Thomas Edison is a very well known inventor. He was born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio. He was the youngest of seven children. His parents are Samuel and Nancy Edison. Thomas’s father was a political activist from Canada. His mom, however, was an accomplished school teacher, and was a major influence for Thomas. When Thomas was younger, he had scarlet fever and ear infections, that would put a strain on his hearing for the rest of his life. Although, this would not stop him and he would later become one of the most well known inventors in America. In 1854, Thomas and his family moved to Port Huron, Michigan. He attended public school there for 12 weeks. Thomas had a hard time focusing in school, one teacher referred to him as “difficult”. He was then homeschooled by his mother. By the time he was 11, he was very intelligent and was eager to learn more. He enjoyed reading …show more content…
Although, this invention wasn’t commercially needed for another decade, it became very popular. The phonograph brought Edison worldwide fame. He later improved and perfected this invention. Edison was being very productive, but he did have competitors who were also interested in electricity, many of which were not aware of how dangerous it could be. On many occasions, Thomas tried to convince his competitors about the dangers of alternating currents of energy. He would often demonstrate these dangers publicly. One of the most infamous ways was when in 1903, he electrocuted a circus elephant named Topsy in Coney Island, New York. Thomas loved to turn his failure into success. In the 1890s, he made a magnetic iron-ore processing plant, that was very unsuccessful. He was able to change the process into a method for producing cement. April 23, 1896, he became the first person to project a motion picture. This was the world’s first motion picture, it was shown at Koster and Bial’s Music Hall in New York