Thomas Edison Biography

Thomas Edison (1847 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who developed and
made commercially available many key inventions of modern life. His Edison Electric company
was a pioneering company for delivering DC electricity directly into people's homes. He filed over
1,000 patents for a variety of different inventions. Crucially, he used mass-produced techniques
to make his inventions available at low cost to households across America. His most important
inventions include, the electric light bulb. the phonograph, the motion picture camera, an electric
car and electric power station.
None of my inventions came by accident. I see a worthwhile need to be met and I make trial after
trial until it comes. What it boils down to is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent
perspiration.
Thomas Edison, interview 1929

Short Biography Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison was born in Milan, Ohio on Feb 11, 1847, the
youngest of seven siblings. His parents were middle class, though they were not wealthy,
especially when the railroad bypassed Milan, forcing the family to move to Port Huron, Michigan.
He attended only three months of formal schooling, he irritated his teacher with his repeated
questioning and inability to just follow instructions. He was largely disinterested at school, and
was mainly self-educated through reading. He took upon it himself to read every book on the
library shelf. By the age of 12, he was reading Sir Isaac Newton's famous work - Principa
Mathematica. However, Edison was not impressed by the complex maths of Newton, and
resolved to try and make science more understandable.
As a youngster he tried various odd jobs to earn a living. This including selling candy, vegetables
and newspapers. He had a talent for business, and he successfully printed the Grand Trunk
Herald along with his other newspapers. This included selling photos of his hero, Abraham
Lincoln. He was able to spend his extra income on a growing chemistry set.

Unfortunately, from an early age, Edison developed a severe deafness, which ultimately left him
almost 90% deaf. He would later refuse any medical treatment, saying it would be too difficult to
retrain his thinking process. He seemed to take his deafness in his stride, and never saw it as a
disability.

Edison had a big break when he saved a young boy on the railway track
from being struck by a runaway train. His grateful father, J.U. Mckenzie, had Edison trained as a
telegraph operator, and aged 19, Edison moved to Louisville, Kentuck to work as a telegraph
operator for Western Union.
From childhood, Edison loved to experiment, especially with chemicals. however, these
experiments often got Edison into difficulties. A chemistry experiment once exploded on a train,
and when working on a night shift at Western Union, his lead acid battery leaked sulphuric acid
through the floor onto his boss' desk. Edison was fired the next day.
However, Edison was undimmed and despite scrapping by in impoverished conditions for the
next few years, he was able to spend most of his time working on inventions. He received his first
patent in June 1, 1869 for the stock ticker. This would later earn him a considerable sum.
In the 1870s, he sold the rights to the quadruplex telegraph to Western Union for $10,000. This
gave him the financial backing to establish a proper research laboratory and extend his
experiments and innovations. Edison once described his invention methods as involving a lot of
hard work, and repeated trial and error until a method was successful.
During all those years of experimentation and research, I never once made a discovery. All my
work was deductive, and the results I achieved were those of invention, pure and simple. I would
construct a theory and work on its lines until I found it was untenable. ... I speak without
exaggeration when I say that I have constructed 3,000 different theories in connection with the
electric light, each one of them reasonable and apparently likely to be true. Yet only in two cases
did my experiments prove the truth of my theory.
- "Talks with Edison" by G.P Lathrop in Harpers magazine, Vol. 80 (Feb. 1890), p. 425

