as well as assisting others in getting the world's first English typewriter.

In the spring of 1876, Edison moved again, this time to Monroe Park, New Jersey. Here he built the first "invention factory," which "marked the beginning of collective research," and in 1877 Edison improved and put into practical use the telephone, which had earlier been invented by Bell. He also invented one of his beloved projects, the phonograph. The telephone and telegraph "were a revolution in the extension of the functions of the human senses"; the phonograph was one of the three major inventions that changed people's lives, and "from the point of view of the imagination of the invention, it was his most significant inventive achievement." By this time, people were calling him "the magician of Menlo Park".

Edison in the invention of the phonograph at the same time, after countless failures finally made a breakthrough in the study of electric light, October 22, 1879, Edison lit the first really have a wide range of practical value of electric light. In order to extend the life of the filament, he re-examined, about tried more than 6000 kinds of fiber materials, only to find a new luminescent body - Japanese bamboo filament, which can last for more than 1,000 hours, to achieve the purpose of durability. In one respect, this invention was the crowning achievement of Edison's life. Next, he created a power supply system that allowed distant lamps to distribute electricity from a central power station, a major craft achievement.

His first discovery in pure science came in 1883. Experimenting with electric lamps, he observed what he called the Edison effect: a charge traveling from a hot filament through space to a cold plate inside a lit bulb. Edison patented this discovery in 1884, but did not study it further. Instead, scientists next to him used the Edison effect to develop the electronics industry, especially radio and television.

Edison also attempted to do for the eye what the phonograph did for the ear, and the movie camera was born. Using a strip of George Eastman's newly invented celluloid film, he took a series of photographs and projected them rapidly and continuously onto a curtain, creating the illusion of motion. He first experimented with motion pictures in his laboratory in 1889 and applied for a patent in 1891, and in 1903 his company produced the first feature film, "Train Robbery." Edison did much to organize and standardize the film industry.

After Edison moved his laboratory to West Orange in 1887, he founded a number of commercial companies to manufacture and market his many inventions; these companies were later merged into the Edison General Electric Company, later known as General Electric. Thereafter, his interests turned to fluoroscopy, ore mashing machines, magnetic separation of iron, storage batteries, and railroad signaling devices

During World War I, he developed torpedo mechanisms, flamethrowers, and underwater periscopes.

On October 21, 1929, on the 50th anniversary of the invention of the electric light, a great celebration was held for Edison, with famous scientists such as Albert Einstein of Germany and Madame Curie of France congratulating him. Unfortunately, in this celebration, when Edison made a speech, due to excessive excitement, he suddenly fainted. Since then, his health is deteriorating. 1931 October 18, this has made great contributions to mankind's scientists died of illness, aged 84 years.

Edison's culture is very low, the contribution to mankind is so great, here's the "secret" is what? In addition to a curious heart, a personal test instinct, is that he has more than ordinary people's hard work of endless energy and bold spirit. When someone called Edison a "genius", he explained: "Genius is one percent inspiration plus 99 percent sweat." He was in the "invention factory", the organization of many different professional people, including scientists, engineers, technicians, workers *** more than 100 people, Edison's many major inventions is to rely on the collective power to achieve success. His achievements are mainly attributed to his hard work and creative talent and the power of the collective, in addition, his wife had also played a fairly important role.