Thomas Edison
February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931
American inventor and businessman behind the phonograph, a practical electric light bulb and early electric power systems and film cameras.
Biography
Thomas Edison was born in Ohio in 1847 and had little formal schooling. He worked as a telegraph operator, and his first successful inventions were improvements to the telegraph and stock ticker.
In 1876 he set up a research laboratory at Menlo Park, New Jersey, an early example of organised industrial research. There he invented the phonograph (1877) and developed a long-lasting incandescent light bulb (1879), together with a system for generating and distributing electricity; his Pearl Street Station in New York began supplying customers in 1882.
He later worked on motion-picture cameras, batteries and cement, and held more than a thousand US patents. His companies were the origin of General Electric. He died in 1931.
Affiliations
Employment
- Jan 1, 1863 – Jan 1, 1869 Western Union Telegraph operator on the Associated Press news wire
- from Dec 17, 1880 Edison Illuminating Company Founder
- General Electric
- Continental Edison
Education
- Jan 1, 1875 – Jan 1, 1879 Cooper Union
Family
Thomas Edison
