Thomas Edison Accomplishments

Thomas Alva Edison was a famous inventor that was born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio. Edison created many companies and had several inventions, some of which include the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, DC power, and others. By the end of his life, Edison controlled more than 1,000 patents. Although people know now that he was a genius, his school teachers thought that he was a slow learner, and eventually he became homeschooled. Edison stopped school at 14 to work because his family didn’t possess the funds. Thomas Edison was faced with many challenges, but persevered over them and became successful.
Edison suffered from many hardships as a child and as an adult. One of these hardships was that his family, was poverty stricken.

When he was young and his family had little money, Edison found a way to sell many newspapers and make a lot of money. He took advantage of train stations where there are crowds of people who are buying papers before they travel. After Edison failed at making his ore refining plant, he had an abundant supply of ores left that no one wanted. He began to experiment with them and eventually found the Edison Effect. This effect is what allows data to be stored. Modern day radios, televisions, and computers all take advantage of this effect. Edison, as stated earlier, had very little schooling; this brings about the question “How did he invent so many things if he did not have schooling?” The answer is this: He was a very persistent man, and if he didn’t know the answer he would search for it until he found it. Thomas Edison was also very resourceful; when his concrete house project failed, he repurposed the concrete and used it to build Yankee Stadium and parts of the Panama Canal. Edison attempted to create the first telephone, he did not succeed but he did end up creating the phonograph. This was the first sound recording device.