Thomas+Edison+09



**The Amazing Life of Thomas Edison** Thomas Edison was born on February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio. He died at his house on October 18, 1931. He died at the age of 84.
 * Birth and Death**

Thomas Alva Edison was the seventh child of Samuel and Nancy Edison. ** He was homeschooled by his mother. Edison was deaf in one ear. There are different theories as to why this deafness occured. One is that a train conductor cuffed him when something blew up while Thomas Edison was experimenting in a train car. When Thomas Edison was younger, he used his money to buy chemicals for experiments. He also set up his own newspaper, called ** The Herald **. When he was younger, his teachers said he was dumb because he challenged all of their answers. He was taught telegraphing by James MacKenzie because he saved the man`s son who was playing in the railroad tracks.
 * Life as a Child and Young Adult

**Jobs** He worked on improving telegraphic devices. When he was younger, he sold candy. Edison also sold his newspaper called, ** The Herald **. When he got older and more succesful he began to experiment and design things involving electricity.

**Occupation** Thomas Edison was scientist and a chemist. He used the skills from his professions to invent many of the things that we use in our society.

When Thomas Edison was 21, he took out his first patent. His major contributions were in experiments involving electricity like the Light Bulb .He took out a total of 1093 patents in his life time. When he was younger he did a lot as a telegrapher. He worked on an electric voting machine, but he was told voting should be a slow process. He invented the phonograph to be used for recording. Thomas Edison filled 200 notebooks that were over 40,000 pages long before finally completing a Light Bulb that worked very well. The first person to speak on his improved telephone was Thomas Edison, and the reason hello is the most popular way to start a telephone conversation was because that was the first word he said on his improved telephone. He created one of the first movies that was an actual story. It was called "The Great Train Robbery" but it was only 10 minutes long. He invented a alcaline storage battery for the Navy Submarines. He also worked on the Electric Railroad. "Failure could not discourage Edison`s passion for invention." Some of his later inventions such as the magnetic ore-separator, were not as successful as his first inventions but he never gave up. He is now considered one of the most brilliant scientists in history.
 * Experiments and Successes **

**Labs and Plants of Thomas Edison** He constructed an Ore Milling Plant in Orgen, New Jersey in 1980. He ended up closing it in 1900. Menlo Park was a very successful laboratory that he owned.

**Life as an adult** He married Mary Silwell and had 3 children. When she died, he married a woman who`s name was Mina Miller and they had 3 children.

** Citations ** Annette Kluding, "Edison's Birthplace". Online Image. Edison Birthplace Museum. September 21, 2009.

"Edison, Thomas Alva." Compton's by Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition. 23 Sept. 2009 .

Gene Adair. Thomas Edison Inventing the Electric Age. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996

Google Earth: Google, 2009. Online Image. earth.google.com. September 21, 2009.

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