توماس ادیسون

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توماس آلوا ادیسون زادروز ۱۱ فوریه ۱۸۴۷ میلان، اوهایو ایالات متحده آمریکا درگذشت ۱۸ اکتبر ۱۹۳۱ وست اورنج، نیوجرسی ایالات متحده آمریکا مذهب خداانگاری همسر ماری استیل‌ول مینا ادیسون فرزندان ماریون استل توماس آلوا ویلیام لزلی مادلین چارلز و تئودور میلر ادیسون والدین ساموئل اوژن ادیسون (۱۸۰۴-۱۸۹۶) نانسی ماتئوس الیوت(۱۸۱۰-۱۸۷۱) توماس آلوا ادیسون (۱۱ فوریه ۱۸۴۷ - ۱۸ اکتبر ۱۹۳۱) مخترع و بازرگانی آمریکایی بود. او وسایل متعددی را طراحی یا کامل کرد که مهم‌ترین و معروفترین آنها لامپ رشته‌ای است. هنگامی که ادیسون در دوره ابتدایی درس می خواند مدیر مدرسه وی اعتقاد داشت که ادیسون شاگرد کودنی است و عذر وی را از مدرسه خواست.[نیازمند منبع] ادیسون در طول حیات علمی خویش توانست ۲۵۰۰ امتیاز اختراع را در ایالات متحدهٔ آمریکا، بریتانیا، فرانسه و آلمان به نام خود ثبت کند که رقمی حیرت‌انگیز و باورنکردنی به نظر می‌رسد. واقعیت این است که بیشتر اختراعات وی تکمیل شدهٔ کارهای دانشمندان پیشین بودند و ادیسون کارمندان و متخصصان پرشماری در کنار خود داشت که در پیشبرد تحقیقات و به سرانجام رسانیدن نوآوری‌هایش یاریش می‌کردند. دهنی ذغالی تلفن، ماشین چاپ، میکروفن، گرامافون، دیکتافون، کینتوسکوپ (نوعی دستگاه نمایش فیلم)، دینام موتور و لاستیک مصنوعی از جمله مواد و وسایلی هستند که بدست ادیسون و همکارانش ابداع یا بهینه شدند. ادیسون از اولین مخترعانی بود که توانست با موفقیت، بسیاری از اختراعات خود را به تولید انبوه برساند. سال‌های میانه نخستین پله‌های ترقی در سال ۱۸۶۹ م. ادیسون که ادارهٔ راه‌آهن را ترک کرده بود، به‌عنوان سرپرست فنی به استخدام یک مؤسسهٔ صرافی بزرگ در نیویورک در آمد. در این مقام او توانست نخستین اختراع موفقش را که نوعی تلگراف چاپی بود، به نام خود ثبت کند. تلگراف ادیسون برخلاف انواع رایج که علائم مورس را به صورت صداهای کوتاه و کشیده به گوش اپراتور می‌رسانیدند، آنها را به شکل خط و نقطه بر روی نوار کاغذی چاپ می‌کرد. او حق امتیاز اختراعش را در مقابل چهل هزار دلار به مدیر صرافخانه واگذار کرد و با پول آن در شهر نیوآرک ایالت نیوجرسی یک کارگاه تحقیقاتی برای خود برپا نمود. در محل جدید او علاوه بر تکمیل لوازم جانبی تلگراف، یک سامانهٔ پیشرفتهٔ نمایشگر اطلاعات بورس را طراحی کرد که سود هنگفتی از آن حاصل آمد. منلو پارک ادیسون مدتها این فکر را در سرداشت که کارگاهش را به محل بازتر و بزرگ‌تری منتقل کند. با فراهم شدن سرمایهٔ کافی، سرانجام در سال ۱۸۷۶ م. در منطقهٔ «منلوپارک» نیوجرسی یک لابراتوار پژوهشی مجهز بنیاد نهاد و گروهی از افراد لایق و مستعد را به همکاری فراخواند. تأسیس این آزمایشگاه نقطهٔ عطفی در رشته فعالیت‌های ادیسون و از بزرگ‌ترین ابتکارهای او به شمار می‌رود. آزمایشگاه منلو پارک نخستین مؤسسه‌ای بود که منحصراً با هدف تولید و تکمیل ابداعات علمی برپا شد و آن را باید نمونهٔ اولیهٔ آزمایشگاه‌های تحقیقاتی بزرگی دانست که از آن پس تمام صنایع مهم در کنار کارگاه‌های خود ایجاد کردند. در سایهٔ نظارت و سازماندهی توماس ادیسون و کار گروهی کارمندان وی صدها اختراع کوچک و بزرگ در این مؤسسه به ثمر رسیدند که البته همگی به نام ادیسون تمام شدند. گرامافون ادیسون در کنار گرامافون اولیه از قدیم الایام، داشتن وسیله‌ای که بتوان با آن صدا را ضبط کرد از آرزوهای بشر بوده‌است. قبل از آنکه توجه ادیسون به این مقوله جلب شود، لئون اسکوت مارتین‌ویل فرانسوی (۱۸۵۷ م.) و دیگران تحقیقاتی کرده و گام‌هایی در این راه برداشته بودند؛ اما دستگاه‌های آنها عملاً ً قابل استفاده نبود زیرا تنها با یک دور گوش دادن، صدای ضبط شده از بین می‌رفت. در سال ۱۸۷۷ م. ادیسون موفق به ساخت وسیله‌ای شد که واقعاً کار می‌کرد؛ یعنی می‌توانست صدا را ضبط و دو تا سه بار پخش کند. «ضبط صوت» ادیسون که فونوگراف (آوانگار) نام گرفته بود، ساختمانی ساده داشت: استوانه‌ای فلزی بود با یک دستهٔ گرداننده که در یک انتهای آن سوزنی همراه با یک بوق تعبیه شده بود. وقتی کسی استوانه را می‌چرخاند و درون بوق صحبت می‌کرد، بر اثر ارتعاش سوزن، روی ورقهٔ نازک حلبی ِدور استوانه خراش‌هایی می‌افتاد. برای شنیدن صدای ضبط شده نیز کافی بود سوزن را به ابتدای مسیر برگردانده و دوباره استوانه را به‌چرخش در آورند. کیفیت صدا البته بسیار پایین بود و صفحه حلبی هم پس از چند بار استفاده خراب می‌شد. با اینحال همین وسیله ابتدایی در نظر مردم بسیار شگفت‌انگیز می‌نمود و بشدت مورد استقبال قرار گرفت. روزنامه‌ها ادیسون را «جادوگر منلوپارک» لقب دادند. حتی دولت رسماً وی را به واشینگتن دعوت کرد تا اختراعش را در برابر مقامات به نمایش بگذارد. ده سال بعد (۱۸۸۷ م.) ادیسون (یا به روایتی الکساندر گراهام بل)، استوانهٔ مومی را جایگزین ورق حلبی کرد و بالاخره امیل برلینر مخترع آمریکایی آلمانی‌تبار با تبدیل استوانهٔ مومی به صفحهٔ پلاستیکی، گرامافون را به شکل امروزی درآورد. صدای ضبط شده توماس ادیسون انیمیشن صدای اديسون ضبط شده با گرامافونش در مرداد ماه 1306 خورشیدی با خواندن داستان ( مري يک بره کوچک داشت ) لامپ الکتریکی توماس ادیسون لامپ حبابی را ابداع نکرد و قبل از وی نوعی لامپ اختراع شده بود او در سال ۱۸۸۰ یک طرح قابل تحقق و تولید برای لامپ حبابی مطرح کرد (با استفاده از یک رشته از جنس بامبوی کربنیزه) که مورد استفاده منازل و خانه‌ها شد و البته یک سال بعد جوزف سوان در سال ۱۸۸۱ یک ساختار کارآمدتر را (با استفاده از رشتهٔ سلولوزی) مطرح نمود. سابقهٔ سیستم روشنایی الکتریکی به اواسط قرن نوزدهم می‌رسد. در سال ۱۸۵۴ م. هاینریش گوبل نخستین لامپ برق را اختراع کرد که حدود چهارصد ساعت نور می‌داد اما آن را به نام خود به ثبت نرساند. پس از وی جیمز وودوارد، ویلیام سایر، متیو ایوانز (۱۸۷۵ م.) و جوزف سووان (۱۸۷۸ م.) مدل‌های دیگر چراغ‌های الکتریکی را ارائه کردند. کمی پیش از آنکه ادیسون نیز وارد این عرصهٔ جدید شود، والیس صنعتگر آمریکایی نوعی چراغ برق را روانهٔ بازارکرده بود که نمونه‌ای از آن به دست ادیسون رسید (۱۸۷۸ م.). دستگاه والیس تشکیل می‌شد از چارچوبی با یک حباب و دو میلهٔ فلزی متحرک که به هر کدام تکه ذغالی متصل بود. عبور جریان برق از میله‌ها باعث می‌شد که دو قطعه ذغال بسوزند و میانشان قوس الکتریکی بسیار درخشانی به رنگ آبی پدیدار شود. این چراغ الکتریکی ابتدایی بازده پایینی داشت زیرا مصرف برق آن زیاد و عمر ذغال‌هایش کم بود. با این وجود، ادیسون که به اهمیت اختراع والیس پی‌برده بود، تصمیم گرفت آن را اصلاح کند و به جای ذغال مادهٔ مناسب تری بیابد که با برق کمتر مدت درازی روشنایی بدهد و به مرور زمان نسوزد و از بین نرود. پس از یک سال تلاش بی‌وقفه و آزمایش صدها مادهٔ گوناگون، سرانجام ادیسون و همکارانش توانستند با خالی کردن هوای داخل حباب و استفاده از نخ معمولی کربونیزه (ذغالی‌شده) لامپی بسازند که تا چهل ساعت نور بدهد. این موفقیت اولیه موجب شد تا آنها با پشتکار بیشتری به تحقیقات خود ادامه دهند و زمانیکه موفق شدند عمر متوسط چراغ برق را به پانصد ساعت برسانند، ادیسون تشخیص داد که زمان مناسب برای نمایش آن فرا رسیده‌است. البته نمونه لامپ ادیسون قبل از ارائه توسط شخص دیگری تولید و در اداره ثبت بریتانیا به اسم دانشمندی به نام سوان ثبت شده بود و این ثابت می کند لامپ ادیسون چیز جدیدی نبود ولی با این حال نباید تلاش های ادیسون را در راستای ترویج این تکنولوژی نادیده گرفت او از روزنامه‌نگاران و صاحبان سرمایه دعوت کرد تا در شب ۳۱ دسامبر ۱۸۷۹ م. برای دیدن اختراع جدیدش به منلوپارک بیایند. به دستور او آزمایشگاه و اطراف آن را با صدها لامپ برق آراستند بطوریکه محوطهٔ منلوپارک و جادهٔ منتهی به آن غرق در نور شده بود. ادیسون میهمانان خود را با چیزی روبرو کرده بود که برایشان سابقه نداشت. منظرهٔ لامپ‌های نورانی بازدیدکنندگان را به شدت تحت تأثیر قرار داد؛ بطوریکه وقتی ادیسون نقشهٔ خود را برای تأسیس یک کارخانهٔ بزرگ الکتریسیته در نیویورک مطرح کرد پیشنهادش با استقبال گرم سرمایه‌داران حاضر روبرو شد. عصر الکتریسیته در ۲۷ ژانویه ۱۸۸۰ م. ادیسون تقاضانامهٔ دریافت امتیاز اختراع «لامپ روشنایی الکتریکی» را به ادارهٔ اختراعات آمریکا تسلیم کرد اما با درخواستش موافقت نشد. کارشناسان سازمان معتقد بودند که طراحی و ساخت لامپ ادیسون بر مبنای مطالعات ویلیام