爱迪生英文简介

Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventorand businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world,including the phonograph and a long lasting light bulb. Dubbed \"The Wizard of Menlo Park\" bya newspaper reporter, he was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of massproduction to the process of invention, and therefore is often credited with the creation ofthe first industrial research laboratory.

Edison is considered one of the most prolific inventors in history, holding 1,093 U.S.patents in his name, as well as many patents in the United Kingdom, France and Germany.

Thomas Edison was born in Milan, Ohio and was raised in Port Huron, Michigan. He wasthe seventh and last child of Samuel Ogden Edison, Jr. (1804–16) (born in Marshalltown,Nova Scotia, Canada) and Nancy Matthews Edison nee Elliott (1810–1871). His family was ofDutch origin.

In school, the young Edison's mind often wandered, and his teacher the Reverend Englewas overheard calling him \"addled.\" This ended Edison's three months of official schooling.He recalled later, \"My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me; and I feltI had something to live for, someone I must not disappoint.\" His mother then home schooledhim.Much of his education came from reading R.G. Parker's School of Natural Philosophy.

The cause of Edison's deafness has been attributed to a bout of scarlet fever duringchildhood and recurring untreated middle ear infections. Edison around the middle of hiscareer attributed the hearing loss to being struck on the ears by a train conductor when hischemical lab in a boxcar caught fire. In his later years he modified the story to say the injuryoccurred when the conductor, in helping him onto a moving train, lifted him by the ears.

Edison's family was forced to move to Port Huron, Michigan when the railroad bypassedMilan in 18, but his life there was bittersweet. This began Edison's long streak of

entrepreneurial ventures as he discovered his talents as a businessman. These talents wouldeventually lead him to found General Electric, which is still a publicly traded company, and 13other companies. He sold candy and newspapers on trains running from Port Huron toDetroit, as well as vegetables that he sold to supplement his income.

Edison became a telegraph operator after he saved three-year-old Jimmie MacKenziefrom being struck by a runaway train. Jimmie's father, station agent J.U. MacKenzie of MountClemens, Michigan, was so grateful that he trained Edison as a telegraph operator. Edison'sfirst telegraphy job away from Port Huron was at Stratford Junction, Ontario on the GrandTrunk Railway.In 1866, at the age of 19, Thomas Edison moved to Louisville, Kentucky as anemployee of Western Union working the Associated Press Bureau news wire. Edisonrequested the night shift at work which allowed him plenty of time to spend at his twofavorite pastimes -- reading and experimenting. However, it was the latter that eventuallycost him his job. One night in 1867, he was working with a battery when he spilled sulphuricacid onto the floor. It ran between the floorboards and onto his boss' desk below. The nextmorning he was fired.

Thomas Edison began his career as an inventor in Newark, New Jersey, with theautomatic repeater and his other improved telegraphic devices, but the invention which firstgained him fame was the phonograph in 1877. This accomplishment was so unexpected bythe public at large as to appear almost magical. Edison became known as \"The Wizard ofMenlo Park,\" New Jersey, where he lived. His first phonograph recorded on tinfoil around agrooved cylinder and had poor sound quality. The tinfoil recordings could only be replayed afew times. In the 1880s, a redesigned model using wax-coated cardboard cylinders wasproduced by Alexander Graham Bell, Chichester Bell, and Charles Tainter. This was onereason that Thomas Edison continued work on his own \"Perfected Phonograph.\"

Thomas Edison was the great genius inventor of the electrical age. His hundreds ofinventions made him a giant public figure in American and around the world at the turn of the20th century. Edison's most famous inventions are the first practical long-lasting light bulband the phonograph; he also helped to refine and develop other inventions like motionpicture cameras, the stock ticker and the typewriter.