“Opportunity is missed by a lot of people because it’s dressed in overalls and looks like work.” Were the words that Thomas Edison once said. Thomas Edison was born in Milan, Ohio on February 11, 1847. He spent his childhood reading and learning about science. He was only in school for 12 weeks, but dropped out when the teachers couldn’t handle him. Thomas Edison had ADHD but his teachers just thought he was stupid because the disorder hadn’t been established at the time. His mother took it upon herself to homeschool him.
Edison had scarlet fever and hearing problems at an early age. At age 11, Thomas Edison was in a train baggage car experimenting with chemicals in a little homemade laboratory when the car caught on fire. The conductor rushed in and struck Thomas on the side of the head, probably furthering his hearing problems. When Edison began selling newspapers by a train station, he saved a 3- year old from getting hit by a train. The toddler’s father repaid Thomas by teaching him how to use a telegraph. A skill that would later help Thomas throughout his career.
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Edison was very good at his job because early Morse code was written on paper so his partial deafness wasn’t a handicap. Although, as the technologies advanced, receivers were equipped with a sounding key, so telegraphers could read the message by the sound of clicking. Because of his physical impairment, Edison had fewer opportunities for employment. At this point, his mother was mentally unstable and his father was out of work. Edison realized he had to take control of his future. In 1869, Edison moved to New York and developed his first invention, an improved stock ticker that was called the Universal Stock Printer. It synchronized multiple stock printer’s transactions. The Gold and Stock Telegraph Company were so impressed with Edison’s invention, that they paid him $40,000 for the