سایر انجام شده است؛ بنابراین تنها امتیاز اختراع رشتهٔ ذغالی شده پرمقاومت (مادهٔ تولیدکنندهٔ نور لامپ) به ادیسون تعلق گرفت. در ۱۳ فوریه ۱۸۸۰ م. وی به کشف یک پدیدهٔ مهم فیزیکی نائل آمد که اکنون به اثر ادیسون معروف است. دو سال پس از نمایش عمومی لامپ الکتریکی، (۱۸۸۲ م.) ساختمان کارخانهٔ مرکزی تولید برق موسوم به «ایستگاه پرل استر یت» به پایان رسید و در چهارم سپتامبر همان سال نخستین سیستم توزیع نیروی الکتریسیته در جهان با قدرت ۱۱۰ ولت و ۵۹ مشتری در پایین محلهٔ منهتن به دست ادیسون افتتاح گردید. چندی بعد ادیسون کوشید تا حق امتیاز لامپ برق را در بریتانیا از آن خود کند و بر رقیبش جوزف سووان – که مستقل از ادیسون موفق به اختراع لامپ حرارتی ِرشته کربنی شده بود- پیروز شود اما پس از یک دعوای حقوقی بی‌حاصل، دو طرف با یکدیگر به توافق رسیدند و برای بهره‌مند شدن از منافع اختراعشان در بریتانیا شرکت «ادیسووان» را تأسیس کردند. این شرکت در سال ۱۸۹۲ م. جزئی از کمپانی بزرگ جنرال الکتریک (متعلق به ادیسون) گردید. شیوهٔ ادیسون همانطور که گفته شد، بیشتر اختراعات ادیسون حاصل تکمیل ایده‌های دیگران و کار دسته‌جمعی گروه بزرگی از تکنسین‌ها و کارمندانی بود که تحت نظارت او به تحقیق و آزمایش می‌پرداختند. لویس لاتیمر دستیار آفریقایی-آمریکایی ادیسون که در پروژهٔ چراغ الکتریکی نقش مهمی داشت، از جملهٔ این افراد است. اگر امروز کمتر نامی از کسانی مانند او به میان می‌آید، به این دلیل است که ادیسون غالبا همکاران خود را در افتخار و اعتبار اختراعاتش سهیم نمی‌کرد. با این همه شکی نیست که بدون قدرت سازماندهی و خصوصاً همت بلند ادیسون دست یافتن به این همه موفقیت ممکن نبود. نیکلا تسلا فیزیکدان بزرگ و یکی از همکاران ادیسون دربارهٔ روش او برای حل مسائل می‌نویسد: «اگر ادیسون می‌خواست سوزنی را در انبار کاهی پیدا کند، با پشتکارفراوان دانه به دانه رشته‌های کاه را کنار می‌زد تا بالاخره سوزن نمایان شود. بارها با تأسف شاهد بودم که چگونه بخش اعظم وقت و انرژی او صرف یافتن یک فرمول جزئی یا انجام دادن محاسبه‌ای کوچک می‌شد. » ادیسون خود نیز در این‌باره گفته‌است: «نوآوری عبارت است از یک درصد الهام روح و نود و نه درصد عرق ریختن و تلاش کردن. » تسلا دانشمندی شایسته و بهترین کارمند ادیسون بود. او ابتدا از طرف ادیسون مأمور شده بود تا راه‌های توسعهٔ سیستم‌های جریان مستقیم (DC) را بررسی کند اما چون پس از پایان کار ادیسون تعهدات مالی خود را زیر پا گذاشت تسلا تصمیم به ترک شرکت او گرفت. با پذیرش استعفای تسلا، ادیسون مرتکب اشتباه بزرگی شد چرا که چندی بعد تسلا با کشف جریان متناوب (AC) در برابر امپراتوری ادیسون و سیستم DC او قد علم کرد. او با حمایت جرج وستینگهاوس کارخانه‌دار معروف سامانه‌های چندفازی توزیع برق را برپایهٔ جریان AC تکامل بخشید که بسیار کارآمدتر از سیستم ادیسون بود. با وجود تبلیغات منفی جنرال الکتریک، جریان AC روز به روز رواج بیشتری یافت و سرانجام سلطه ادیسون را بر بازار صنایع الکتریکی درهم شکست. سینما در سال ۱۸۸۹م. یکی از کارمندان شرکت ادیسون به اسم ویلیام کندی لوری دیکسون نوعی دستگاه نمایش فیلم اختراع کرد که پنج سال بعد(۱۸۹۴م.) با نام تجاری کینه‌توسکوپ (متحرک نما) در نیویورک به معرض نمایش گذاشته شد. کینه‌توسکوپ دستگاهی بود که هرکس از سوراخ آن به درون می‌نگریست و دسته‌ای را می‌چرخاند، تصاویر متحرکی را مشاهده می‌کرد. این وسیله ابتدا به‌عنوان مکمل گرامافون و برای رونق بخشیدن به بازار آن طراحی شده بود وهدف آن بود که با افزودن امکان تماشای عکس متحرک، بر جذابیت گرامافون نزد خریداران افزوده شود. با وجود اهمیت این اختراع، ادیسون یا دیکسون را نمی‌توان پایه‌گذار سینما دانست؛ کینه‌توسکوپ آن ها بیشتر به ماشین «شهر فرنگ» شبیه بود و دریک زمان بیش از یک نفر نمی‌توانست از آن استفاده کند. چنین دستگاهی در عصر جدید که تودهٔ مردم به هیجان و سرگرمی‌های دسته‌جمعی نیاز داشتند چندان به کار نمی‌آمد. ایدهٔ بزرگ کردن تصاویر و بکارگیری پردهٔ نمایش هرگز به ذهن ادیسون نرسید چون همان طور که گفتیم از اختراع کینه‌توسکوپ مقصود دیگری داشت ولی حدود یک سال بعد لویی لومیر صنعتگر ثروتمند فرانسوی با ساختن دوربین فیلم‌برداری و پروژکتور و افتتاح اولین سالن سینما در گراند کافه پاریس (۲۸ دسامبر ۱۸۹۵م.) نخستین گام‌ها را برای علاقمند کردن مردم به این پدیدهٔ نو برداشت. پس از گذشت چند سال، سالن‌های نمایش فیلم در اروپا و آمریکا آن قدر فراوان شده بود که ادیسون نیز چاره‌ای جز پیوستن به این جریان و کنار گذاشتن سینمای تک نفره‌اش ندید. ادیسون در تبدیل سینما به رسانه‌ای همگانی و صنعتی سودآور نقش مؤثری ایفا کرده‌است. فیلم استاندارد ۳۵ میلیمتری با چهار روزنه در لبهٔ هر فریم که هنوز مورد استفاده قرار می‌گیرد از یادگارهای ادیسون است. وی همچنین مؤسس اولین استودیوی فیلمسازی دنیا (بلک ماریا در ایالت نیوجرسی) است. نخستین فیلم کپی رایت شدهٔ تاریخ سینما با عنوان «عطسهٔ فرد اُت» در این استودیو ساخته شد. سال‌های پایانی در اول فوریه ۱۸۹۳م. ادیسون ساختمان «بلک ماریا» نخستین استودیوی تصاویر متحرک را در وست اورنج ِ نیوجرسی به پایان برد. او کوشید تا اختراع دوربین فیلم برداری را تماماً به خود نسبت دهد و حق استفادهٔ انحصاری از آن را به دست آورد اما در ۱۰ مارس ۱۹۰۲م. ادعای او در یک دادگاه استیناف ایالات متحده رد شد. در ۱۸۹۴م. او در زمینهٔ ترکیب فیلم و صدا تحقیقاتی انجام داد که سرانجام به اختراع کینه‌توفون انجامید. این دستگاه که ترکیب ناجوری از کینه‌توسکوپ و گرامافون استوانه‌ای بود با استقبال مردم مواجه نشد. در ۶ ژانویه ۱۹۳۱م. ادیسون درخواست‌نامهٔ ثبت آخرین اختراع خود «وسیله نگهدارندهٔ اشیاء هنگام آبکاری» را به ادارهٔ اختراعات فرستاد اما پیش از دریافت پاسخ اجل به او مهلت نداد و این مخترع بزرگ در اواخر همان سال در سن ۸۴ سالگی چشم از جهان فرو بست. منابع درباره ادیسون توماس ادیسون، مخترعی که تا پایان عمر با ناشنوایی مبارزه کرد زندگینامه ادیسون درباره ادیسون زندگینامه ادیسون پیوند به بیرون برنامه آیا می‌دانید؟: توماس ادیسون در یوتیوب در ویکی‌انبار پرونده‌هایی دربارهٔ توماس ادیسون موجود است. مجموعه‌ای از گفتاوردهای مربوط به توماس ادیسون در ویکی‌گفتاورد موجود است.

Thomas Edison "Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration." – Thomas Alva Edison, Harper's Monthly (September 1932 edition) Born Thomas Alva Edison (1847-02-11)February 11, 1847 Milan, Ohio, U.S. Died October 18, 1931(1931-10-18) (aged 84) West Orange, New Jersey, U.S. Nationality American Education School dropout Occupation Inventor, businessman Religion Deist Spouse(s) Mary Stilwell (m. 1871–1884) Mina Miller (m. 1886–1931) Children Marion Estelle Edison (1873–1965) Thomas Alva Edison Jr. (1876–1935) William Leslie Edison (1878–1937) Madeleine Edison (1888–1979) Charles Edison (1890–1969) Theodore Miller Edison (1898–1992) Parents Samuel Ogden Edison, Jr. (1804–1896) Nancy Matthews Elliott (1810–1871) Relatives Lewis Miller (father-in-law) Signature Edison as a boy Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. Dubbed "The Wizard of Menlo Park", he was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production and large-scale teamwork to the process of invention, and because of that, he is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory. Edison is the fourth most prolific inventor in history, holding 1,093 US patents in his name, as well as many patents in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. He is credited with numerous inventions that contributed to mass communication and, in particular, telecommunications. These included a stock ticker, a mechanical vote recorder, a battery for an electric car, electrical power, recorded music and motion pictures. His advanced work in these fields was an outgrowth of his early career as a telegraph operator. Edison developed a system of electric-power generation and distribution to homes, businesses, and factories – a crucial development in the modern industrialized