Thomas Alva Edison - The Wizard of the Menlo Park

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

-Thomas Edison-

Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847 in Ohio, the Midwestern region of America. As a little boy, he was very inquisitive. He was always curious about how things were done. He showed, very early on, that quality that is so important to inventors: curiosity. 

In 1869, he went to New York, where he worked for some time as a telephone operator. But soon he got interested in invention. This was now his chief business, and in order to carry it on, he built a laboratory at Menlo Park. His first great invention was a special System of Telegraphy. 

Edison's System of Telegraphy

Soon afterwards, he invented the Phonograph. Scientists before Edison thought of an instrument that could "write sound." But Edison was the first to make an instrument that would work. Edison was also the inventor of the Incandescent Light Bulb. People could now use electricity to illuminate their homes. When Edison died in 1931, he had about a thousand inventions to his credit!

Edison's Incandescent Light Bulb