Ch.17 The Story of a Very Stubborn Man

Early Life and Curiosity

• Thomas Edison questioned the behavior of a mother goose sitting on her eggs.
• His mother explained the goose was keeping the eggs warm for the baby geese to hatch, so Edison sat on the eggs for hours.
• Edison was curious about many things, especially science.

Education and Early Career

• Edison's teachers refused to answer questions
• His mother homeschooled him, allowing him to explore and discover.
• He liked books about electricity and chemicals.
• At age 11, Edison decided to become an inventor.
• He sold newspapers on the train at age 12 to fund his experiments.
• He printed his own newspaper using an old printing press in the train's baggage car
• People enjoyed his stories, and his spelling errors made people laugh.
• Edison lost his hearing after someone grabbed his ear to help him board a train resulting in the loss of hearing.
• "I have not heard a bird sing since I was 12 years old”.
• At 15, Edison learned to operate a telegraph.
• For five years, he operated telegraphs, traveling from town to town and state to state.

Career and Family

• In 1867, Edison moved to New York City and he worked on big machines for three years.
• He became known for improving machine productivity
• He wanted to invent things thus he was not happy in work.
• Edison married Mary on Christmas Day of 1871, and they had a daughter, Madeleine Edison.
• By 1876, Edison saved money to buy land in New Jersey.

Menlo Park and Inventions

• Edison built a two-story wooden building and surrounded it with a fence on his New Jersey property.
• He opened his invention factory at Menlo Park.
• He worked almost around the clock with the aid of woodworkers, mechanics, and glass blowers.
• He was stubborn, and he would not give up on his ideas
• Edison invented the phonograph, also known as the "talking machine," which played music before radio.
• People worldwide began talked about the phonograph.

The Light Bulb

• In 1878, Edison started working on a new invention, a light source using electricity.
• He wanted it to be affordable, safe, odorless, and noiseless.
• Edison had his glass blower create thin, clean glass bulbs.
• He placed two wires with a thread connecting them inside the bulb and hooked the wires up to electricity.
• The thread filament caught on fire because the wires conducted electricity, and there were many failed attempts.
• He eventually realized he needed to pump the oxygen out of the bulb.
• The light glowed longer, resulting in the invention of the "Light Bulb".

Later Life and Legacy

• Edison died at the age of 84.
• He invented the first movie camera, phonograph and record, and light bulb.
• He was granted 1,093 patents during his lifetime.