world. His first power station was on Pearl Street in Manhattan, New York. Early life Thomas Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, and grew up in Port Huron, Michigan. He was the seventh and last child of Samuel Ogden Edison, Jr. (1804–96, born in Marshalltown, Nova Scotia, Canada) and Nancy Matthews Elliott (1810–1871, born in Chenango County, New York). His father had to escape from Canada because he took part in the unsuccessful Mackenzie Rebellion of 1837 Edison reported being of Dutch ancestry. In school, the young Edison's mind often wandered, and his teacher, the Reverend Engle, was overheard calling him "addled". This ended Edison's three months of official schooling. Edison recalled later, "My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me; and I felt I had something to live for, someone I must not disappoint." His mother taught him at home. Much of his education came from reading R.G. Parker's School of Natural Philosophy. Edison developed hearing problems at an early age. The cause of his deafness has been attributed to a bout of scarlet fever during childhood and recurring untreated middle-ear infections. Around the middle of his career, Edison attributed the hearing impairment to being struck on the ears by a train conductor when his chemical laboratory in a boxcar caught fire and he was thrown off the train in Smiths Creek, Michigan, along with his apparatus and chemicals. In his later years, he modified the story to say the injury occurred when the conductor, in helping him onto a moving train, lifted him by the ears. Edison's family moved to Port Huron, Michigan, after the railroad bypassed Milan in 1854 and business declined; his life there was bittersweet. Edison sold candy and newspapers on trains running from Port Huron to Detroit, and sold vegetables to supplement his income. He also studied qualitative analysis, and conducted chemical experiments on the train until an accident prohibited further work of the kind. Edison obtained the exclusive right to sell newspapers on the road, and, with the aid of four assistants, he set in type and printed the Grand Trunk Herald, which he sold with his other papers. This began Edison's long streak of entrepreneurial ventures, as he discovered his talents as a businessman. These talents eventually led him to found 14 companies, including General Electric, which is still one of the largest publicly traded companies in the world. Telegrapher Edison became a telegraph operator after he saved three-year-old Jimmie MacKenzie from being struck by a runaway train. Jimmie's father, station agent J.U. MacKenzie of Mount Clemens, Michigan, was so grateful that he trained Edison as a telegraph operator. Edison's first telegraphy job away from Port Huron was at Stratford Junction, Ontario, on the Grand Trunk Railway. In 1866, at the age of 19, Edison moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where, as an employee of Western Union, he worked the Associated Press bureau news wire. Edison requested the night shift, which allowed him plenty of time to spend at his two favorite pastimes—reading and experimenting. Eventually, the latter pre-occupation cost him his job. One night in 1867, he was working with a lead–acid battery when he spilled sulfuric acid onto the floor. It ran between the floorboards and onto his boss's desk below. The next morning Edison was fired. One of his mentors during those early years was a fellow telegrapher and inventor named Franklin Leonard Pope, who allowed the impoverished youth to live and work in the basement of his Elizabeth, New Jersey home. Some of Edison's earliest inventions were related to telegraphy, including a stock ticker. His first patent was for the electric vote recorder, (U.S. Patent 90,646), which was granted on June 1, 1869. Marriages and children On December 25, 1871, Edison married 16-year-old Mary Stilwell (1855–1884), whom he had met two months earlier; she was an employee at one of his shops. They had three children: Marion Estelle Edison (1873–1965), nicknamed "Dot" Thomas Alva Edison, Jr. (1876–1935), nicknamed "Dash" William Leslie Edison (1878–1937) Inventor, graduate of the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale, 1900. Mary Edison died at age 29 on August 9, 1884, of unknown causes: possibly from a brain tumor or a morphine overdose. Doctors frequently prescribed morphine to women in those years to treat a variety of causes, and researchers believe that some of her symptoms sounded as if they were associated with morphine poisoning. Mina Edison in 1906 On February 24, 1886, at the age of thirty-nine, Edison married the 20-year-old Mina Miller (1866–1947) in Akron, Ohio. She was the daughter of the inventor Lewis Miller, co-founder of the Chautauqua Institution and a benefactor of Methodist charities. They also had three children together: Madeleine Edison (1888–1979), who married John Eyre Sloane. Charles Edison (1890–1969), Governor of New Jersey (1941 – 1944), and took over his father's company and experimental laboratories upon his father's death. Theodore Edison (1898–1992), (MIT Physics 1923), credited with more than 80 patents. Mina outlived Thomas Edison, dying on August 24, 1947. Beginning his career Photograph of Edison with his phonograph (2nd model), taken in Mathew Brady's Washington, DC studio in April 1878. Edison began his career as an inventor in Newark, New Jersey, with the automatic repeater and his other improved telegraphic devices, but the invention that first gained him notice was the phonograph in 1877. This accomplishment was so unexpected by the public at large as to appear almost magical. Edison became known as "The Wizard of Menlo Park," New Jersey. His first phonograph recorded on tinfoil around a grooved cylinder, but had poor sound quality and the recordings could be played only a few times. In the 1880s, a redesigned model using wax-coated cardboard cylinders was produced by Alexander Graham Bell, Chichester Bell, and Charles Tainter. This was one reason that Thomas Edison continued work on his own "Perfected Phonograph." Menlo Park Edison's Menlo Park Laboratory, removed to Greenfield Village at Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. (Note the organ against the back wall) Edison's major innovation was the first industrial research lab, which was built in Menlo Park, New Jersey. It was built with the funds from the sale of Edison's quadruplex telegraph. After his demonstration of the telegraph, Edison was not sure that his original plan to sell it for $4,000 to $5,000 was right, so he asked Western Union to make a bid. He was surprised to hear them offer $10,000, ($202,000 USD 2010), which he gratefully accepted. The quadruplex telegraph was Edison's first big financial success, and Menlo Park became the first institution set up with the specific purpose of producing constant technological innovation and improvement. Edison was legally attributed with most of the inventions produced there, though many employees carried out research and development under his direction. His staff