Thomas Edison Essay -- essays research papers

Thomas Edison Thomas (Alva) Edison was one of America’s most important and famous inventors. Edison was born into a time and place where there wasn’t much technological advancements. His inventions helped a lot of things quickly change in the world. His inventions contributed to many inventions today such as the night light, movies, telephones, and records and CDs. Edison is most famous for the development of the first electric light bulb. Like I said Edison was born into a time where America wasn’t very developed. He was born, and electricity had not been developed. But thanks to Edison when he had passed away on October 18, 1931 whole cities were lit up in electricity. For electricity, much of the credit goes to Edison. Some of his inventions were improvements on other inventions, like the telephone. He didn’t â€Å"invent† the telephone he just made it better. Some of his inventions he did try to invent, like the light bulb and the movie projector. The one he is most proud of was pretty much an accident--the phonograph. Edison invented and improved upon things that changed our world. Some of the things he invented, he did by himself. Some he did with other people. Just about all his inventions are still around today and are commonly used. It was important to Edison that he created and invented things that people could use in their everyday life. Thomas Edison was born on February 11, 1847 in Milan Ohio. He was the youngest of all 7 children. His parents were Samuel Edison, Jr. and Nancy Elliot Edison. His dad was a man that did everything, from real-estate to running the local grocery store. His mom was a teacher, but with 7 children she stayed home with the kids preparing meals and helping them with homework. When Thomas was seven years old, his family moved to Port Huron, Michigan. He was full of energy and a curious young boy. When Thomas moved to Port Huron he started to go to school. His teacher, Reverend Engle considered Thomas to be a dull student. Thomas knew this and didn’t like it. Thomas didn’t like math and asked a lot of questions. Which Reverend Engle did not like. It was told that Reverend Engle whipped students who asked too many questions, cause it was an annoyanc... ...oratory, Edison decided he would invent a safe, mild, and inexpensive electric light. Edison searched for the proper "filament" or wire, that would give good light when electricity flowed through it. He sent people to the jungles of the Amazon and forests of Japan in his search for a perfect filament material. He tested over 6,000 vegetable growths (baywood, boxwood, hickory, cedar, flax, bamboo) as filament material. In 1879, after spending $40,000, and performing 1,200 experiments, he succeeded. He made a light bulb using carbonized filaments from cotton thread. Carbonized thread is ordinary cotton sewing thread that has been burned to an ash. The light bulb burned for two days. The electric light took the greatest amount of time and required the most complicated experiments of all his experiments. Conclusion In conclusion Mr. Thomas Edison was a great inventor which enhances my everyday life with his unbelievable inventions. If Thomas Edison never invented the lightbulb who knows what the world would be like today. I think that Thomas Alva Edison was a great inspiration and inventor to many people today.