Thomas Alan Edison Thomas Edison was one of America?s astonishing geniuses in the history of technology. Edison was born in Milan, Ohio on February 11,1847. He was the seventh and last child of his parents, Samuel Edison Jr. and Nancy Elliot Edison. His mother was a former schoolteacher and his father was a jack-of-all-trades. From running a grocery store to real estate. His parent had no mechanical background. When Thomas was seven years old his family moved to Port Huron, Michigan. He was a very curious child and asked a lot of questions. Thomas began school in Port Huron, Michigan hnew he was seven. He asked a lot of question in school that the teacher called him a ?addled.? The teacher whipped students who asked a lot of questions. Thomas especially didn?t like math. Thomas became mad at his teacher for calling him an ?addled? and went home mad.
Historical marker of Edison's birthplace
Port Huron circa 1902
English: Huron Light Ship Museum in the St. Clair ...The next day his mom took Thomas to school and the teacher told his mom that Thomas couldn?t learn and she also became mad at his teacher and she decided to home school Thomas. But he actually attended two more school, but his attendance has not good. So most of his learning took place in his home. Edison?s parent loved to read. His parent read a lot to him. They read good literature and history to him he liked to read also. By the time he was 12 he had read works by dickens and Shakespeare. His mother encouraged him to learn this for himself. His parent never forced him to read this he didn?t like. They only wanted him to read things that interested him the most. When he was a nine his mom gave him an elementary science book. It showed him how to do experiences at home. He did every experiment in the book. His mom kept giving him more science books. He soon loved chemistry and spent all of his spare money on buying chemicals from a local pharmacy. He collected all kinds of things: bottles, wires, and other items for experiments. At the age of 10 he built his own chemistry lab in the basement of his house. His father disapproved of all the time he spent in the basement. Sometimes his dad would offer him a penny if he would go back to reading, but he used the pennies to buy more chemical for his experiments. He labeled all of his bottles ?poison.? When he was 12 years old he took hid first job. He was a train boy on the Grand Trunk Railway. The train traveled from Huron to Detroit and back to Huron all in one day. He spent all of his earnings on books and chemicals for his laboratory. He got permission to move his lab to the train baggage car. He did his science experiments during the five-hour layover in Detroit. But one day the car lurched and his chemicals spilled and the lab caught on fire. The train conductor threw him off the train and his chemical. His next job was selling newspapers at stations along the railroad.
Thomas had many ear problems through out childhood. When he was 15, a train accident injured his ears more. He tried to move on a moving train and the conductor pulled his ears to help him up. He said he heard something snap in his head. He soon started to lose his hearing. He was going deaf His deafness could have been cured by an operation but he didn?t wont the operation. He said being deaf helped him concentrate. He said later in his life? deafness probably drove him to reading.? He was one of the first people to use the Detroit free library. His library card was 33. He went shelf by shelf reading every book. He devoured books on electricity, mechanics, chemical analysis, manufacturing, technology, and more. He realized that his future was be in finding ways to make our lives better, instead of just learning how something works.
His first invention he built was a gadget that sent a signal even if you were asleep. So his first invention was a transmitter and a receiver for the automatic telegraph. But 9 years before he was born an inventor named Samuel F. B. Morse was famous for the invention of the telegraph. The telegraph sent messages over wires using ?Mores Code.? In the mores code, the alphabet and numbers are written in combinations of dots, dashes, and short and long sounds. But by the time Edison began doing experiments, telegraph lines went across the country. He wanted to learn the mores code and how to send messages over telegraph wires. And one day he saved a child who fell on the train tracks of an oncoming train. In reward the boy?s father taught him the mores code for saving his boy. When he was 16, he moved to Toronto, Canada. And he became telegraph assistance. His job was to report to Toronto every hour by telegraph signal. He thought it was a waste of time so he invented that invention.
When he was 21, he got a job in Boston as an expert night telegraph operator. Even though he worked nights, he slept a little during the day. He was too busy experimenting with electrical currents. He was finding a way to improve the telegraph to send messages over and over lots of times all in on the same wire. He borrowed some money from a friend and eventually quit his job and devoted all of his time inventing. His first invention was an electronic voter that made voting faster and more accurate. But no one wanted to buy this invention, but now a days it is used today. He moved to New York City in the summer of 1869. He had no money, but a friend let him sleep in an office in the basement below Wall Street. He spent a lot of time reading the stock ticker. Once, he fixed a broken stock t
English: The Fort Gratiot Lighthouse in Port Huron...
Thomas Edison Depot Museum under the Blue Water Br...
English: Postcard of the west end St. Clair River ...