was generally told to carry out his directions in conducting research, and he drove them hard to produce results. William Joseph Hammer, a consulting electrical engineer, began his duties as a laboratory assistant to Edison in December 1879. He assisted in experiments on the telephone, phonograph, electric railway, iron ore separator, electric lighting, and other developing inventions. However, Hammer worked primarily on the incandescent electric lamp and was put in charge of tests and records on that device. In 1880, he was appointed chief engineer of the Edison Lamp Works. In his first year, the plant under General Manager Francis Robbins Upton turned out 50,000 lamps. According to Edison, Hammer was "a pioneer of incandescent electric lighting". Frank J. Sprague, a competent mathematician and former naval officer, was recruited by Edward H. Johnson and joined the Edison organization in 1883. One of Sprague's contributions to the Edison Laboratory at Menlo Park was to expand Edison's mathematical methods. Despite the common belief that Edison did not use mathematics, analysis of his notebooks reveal that he was an astute user of mathematical analysis conducted by his assistants such as Francis Robbins Upton, for example, determining the critical parameters of his electric lighting system including lamp resistance by an analysis of Ohm's Law, Joule's Law and economics. Nearly all of Edison's patents were utility patents, which were protected for a 17-year period and included inventions or processes that are electrical, mechanical, or chemical in nature. About a dozen were design patents, which protect an ornamental design for up to a 14-year period. As in most patents, the inventions he described were improvements over prior art. The phonograph patent, in contrast, was unprecedented as describing the first device to record and reproduce sounds. In just over a decade, Edison's Menlo Park laboratory had expanded to occupy two city blocks. Edison said he wanted the lab to have "a stock of almost every conceivable material". A newspaper article printed in 1887 reveals the seriousness of his claim, stating the lab contained "eight thousand kinds of chemicals, every kind of screw made, every size of needle, every kind of cord or wire, hair of humans, horses, hogs, cows, rabbits, goats, minx, camels ... silk in every texture, cocoons, various kinds of hoofs, shark's teeth, deer horns, tortoise shell ... cork, resin, varnish and oil, ostrich feathers, a peacock's tail, jet, amber, rubber, all ores ..." and the list goes on. Over his desk, Edison displayed a placard with Sir Joshua Reynolds' famous quotation: "There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking. This slogan was reputedly posted at several other locations throughout the facility. With Menlo Park, Edison had created the first industrial laboratory concerned with creating knowledge and then controlling its application. Carbon telephone transmitter In 1877–78, Edison invented and developed the carbon microphone used in all telephones along with the Bell receiver until the 1980s. After protracted patent litigation, in 1892 a federal court ruled that Edison and not Emile Berliner was the inventor of the carbon microphone. The carbon microphone was also used in radio broadcasting and public address work through the 1920s. Electric light Main article: History of the light bulb Thomas Edison's first successful light bulb model, used in public demonstration at Menlo Park, December 1879 Edison did not invent the first electric light bulb, but instead invented the first commercially practical incandescent light. Many earlier inventors had previously devised incandescent lamps, including Alessandro Volta's demonstration of a glowing wire in 1800 and inventions by Henry Woodward and Mathew Evans. Others who developed early and commercially impractical incandescent electric lamps included Humphry Davy, James Bowman Lindsay, Moses G. Farmer, William E. Sawyer, Joseph Swan and Heinrich Göbel. Some of these early bulbs had such flaws as an extremely short life, high expense to produce, and high electric current drawn, making them difficult to apply on a large scale commercially. After many experiments with platinum and other metal filaments, Edison returned to a carbon filament. The first successful test was on October 22, 1879; it lasted 13.5 hours. Edison continued to improve this design and by November 4, 1879, filed for U.S. patent 223,898 (granted on January 27, 1880) for an electric lamp using "a carbon filament or strip coiled and connected to platina contact wires". Although the patent described several ways of creating the carbon filament including "cotton and linen thread, wood splints, papers coiled in various ways", it was not until several months after the patent was granted that Edison and his team discovered a carbonized bamboo filament that could last over 1,200 hours. The idea of using this particular raw material originated from Edison's recalling his examination of a few threads from a bamboo fishing pole while relaxing on the shore of Battle Lake in the present-day state of Wyoming, where he and other members of a scientific team had traveled so that they could clearly observe a total eclipse of the sun on July 29, 1878, from the Continental Divide. U.S. Patent#223898: Electric-Lamp. Issued January 27, 1880. In 1878, Edison formed the Edison Electric Light Company in New York City with several financiers, including J. P. Morgan and the members of the Vanderbilt family. Edison made the first public demonstration of his incandescent light bulb on December 31, 1879, in Menlo Park. It was during this time that he said: "We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles." Lewis Latimer joined the Edison Electric Light Company in 1884. Latimer had received a patent in January 1881 for the "Process of Manufacturing Carbons", an improved method for the production of carbon filaments for lightbulbs. Latimer worked as an engineer, a draftsman and an expert witness in patent litigation on electric lights. George Westinghouse's company bought Philip Diehl's competing induction lamp patent rights (1882) for $25,000, forcing the holders of the Edison patent to charge a more reasonable rate for the use of the Edison patent rights and lowering the price of the electric lamp. On October 8, 1883, the US patent office ruled that Edison's patent was based on the work of William Sawyer and was therefore invalid. Litigation continued for nearly six years, until October 6, 1889, when a judge ruled that Edison's electric-light improvement claim for "a filament of carbon of high resistance" was valid. To avoid a possible court battle with Joseph Swan, whose British patent had been awarded a year before Edison's, he and Swan formed a joint company called Ediswan to manufacture and market the invention in Britain. Mahen Theatre in Brno (in what is now the Czech Republic) was the first public building in the world to use Edison's electric lamps, with the installation supervised by Edison's assistant in the invention of the