Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison was an American inventor and businessman known for creating and improving many technologies used in daily life. He was born on 11 February 1847 in Milan, Ohio, in the United States. Edison worked during a time of rapid industrial growth, when new machines and systems were changing how people lived and worked. He held more than one thousand patents, which are legal rights given for new inventions.

Edison grew up in Michigan and had limited formal schooling. Much of his learning came from reading and hands-on work. As a teenager, he worked as a telegraph operator. A telegraph is a system that sends messages over long distances using electrical signals. This job helped him understand electricity and communication. He later began working on his own ideas and experiments.

In 1876, Edison opened a research laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. This laboratory is often described as the first industrial research lab. It brought together workers, tools, and materials in one place to develop new inventions. At Menlo Park, Edison and his team worked on many projects at the same time. This way of working allowed inventions to be developed more quickly.

One of Edison’s early inventions was the phonograph, created in 1877. A phonograph is a device that can record and play back sound. This was one of the first machines to do so. Edison also worked on improving the electric light bulb. While he did not invent the first light bulb, he created a version that lasted longer and could be used widely. His work helped electric lighting become practical for homes and streets.

Edison was also involved in building systems to deliver electricity. He supported the use of direct current, or DC, which is a type of electric flow that moves in one direction. Other inventors supported alternating current, or AC, which changes direction regularly. This disagreement became known as the War of Currents. Over time, AC became more widely used for power transmission.

Later in his life, Edison worked on motion pictures. He helped develop early cameras and viewing devices for moving images. He also continued to manage businesses based on his inventions. Edison died on 18 October 1931 in West Orange, New Jersey. His work left a large collection of inventions, companies, and recorded ideas that remain part of modern technology.