Thomas Alva Edison

The Wizard of Menlo Park

1. Presentation on Thomas Alva Edison Prepared by: Mahfuz Ahmed

2. Key points to be discussed Who was Thomas Alva Edison? Early Life of Edison. Edison’s emergence as a leading inventor. Edison’s innovations with Electric Light Edison’s struggles Edison as an entrepreneur.

3. Thomas Alva Edison Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and entrepreneur who has been described as America's greatest inventor. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. He was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of organized science and teamwork to the process of invention, working with many researchers and employees. He established the first industrial research laboratory.

4. Thomas Edison was born in 1847 in Milan, Ohio. He was the seventh and last child of Samuel Ogden Edison Jr. and Nancy Matthews Elliott. Edison was taught reading, writing, and arithmetic by his mother who used to be a school teacher. Early Life of Edison When he was just 12, Edison began working for the Grand Trunk Railroad, selling newspapers on trains. He even printed his own newspaper named as The Grand Trunk Herald.

5. Emergence as a L eading I nventor From 1870 to 1875, Edison worked at New Jersey, where he developed telegraph-related products for both Western Union Telegraph Company and its rivals . In 1876, His major innovation was the establishment of an famous industrial research lab which was named as Menlo Park Laboratory. phonograph In 1877, He invented the carbon telephone transmitter for the Western Union Telegraph Company . His phonograph (patented 1878) was notable as the first successful instrument of its kind.

6. I nnovations with Electric Light In 1878, Edison set up the Edison Electric Light Company and began research and development. He made a breakthrough in October 1879 with a bulb that used a platinum filament. In 1880, hit on carbonized bamboo as a viable alternative for the filament, which proved to be the key to a long-lasting and affordable light bulb . In 1881, he set up an electric light company in Newark, and the following year moved his family to New York . By 1889, AC current would come to dominate the field, and the Edison General Electric Co. merged with another company in 1892 to become General Electric Co.

7. Edison developed hearing problems at the age of 12. Being completely deaf in one ear and barely hearing in the other, Edison believed his hearing loss allowed him to avoid distraction and concentrate more easily on his work . In 1866, at the age of 19, while working the Associated Press bureau news wire. He was fired from his job due to an experimental accident happened at his office. Despite being fired from work, he didn't give up his experiments. He started to work in the basement of one of his mentor’s house. Edison’s Struggles

8. Edison as an Entrepreneur As a 12 years kid, Edison showed the intelligence as an entrepreneur by printing his own newspaper to sell to passengers which was his first foray into entrepreneurship. Then he established the famous Menlo Park Laboratory. Besides phonograph and incandescent light bulb, he also designed and produced f luoroscope, improved telegraph, constructed a working motion picture camera, invented kinetoscope, designed rechargeable battery and so on.

9. Conclusion In 1931 , Edison succumbed to complications from diabetes. He was survived by his second wife and their three children, as well as his three children by his first wife. By the time he died on October 18, 1931, Edison had amassed a record 1,093 US patents in his name, as well as patents in other countries . Everyone had heard of the "Wizard" and looked up to him. The whole world called him a genius. But he knew that having a good idea was not enough. It takes hard work to make dreams into reality. That is why Edison liked to say,