lamp, Francis Jehl. In September 2010, a sculpture of three giant light bulbs was erected in Brno, in front of the theatre. Electric power distribution Edison patented a system for electricity distribution in 1880, which was essential to capitalize on the invention of the electric lamp. On December 17, 1880, Edison founded the Edison Illuminating Company. The company established the first investor-owned electric utility in 1882 on Pearl Street Station, New York City. It was on September 4, 1882, that Edison switched on his Pearl Street generating station's electrical power distribution system, which provided 110 volts direct current (DC) to 59 customers in lower Manhattan. Earlier in the year, in January 1882, he had switched on the first steam-generating power station at Holborn Viaduct in London. The DC supply system provided electricity supplies to street lamps and several private dwellings within a short distance of the station. On January 19, 1883, the first standardized incandescent electric lighting system employing overhead wires began service in Roselle, New Jersey. Nikola Tesla worked for Edison for two years at the Continental Edison Company in France starting in 1882, and another year at the Edison Machine Works in New York City ending in a disagreement over pay. War of currents Main article: War of Currents Extravagant displays of electric lights quickly became a feature of public events, as in this picture from the 1897 Tennessee Centennial Exposition. Edison's true success, like that of his friend Henry Ford, was in his ability to maximize profits through establishment of mass-production systems and intellectual property rights. George Westinghouse and Edison became adversaries because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution instead of the more easily transmitted alternating current (AC) system promoted by Westinghouse. Unlike DC, AC could be stepped up to very high voltages with transformers, sent over thinner and cheaper wires, and stepped down again at the destination for distribution to users. In 1887, there were 121 Edison power stations in the United States delivering DC electricity to customers. When the limitations of DC were discussed by the public, Edison launched a propaganda campaign to convince people that AC was far too dangerous to use. The problem with DC was that the power plants could economically deliver DC electricity only to customers within about one and a half miles (about 2.4 km) from the generating station, so that it was suitable only for central business districts. When George Westinghouse suggested using high-voltage AC instead, as it could carry electricity hundreds of miles with marginal loss of power, Edison waged a "War of Currents" to prevent AC from being adopted. The war against AC led him to become involved in the development and promotion of the electric chair (using AC) as an attempt to portray AC to have greater lethal potential than DC. Edison went on to carry out a brief but intense campaign to ban the use of AC or to limit the allowable voltage for safety purposes. As part of this campaign, Edison's employees publicly electrocuted stray or unwanted animals to demonstrate the dangers of AC; alternating electric currents are slightly more dangerous in that frequencies near 60 Hz have a markedly greater potential for inducing fatal "cardiac fibrillation" than do direct currents. On one of the more notable occasions, in 1903, Edison's workers electrocuted Topsy the elephant at Luna Park, near Coney Island, after she had killed several men and her owners wanted her put to death. His company filmed the electrocution. AC replaced DC in most instances of generation and power distribution, enormously extending the range and improving the efficiency of power distribution. Though widespread use of DC ultimately lost favor for distribution, it exists today primarily in long-distance high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission systems. Low-voltage DC distribution continued to be used in high-density downtown areas for many years but was eventually replaced by AC low-voltage network distribution in many of them. DC had the advantage that large battery banks could maintain continuous power through brief interruptions of the electric supply from generators and the transmission system. Utilities such as Commonwealth Edison in Chicago had rotary converters or motor-generator sets, which could change DC to AC and AC to various frequencies in the early to mid-20th century. Utilities supplied rectifiers to convert the low voltage AC to DC for such DC loads as elevators, fans and pumps. There were still 1,600 DC customers in downtown New York City as of 2005, and service was finally discontinued only on November 14, 2007. Most subway systems are still powered by direct current. Other inventions and projects Fluoroscopy Edison is credited with designing and producing the first commercially available fluoroscope, a machine that uses X-rays to take radiographs. Until Edison discovered that calcium tungstate fluoroscopy screens produced brighter images than the barium platinocyanide screens originally used by Wilhelm Röntgen, the technology was capable of producing only very faint images. The fundamental design of Edison's fluoroscope is still in use today, although Edison himself abandoned the project after nearly losing his own eyesight and seriously injuring his assistant, Clarence Dally. Dally had made himself an enthusiastic human guinea pig for the fluoroscopy project and in the process been exposed to a poisonous dose of radiation. He later died of injuries related to the exposure. In 1903, a shaken Edison said "Don't talk to me about X-rays, I am afraid of them." Media inventions The key to Edison's fortunes was telegraphy. With knowledge gained from years of working as a telegraph operator, he learned the basics of electricity. This allowed him to make his early fortune with the stock ticker, the first electricity-based broadcast system. Edison patented the sound recording and reproducing phonograph in 1878. Edison was also granted a patent for the motion picture camera or "Kinetograph". He did the electromechanical design, while his employee W.K.L. Dickson, a photographer, worked on the photographic and optical development. Much of the credit for the invention belongs to Dickson. In 1891, Thomas Edison built a Kinetoscope, or peep-hole viewer. This device was installed in penny arcades, where people could watch short, simple films. The kinetograph and kinetoscope were both first publicly exhibited May 20, 1891. On August 9, 1892, Edison received a patent for a two-way telegraph. In April 1896, Thomas Armat's Vitascope, manufactured by the Edison factory and marketed in Edison's name, was used to project motion pictures in public screenings in New York City. Later he exhibited motion pictures with voice soundtrack on cylinder recordings, mechanically synchronized with the film. The June 1894 Leonard–Cushing bout. Each of the six one-minute rounds recorded by the Kinetoscope was made available to