By 1877, he had developed the phonograph (an early form of the gramophone player) This
received widespread interest, and people were astonished at one of the first audio recording
devices. This unique invention, earned Edison the nickname 'The Wizard of Menlo Park' Edison's
device would later be improved upon by others, but he made a big step in creating the first
recording device.
With William Joseph Hammer, Edison started producing the electric light bulb, and it was a
great commercial success. Edison's great advance was to use a carbonised bamboo filament that
could last over 1,000 hours. In 1878, he formed the Edison Electric light Company to profit from
this invention. Edison successfully predicted that he could make electric light so cheap, it would
soon come universal. To capitalise onthe success of the electric light bulb, he also work on
electricity distribution. His first power station was able to distribute DC current to 59 customers
in lower Manhattan.
Edison's studios now took up two blocks, and it was able to stock a huge range of natural
resources, meaning that almost anything and everything could be used in trying to improve
designs. This was a big factor in enabling Edison to be so successful in this era of innovation.
During the fledgling years of electricity generation, Edison became involved in a battle between
his DC current system and the AC (alternative current) system favoured by George Westinghouse
(and developed by Nikola Tesla, who worked for Edison for two years before leaving in a pay
dispute.)
This became known as the 'current war' and both sides were desparate to show the superiority of
their system. The Edison company even, on occasion, electrocuted animals to show how
dangerous the rival AC current was.
During World War One, Edison was asked to serve as a naval consultant, but Edison only wanted
to work on defensive weapons. He was proud that he made no invention that could be used to
kill. He maintained a strong belief in non-violence.
"Nonviolence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming
all other living beings, we are still savages."
Edison was also a great admirer of the enlightenment thinker Thomas Paine. He wrote a book
praising Paine in 1925, he also shared similar religious beliefs to Thomas Paine - no particular
religion, but belief in a Supreme Being.
Edison made many important inventions and development in media. These included the
Kinetoscope (or peep hole view), the first motion pictures and improved photographic paper.
After the death of his first wife, Mary Stilwell in 1884, Edison left Menlo Park and moved to West
Orange, New Jersey. In 1886, he remarried Mina Miller. In West Orange, he became friends with
industrial magnate, Henry Ford and was an active participant in the Civitan club - which involved
doing things for the local community. His pace of invention slowed down in these final years, but

he still kept busy, such as trying to find a domestic source of natural rubber. He was also involved
in the first electric train to depart from Hoboken in 1930.
Throughout his life, he took an active interest in correct diet, and believed a good diet could play
a large role in improving health. In 1903, he was quoted as saying:
The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct his patient in the care of the
human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.
He had six children, three from each marriage. Edison died of diabetes in October 18, 1931.
Citation : Pettinger, Tejvan. "Biography of Thomas Edison", Oxford,www.biographyonline.net,
06/02/2013

Quotes by Thomas Edison

Through all the years of experimenting and research, I never once made a discovery. I start
where the last man left off. ... All my work was deductive, and the results I achieved were those of
invention pure and simple.
As quoted in Makers of the Modern World : The Lives of Ninety-two Writers, Artists, Scientists,
Statesmen, Inventors, Philosophers, Composers, and Other Creators who Formed the Pattern of
Our Century (1955) by Louis Untermeyer, p. 227
We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything.
As quoted in Golden Book (April 1931), according to Stevenson's Book of Quotations(Cassell 3rd
edition 1938) by Burton Egbert Stevenson
If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.
As quoted in Motivating Humans : Goals, Emotions, and Personal Agency Beliefs (1992) by
Martin E. Ford, p. 17
To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.
As quoted in Behavior-Based Robotics (1998) by Ronald C. Arkin. p. 8
Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.

Everyone steals in commerce and industry. I've stolen a lot, myself. But I know how to steal! They
don't know how to steal!
As quoted in Tesla : The Modern Sorcerer (1999) by Daniel Blair Stewart, p. 411

I consider Paine our greatest political thinker. As we have not advanced, and perhaps never shall
advance, beyond the Declaration and Constitution, so Paine has had no successors who extended
his principles.
The Philosophy of Paine (1925)
In 'Common Sense' Paine flared forth with a document so powerful that the Revolution became
inevitable. Washington recognized the difference, and in his calm way said that matters never
could be the same again..
The Philosophy of Paine (1925)

Wright Brothers Biography

The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur Wright are credited with building and flying the first
heavier than air aeroplane. They achieved the first recorded flight on 17 December 1903. Over the
next 10 years they continued to develop the aircraft making a significant contribution to the
development of the modern aeroplane.
Their particular contribution was in the effective control of an airplane, through their three-axis
control system. This basic principle is still used today. It was for this control mechanism that they
received their first US patent 821,393.

Early Life of Wright Brothers

Orville and Wilbur had two helper brothers Reuchlin (18611920) and Lorin (1862-1939), and a younger sister Katharine (1874-1929). Their parents were
Bishop Milton Wright (1828-1917) and Susan Catherine (Koerner) Wright (1831-1889). Their
father worked as a minister in various churches, and as a consequence the family frequently
moved around. Their father encouraged his children to read widely and discuss issues. This
climate of intellectual creativity and stimulus encouraged the Wright brothers to pursue a range
of interests and studies. When they were young, their father bought them a small 'helicopter'
built in France. They later commented that this helicopter sparked an interest in flight and they
sought to build similar models themselves.
In 1885-1886, Wilbur became withdrawn after sustaining a facial injury during a game of icehockey. This injury and the resulting depression caused Wilbur to give up his dreams of studying
at Yale. Instead he remained close to home, helping his father with ministerial tasks and looking
after his ill mother.
However, Orville was determined to try new things, and his enthusiasm helped draw his brother
Wilbur into new projects. In 1889, they designed and built a printing press which, for a short
time, published a daily newspaper.
In 1892, the capitalised on the 'safety bicycle' boom and opened a bicycle shop. This was
commercially successful, but also enabled them to develop their skills as designers and engineers.

