Thomas Edison Research Paper

On a snowcapped New Jersey day in 1882 the full potential of electricity was realized and for the first time ever a house was lighted without combustion. The man who accomplished this feat has faced much scrutiny over the years. Was he a sapient genius or a conniving thief? Unfortunately, the debate will probably rage on forever, but one thing is certain: Thomas Ava Edison was a diligent worker. This can be seen in the 18-hour days and his intense rivalry with Nikola Tesla. A clash of currents, ideas, and businesses that have been called “one of the most unusual a vicious battle in American corporate history”(Jonnes XIV). Notwithstanding, Edison was the first to “enlighten” the world thus he paved the way for Dell, Packard, Jobs, Gates, and

Hence the Edison family had moved to Ohio from Canada. Samuel Edison, Thomas’s father, “was a lumber and feed dealer, his mother Nancy a teacher”(Schiffer 284). Young Tom had a flair for chemistry, and “showed an entrepreneurial bent that resembled his father’s”(Stross 4). Over his childhood years, Edison progressively lost his hearing, although this did not impede his learning ability and focus. In fact, the situation was advantageous when he worked as a telegrapher in his teen years. However, his voracious aptitude for chemicals stressed the family’s finances. To continue his chemistry experiments “Thomas, at age 12, went to work selling newspapers and sundries on the train that traveled daily from Port Huron to Detroit and back”(Schiffer 284). During the stint as a newsboy on the

By this time the Menlo Park complex, which Edison established a year prior, was a buzzing place full of people who “labored in Edison’s invention factory”(Schiffer 1).Whilst in the clutches of fall Edison began experimenting and building a device that bounced in his head for several months. Earlier in the year, Thomas was contemplating sound reproduction and how to record waves in real-time. He drew numerous diagrams of the proposed recording device in his journal. The Scientific American reported on Edison’s prototype in late-November and by December the world knew. To the people of that time such things seemed otherworldly and the phonograph “directly changed daily life and popular culture”(Simonton 2). When compared to today’s IPods and Rhapsody the phonograph is primitive, however without it the way we listen to our music would not be