exhibitors for $22.50. Customers who watched the final round saw Leonard score a knockdown. Officially the kinetoscope entered Europe when the rich American Businessman Irving T. Bush (1869–1948) bought from the Continental Commerce Company of Frank Z. Maguire and Joseph D. Baucus a dozen machines. Bush placed from October 17, 1894, the first kinetoscopes in London. At the same time the French company Kinétoscope Edison Michel et Alexis Werner bought these machines for the market in France. In the last three months of 1894, The Continental Commerce Company sold hundreds of kinetoscopes in Europe (i.e. the Netherlands and Italy). In Germany and in Austria-Hungary the kinetoscope was introduced by the Deutsche-österreichische-Edison-Kinetoscop Gesellschaft, founded by the Ludwig Stollwerck of the Schokoladen-Süsswarenfabrik Stollwerck & Co of Cologne. The first kinetoscopes arrived in Belgium at the Fairs in early 1895. The Edison's Kinétoscope Français, a Belgian company, was founded in Brussels on January 15, 1895, with the rights to sell the kinetoscopes in Monaco, France and the French colonies. The main investors in this company were Belgian industrialists. On May 14, 1895, the Edison's Kinétoscope Belge was founded in Brussels. The businessman Ladislas-Victor Lewitzki, living in London but active in Belgium and France, took the initiative in starting this business. He had contacts with Leon Gaumont and the American Mutoscope and Biograph Co. In 1898 he also became a shareholder of the Biograph and Mutoscope Company for France. In 1901, he visited the Sudbury area in Ontario, Canada, as a mining prospector, and is credited with the original discovery of the Falconbridge ore body. His attempts to mine the ore body were not successful, however, and he abandoned his mining claim in 1903. A street in Falconbridge, as well as the Edison Building, which served as the head office of Falconbridge Mines, are named for him. Other exhibitors similarly routinely copied and exhibited each other's films. To better protect the copyrights on his films, Edison deposited prints of them on long strips of photographic paper with the U.S. copyright office. Many of these paper prints survived longer and in better condition than the actual films of that era. Edison's favorite movie was The Birth of a Nation. He thought that talkies had "spoiled everything" for him. "There isn't any good acting on the screen. They concentrate on the voice now and have forgotten how to act. I can sense it more than you because I am deaf." His favorite stars were Mary Pickford and Clara Bow. In 1908, Edison started the Motion Picture Patents Company, which was a conglomerate of nine major film studios (commonly known as the Edison Trust). Thomas Edison was the first honorary fellow of the Acoustical Society of America, which was founded in 1929. West Orange and Fort Myers (1886–1931) Thomas A. Edison Industries Exhibit, Primary Battery section, 1915 Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Harvey Firestone, respectively. Ft. Myers, Florida, February 11, 1929 Edison moved from Menlo Park after the death of Mary Stilwell and purchased a home known as "Glenmont" in 1886 as a wedding gift for Mina in Llewellyn Park in West Orange, New Jersey. In 1885, Thomas Edison bought property in Fort Myers, Florida, and built what was later called Seminole Lodge as a winter retreat. Edison and his wife Mina spent many winters in Fort Myers where they recreated and Edison tried to find a domestic source of natural rubber. Henry Ford, the automobile magnate, later lived a few hundred feet away from Edison at his winter retreat in Fort Myers, Florida. Edison even contributed technology to the automobile. They were friends until Edison's death. In 1928, Edison joined the Fort Myers Civitan Club. He believed strongly in the organization, writing that "The Civitan Club is doing things—big things—for the community, state, and nation, and I certainly consider it an honor to be numbered in its ranks." He was an active member in the club until his death, sometimes bringing Henry Ford to the club's meetings. The final years Edison was active in business right up to the end. Just months before his death, the Lackawanna Railroad inaugurated suburban electric train service from Hoboken to Montclair, Dover, and Gladstone in New Jersey. Electrical transmission for this service was by means of an overhead catenary system using direct current, which Edison had championed. Despite his frail condition, Edison was at the throttle of the first electric MU (Multiple-Unit) train to depart Lackawanna Terminal in Hoboken in September 1930, driving the train the first mile through Hoboken yard on its way to South Orange. This fleet of cars would serve commuters in northern New Jersey for the next 54 years until their retirement in 1984. A plaque commemorating Edison's inaugural ride can be seen today in the waiting room of Lackawanna Terminal in Hoboken, which is presently operated by New Jersey Transit. Edison was said to have been influenced by a popular fad diet in his last few years; "the only liquid he consumed was a pint of milk every three hours". He is reported to have believed this diet would restore his health. However, this tale is doubtful. In 1930, the year before Edison died, Mina said in an interview about him, "correct eating is one of his greatest hobbies." She also said that during one of his periodic "great scientific adventures", Edison would be up at 7:00, have breakfast at 8:00, and be rarely home for lunch or dinner, implying that he continued to have all three. Edison became the owner of his Milan, Ohio, birthplace in 1906. On his last visit, in 1923, he was reportedly shocked to find his old home still lit by lamps and candles. Thomas Edison died of complications of diabetes on October 18, 1931, in his home, "Glenmont" in Llewellyn Park in West Orange, New Jersey, which he had purchased in 1886 as a wedding gift for Mina. He is buried behind the home. Edison's last breath is reportedly contained in a test tube at the Henry Ford Museum. Ford reportedly convinced Charles Edison to seal a test tube of air in the inventor's room shortly after his death, as a memento. A plaster death mask was also made. Mina died in 1947. Views on politics, religion and metaphysics Historian Paul Israel has characterized Edison as a "freethinker". Edison was heavily influenced by Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason. Edison defended Paine's "scientific deism", saying, "He has been called an atheist, but atheist he was not. Paine believed in a supreme intelligence, as representing the idea which other men often express by the name of deity." In an October 2, 1910, interview in the New York Times Magazine, Edison stated: Nature is what we know. We do not know the gods of religions. And nature is not kind, or merciful, or loving. If God made me — the fabled God of the three qualities of which I spoke: mercy, kindness, love — He also made the fish I catch and eat. And where do His mercy, kindness, and love for that fish come