Thomas Alva Edison

Thomas Alva Edison

Many people have heard of Thomas Alva Edison. He created or modified many of the inventions that we use today such as the light bulb, phonograph, and even motion picture development. He has accumulated so many achievements not only for himself but also for the world as we know it. However, many people do not know that he was in fact very hard of hearing.
Thomas Alva Edison was born February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio to Samuel and Nancy Edison. He was the youngest out of seven children. Although born a hearing child somewhere around the age of twelve Thomas Edison lost most of his hearing and as he got older it got worse. He never to my knowledge went completely Deaf but he was definitely hard of hearing. It is unknown if it was an illness that caused the hearing loss or a genetic trait passed down on his fathers side. Thomas however blamed his hearing loss on the fact that he almost fell off a train and to save him some one grabbed him by the ear. This he said “made his ear pop and ever since his hearing was never the same”(nps.gov).
Thomas was never a really good student in school. In fact, he left school at the age of 7 for about three months. His mother then decided to home school him but “reading constantly and trying experiments in the basement would be the way he taught himself everything he knew about science and technology”(nps.gov). He never went to college or any other type of schools specializing in technology. Actually Thomas Edison largely credits his mother for all his success. Later in life he would be quoted as saying he believed “most schools, taught children to memorize facts, when they ought to have students observe nature and to make things with their hands.” He said this “did not encourage original thought or reasoning, it casts the brain into a mold.”
Edison was home schooled and self-taught but he is also one of the brightest inventors ever. He accumulated around 1, 093 United State patents in his lifetime, which happens to be “a record number, for any one person to have earned.” (nps.gov) Even to this day this record stands strong. Even with so many inventions and patents and despite what many believe Thomas Edison was not the first to invent the light bulb. He was however the first to invent the incandescent light bulb in 1879. Before his modifications, light bulbs would only work for a short amount of time but incandescent light bulbs last much longer. This is one of the reasons why many are fooled into thinking he created the first light bulb.
He also invented the phonograph, which is the beginning of the speaker for newer generations. It was a large funnel like creation attached to and transcribes telegraphic messages through indentations on paper tape. Later this tape would be replaced with a cylinder covered by tin that would capture and mark the vibrations of what was to be recorded. This had two diaphragm-and-needle units, one for recording, and one for playback. It was one of Thomas Edison’s favorite inventions; In fact he called it his baby. Thomas continuously worked on it and made many modifications to it over the coarse of 52 years. This marks the longest he ever worked on a single invention or modification.
He was interested in many other things as well. One being the development of motion pictures, which is a little ironic considering he was hard of hearing. However in 1888 Thomas Edison was quoted saying "I am experimenting upon an instrument which does for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear, which is the recording and reproduction of things in motion..." This statement says it all, he was not so much concerned with sound as he was with the visual quality of the motion picture. In his lab he collaborated with assistance to invent the Kinetograph, a motion picture camera and the Kinetoscope, a peep-hole motion picture viewer. These inventions help lead to motion pictures becoming successful entertainment industry in less than a decade
Thomas Edison was a very accomplished man creating, inventing, and even modifying many inventions. He has accumulated vast amounts of patents and goes down in the records to have obtained the most amounts of patents to this day. He may have died in 1931 but his legacy lives on through his hard work and dedication. He truly is the inventor of all time, living through our modern versions of his creations or projects such as the incandescent light bulb, the telephone, and motion pictures.
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"Thomas Edison: Frequently asked questions." nps.gov. 5 Nov. 2011. Web. 11 Nov. 2011. .