1847-1931
Thomas Edison was born on February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio. At an early age, he showed a fascination for mechanical things and for chemical experiments. Around the age of 12, Edison lost most of his hearing, yet he did not let this discourage him and often treated it as an asset, since it made it easier for him to concentrate on his experiments and research.
Thomas Alva Edison became one of the most famous and prolific inventors of all time, creating the first industrial research laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, in 1876. “The Wizard of Menlo Park” patented 1,093 inventions, including the incandescent light bulb, the kinetograph (a motion picture camera), the kinetoscope (a motion picture viewer), and the phonograph. Using the phonograph and the kinetoscope together, he produced the first American “talking movie.”