in? No; nature made us — nature did it all — not the gods of the religions. Edison was called an atheist for those remarks, and although he did not allow himself to be drawn into the controversy publicly, he clarified himself in a private letter: "You have misunderstood the whole article, because you jumped to the conclusion that it denies the existence of God. There is no such denial, what you call God I call Nature, the Supreme intelligence that rules matter. All the article states is that it is doubtful in my opinion if our intelligence or soul or whatever one may call it lives hereafter as an entity or disperses back again from whence it came, scattered amongst the cells of which we are made." Nonviolence was key to Edison's moral views, and when asked to serve as a naval consultant for World War I, he specified he would work only on defensive weapons and later noted, "I am proud of the fact that I never invented weapons to kill." Edison's philosophy of nonviolence extended to animals as well, about which he stated: "Nonviolence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages." However, he is also notorious for having electrocuted a number of dogs in 1888, both by direct and alternating current, in an attempt to argue that the former (which he had a vested business interest in promoting) was safer than the latter (favored by his rival George Westinghouse). Edison's success in promoting direct current as less lethal also led to alternating current being used in the electric chair adopted by New York in 1889 as a supposedly humane execution method. Because Westinghouse was angered by the decision, he funded Eighth Amendment-based appeals for inmates set to die in the electric chair, ultimately resulting in Edison providing the generators which powered early electrocutions and testifying successfully on behalf of the state that electrocution was a painless method of execution. Views on money Thomas Edison was an advocate for monetary reform in the United States. He was ardently opposed to the gold standard, and debt based money. Famously, he was quoted in the New York Times stating "Gold is a relic of Julius Ceasar, and interest is an invention of Satan." In the same article, he expounded upon the absurdity of a monetary system in which the taxpayer of the United States, in need of a loan, be compelled to pay in return perhaps double the principal, or even greater sums, due to interest. His basic point was that if the Government can produce debt based money, it could equally as well produce money that was a credit to the taxpayer. He thought at length about the subject of money over 1921 and 1922. In May 1922, he published a proposal, entitled "A Proposed Amendment to the Federal Reserve Banking System". In it, he detailed an explanation of a commodity backed currency, in which the Federal Reserve would issue interest-free currency to farmers, based on the value of commodities they produced. During a publicity tour that he took with friend and fellow inventor, Henry Ford, he spoke publicly about his desire for monetary reform. For insight, he corresponded with prominent academic and banking professionals. In the end, however, Edison's proposals failed to find support, and were eventually abandoned. Awards The President of the Third French Republic, Jules Grévy, on the recommendation of his Minister of Foreign Affairs Jules Barthélemy-Saint-Hilaire and with the presentations of the Minister of Posts and Telegraphs Louis Cochery, designated Edison with the distinction of an 'Officer of the Legion of Honour' (Légion d'honneur) by decree on November 10, 1881; He also named a Chevalier in 1879, and a Commander in 1889. In 1887, Edison won the Matteucci Medal. In 1890, he was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The Philadelphia City Council named Edison the recipient of the John Scott Medal in 1889. In 1899, Edison was awarded the Edward Longstreth Medal of The Franklin Institute. He was named an Honorable Consulting Engineer at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's fair in 1904. In 1908, Edison received the American Association of Engineering Societies John Fritz Medal. In 1915, Edison was awarded Franklin Medal of The Franklin Institute for discoveries contributing to the foundation of industries and the well-being of the human race. In 1920, The United States Navy department awarded him the Navy Distinguished Service Medal. In 1923, The American Institute of Electrical Engineers created the Edison Medal and he was its first recipient. In 1927, he was granted membership in the National Academy of Sciences. On May 29, 1928, Edison received the Congressional Gold Medal. In 1983, the United States Congress, pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 140 (Public Law 97—198), designated February 11, Edison's birthday, as National Inventor's Day. Edison was ranked thirty-fifth on Michael H. Hart's 1978 book The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, a list of the most influential figures in history. Life magazine (USA), in a special double issue in 1997, placed Edison first in the list of the "100 Most Important People in the Last 1000 Years", noting that the light bulb he promoted "lit up the world". In the 2005 television series The Greatest American, he was voted by viewers as the fifteenth-greatest. In 2008, Edison was inducted in the New Jersey Hall of Fame. In 2010, Edison was honored with a Technical Grammy Award. In 2011, Edison was inducted into the Entrepreneur Walk of Fame, and named a Great Floridian by the Florida Governor and Cabinet. Tributes Places and people named for Edison Several places have been named after Edison, most notably the town of Edison, New Jersey. Thomas Edison State College, a nationally known college for adult learners, is in Trenton, New Jersey. Two community colleges are named for him: Edison State College in Fort Myers, Florida, and Edison Community College in Piqua, Ohio. There are numerous high schools named after Edison (see Edison High School) and other schools including Thomas A. Edison Middle School. In 1883, the City Hotel in Sunbury, Pennsylvania was the first building to be lit with Edison's three-wire system. The hotel was renamed The Hotel Edison upon Edison's return to the City on 1922. Lake Thomas A Edison in California was named after Edison to mark the 75th anniversary of the incandescent light bulb. Edison was on hand to turn on the lights at the Hotel Edison in New York City when it opened in 1931. Three bridges around the United States have been named in Edison's honor: the Edison Bridge in New Jersey, the Edison Bridge in Florida, and the Edison Bridge in Ohio. In space, his name is commemorated in asteroid 742 Edisona. Museums and memorials Statue of young Thomas Edison by the railroad tracks in Port Huron, Michigan. In West Orange, New Jersey, the 13.5 acre (5.5 ha) Glenmont estate is maintained and operated by the National Park Service as the Edison National Historic Site. The Thomas Alva Edison Memorial Tower and Museum is in the town of Edison, New Jersey. In