Around the turn of the century, there was great interest in the possibility of flight. Most of this
centred on gliders. But, the Wright brothers began to explore the possibility of mechanised flight
with heavier than air aircraft.
They concentrated on a building a more powerful, but light engine and worked on an innovative
design for controlling the plane once airborne.
They used funds from the bicycle shop to start testing at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina a rural place
where it was more windy which helped give planes lift off. They made extensive tests and also
recorded a range of data about possible flights.

First Flight by Wright Brothers

On December 17, 1903, the Wright Brothers made the first historic airplane flight, where Orville
piloted the plane (called 'the Flyer') with Wilbur running at the wing tip.
The first flight, by Orville, of 120 feet (37 m) in 12 seconds, at a speed of only 6.8 miles per hour
(10.9 km/h) over the ground, was recorded in a famous photograph. The next two flights covered
approximately 175 feet (53 m) and 200 feet (61 m), by Wilbur and Orville respectively. Their
altitude was about 10 feet (3.0 m) above the ground. The following is Orville Wright's account of
the final flight of the day:
"Wilbur started the fourth and last flight at just about 12 o'clock. The first few hundred feet were
up and down, as before, but by the time three hundred ft had been covered, the machine was
under much better control. The course for the next four or five hundred feet had but little
undulation. However, when out about eight hundred feet the machine began pitching again, and,
in one of its darts downward, struck the ground. The distance over the ground was measured to
be 852 feet; the time of the flight was 59 seconds. The frame supporting the front rudder was

badly broken, but the main part of the machine was not injured at all. We estimated that the
machine could be put in condition for flight again in about a day or two."
Five people witnessed the first flight, including John Daniels who took the famous first flight
photo.
Over the next few years, they continued to develop their aircraft. However, they were conscious of
needing to gain successful patents to make their aircraft commercially viable. They became
reluctant to reveal too much about their flights and disliked reporters taking photos of their
designs. Their secret approach and competing claims by other aircraft designers meant that for
many years their inventions and flights were met with either indifference or scepticism. However,
in 1908, Wilbur began public demonstrations in Le Mans, France. His ability to effortlessly make
turns and manoeuvre the aircraft caused a sea change in public opinion, and the display of
technically challenging flights caused widespread public acclaim and enthusiasm.
In 1909, Wilbur made a public flight up the Hudson river in New York, circling the Statue of
Liberty. The 33 minute flight, witnessed by 1 million New Yorkers, established their fame in
America.

Achievements of the Wright Brothers

1903 - first powered aircraft Flight

1905,- built airplane that could fly for more than half an hour at a time. I

1908 - Orville Wright made the world's first flight of over one hour at Fort Myer, Virginia,
in a demonstration for the U.S. army, which subsequently made the Wright planes the
world's first military airplanes.

1908 - Wilbur made over 100 flights near Le Mans, France; the longest one, on Dec. 31, a
record flight: 2 hours, 19 minutes.

Their first application for a patent in 1903 was rejected. In 1904, they hired a patent attorney and
they received their first patent. However, other aviators attempted to circumnavigate the Wright
brothers patents, leading to painful and costly legal battles in the courts.
In the last two years of his life from 1910 to 1912, Wilbur played a key role in the patent struggle.
His family felt this contributed to his premature death from typhoid fever in 1912.
The brothers never married. Wilbur once quipped he "did not have time for both a wife and an
airplane. Orville Wright died of a heart attack at age 77.
The original Wright Flyer rests in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. with
the inscription.
The original Wright brothers aeroplane

The world's first power-driven heavier-than-air machine in which man made free, controlled, and
sustained flight
Invented and built by Wilbur and Orville Wright
Flown by them at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina December 17, 1903
By original scientific research the Wright brothers discovered the principles of human flight
As inventors, builders, and flyers they further developed the aeroplane, taught man to fly, and
opened the era of aviation