Thomas Edison
(Thomas Alva Edison)
1847–1931Thomas Alva Edison, an eminent American inventor, was born at Milan, Ohio, in 1847. He began an active business career at the age of twelve; became an expert telegrapher, and invented the system of duplex telegraphy while an operator at Boston. In 1871 he invented a printing telegraph and established a workshop for its manufacture. Subsequently he made very many inventions in telegraphy, telephony, the electric light, etc., the most striking of them being the phonograph and the kinetoscope. He died in 1931.
Adapted from The Dictionary of Biography by Charles Morris
Key events during the life of Thomas Alva Edison:
| Birth of Thomas Edison. | |
| Patented first invention, a vote recording device. | |
| Invented the phonograph. | |
| Designed the first practical electric lightbulb. | |
| Death of Thomas Edison. |
Other Resources
| Thomas A. Edison in | Great Inventors and Their Inventions by Frank P. Bachman |
| Thomas A. Edison in | America First—100 Stories from Our History by Lawton B. Evans |
| A Clever Engineer in | Story of the Great Republic by H. A. Guerber |
| Thomas A. Edison in | Heroes of Progress in America by Charles Morris |
| Thomas A. Edison in | Four American Inventors by Frances M. Perry |
| Edison and Hoe in | Builders of Our Country: Book II by Gertrude van Duyn Southworth |
Image Links | ||
|---|---|---|
 Operator Teaching Young Edison Telegraphy in Great Inventors and Their Inventions |
 Edison at work on one of his latest developments; 1920 in The Boys' Life of Edison |
 Edison when about fourteen of fifteen years of age in The Boys' Life of Edison |
 Mr. Edison at the close of five days in The Boys' Life of Edison |
 The Edison Electric Railway at Menlo Park; 1880 in The Boys' Life of Edison |
 Edison at the office door of the ore-concentrating in The Boys' Life of Edison |
 Edison at the Draughting-board in The Boys' Life of Edison |
 Edison at work in one of teh chemical rooms at the Orange laboratory in The Boys' Life of Edison |
 Thomas Alva Edison; 1911 in The Boys' Life of Edison |
 Thomas A. Edison in Four American Inventors |
 Birthplace of Thomas A. Edison in Four American Inventors |
 In the Laboratory in Four American Inventors |
 The Laboratory at Orange in Four American Inventors |
 Edison Listening to the Phonograph in Builders of Our Country: Book II |
 Edison's Laboratory at Menlo Park in 1879 in Builders of Our Country: Book II |