Beaumont, Texas, there is an Edison Museum, though Edison never visited there. The Port Huron Museum, in Port Huron, Michigan, restored the original depot that Thomas Edison worked out of as a young newsbutcher. The depot has been named the Thomas Edison Depot Museum. The town has many Edison historical landmarks, including the graves of Edison's parents, and a monument along the St. Clair River. Edison's influence can be seen throughout this city of 32,000. In Detroit, the Edison Memorial Fountain in Grand Circus Park was created to honor his achievements. The limestone fountain was dedicated October 21, 1929, the fiftieth anniversary of the creation of the lightbulb. On the same night, The Edison Institute was dedicated in nearby Dearborn. Companies bearing Edison's name In 1915 Edison General Electric, merged with Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric Commonwealth Edison, now part of Exelon Consolidated Edison Edison International Detroit Edison, a unit of DTE Energy Edison S.p.A., a unit of Italenergia Trade association the Edison Electric Institute, a lobbying and research group for investor-owned utilities in the United States Edison Ore-Milling Company Edison Portland Cement Company Awards named in honor of Edison The Edison Medal was created on February 11, 1904, by a group of Edison's friends and associates. Four years later the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE), later IEEE, entered into an agreement with the group to present the medal as its highest award. The first medal was presented in 1909 to Elihu Thomson. It is the oldest award in the area of electrical and electronics engineering, and is presented annually "for a career of meritorious achievement in electrical science, electrical engineering or the electrical arts." In the Netherlands, the major music awards are named the Edison Award after him. The award is an annual Dutch music prize, awarded for outstanding achievements in the music industry, and is one of the oldest music awards in the world, having been presented since 1960. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers concedes the Thomas A. Edison Patent Award to individual patents since 2000. Other items named after Edison The United States Navy named the USS Edison (DD-439), a Gleaves class destroyer, in his honor in 1940. The ship was decommissioned a few months after the end of World War II. In 1962, the Navy commissioned USS Thomas A. Edison (SSBN-610), a fleet ballistic missile nuclear-powered submarine. In popular culture Main article: Thomas Edison in popular culture Thomas Edison has appeared in popular culture as a character in novels, films, comics and video games. His prolific inventing helped make him an icon and he has made appearances in popular culture during his lifetime down to the present day. His is also portrayed in popular culture as an adversary of Nikola Tesla. On February 11, 2011, on Thomas Edison's 164th birthday, Google's homepage featured an animated Google Doodle commemorating his many inventions. When the cursor was hovered over the doodle, a series of mechanisms seemed to move, causing a lightbulb to glow. See also Animated Hero Classics – an animated DVD biography series of historical figures, including Thomas Edison Edison Pioneers - a group formed in 1918 by employees and other associates of Thomas Edison John I. Beggs Joseph Swan List of Edison patents List of people on stamps of Ireland Phonomotor Thomas Alva Edison Birthplace Thomas E. Murray Thomas Edison National Historical Park Yoshiro Okabe References Bibliography Albion, Michele Wehrwein. (2008). The Florida Life of Thomas Edison. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-3259-7.  Adams, Glen J. (2004). The Search for Thomas Edison's Boyhood Home. ISBN 978-1-4116-1361-4.  Angel, Ernst (1926). Edison. Sein Leben und Erfinden. Berlin: Ernst Angel Verlag.  Baldwin, Neil (2001). Edison: Inventing the Century. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-03571-0.  Clark, Ronald William (1977). Edison: The man who made the future. London: Macdonald & Jane's: Macdonald and Jane's. ISBN 978-0-354-04093-8.  Conot, Robert (1979). A Streak of Luck. New York: Seaview Books. ISBN 978-0-87223-521-2.  Davis, L. J. (1998). Fleet Fire: Thomas Edison and the Pioneers of the Electric Revolution. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-47927-1.  Essig, Mark (2004). Edison and the Electric Chair. Stroud: Sutton. ISBN 978-0-7509-3680-4.  Essig, Mark (2003). Edison & the Electric Chair: A Story of Light and Death. New York: Walker & Company. ISBN 978-0-8027-1406-0.  Israel, Paul (1998). Edison: a Life of Invention. New York: Wiley. ISBN 978-0-471-52942-2.  Jonnes, Jill (2003). Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-375-50739-7.  Josephson, Matthew (1959). Edison. McGraw Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-033046-7.  Koenigsberg, Allen (1987). Edison Cylinder Records, 1889-1912. APM Press. ISBN 0-937612-07-3.  Pretzer, William S. (ed). (1989). Working at Inventing: Thomas A. Edison and the Menlo Park Experience. Dearborn, Michigan: Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village. ISBN 978-0-933728-33-2.  Stross, Randall E. (2007). The Wizard of Menlo Park: How Thomas Alva Edison Invented the Modern World. Crown. ISBN 1-4000-4762-5.  External links Locations Menlo Park Museum and Edison Memorial Tower Thomas Edison National Historical Park (National Park Service) Edison exhibit and Menlo Park Laboratory at Henry Ford Museum Edison Museum Edison Depot Museum Edison Birthplace Museum Thomas Edison House Information and media Thomas Edison on In Our Time at the BBC. (listen now) The Diary of Thomas Edison Works by Thomas Edison at Project Gutenberg Edison's patent application for the light bulb at the National Archives. Thomas Edison at the Internet Movie Database Jan. 4, 1903: Edison Fries an Elephant to Prove His Point – Wired article about Edison's "macabre form of a series of animal electrocutions using AC." The Invention Factory: Thomas Edison's Laboratories Edison, His Life and Inventions by Frank Lewis Dyer and Thomas Commerford Martin at Project Gutenberg The short film "Story of Thomas Alva Edison" is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more] Rutgers: Edison Papers Edisonian Museum Antique Electrics "Edison's Miracle of Light" Edison Innovation Foundation – Non-profit foundation supporting the legacy of Thomas Edison. Thomas Alva Edison at Find a Grave The Illustrious Vagabonds "The World's Greatest Inventor", October 1931, Popular Mechanics detailed, illustrated article 14 minutes "instructional" film with fictional elements The boyhood of Thomas Edison from 1964, produced by Coronet, published by archive.org Booknotes interview with Neil Baldwin on Edison: Inventing the Century, March 19, 1995. Booknotes interview with Jill Jonnes on Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse and the Race to Electrify the World, October 26, 2003. Awards and achievements Preceded by Leon Trotsky Cover of Time magazine Succeeded by Richard Swann Lull