Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up!

Portrait of Thomas Edison taken around 1878.

One of the outstanding geniuses in the history of technology, Thomas Edison earned patents for over a thousand inventions, including the incandescent electric lamp, the phonograph, the carbon transmitter, and the motion picture projector. He also created the world’s first industrial research laboratory. Born in Milan, Ohio, Edison was an inquisitive child. He found the study of chemistry and the production of electrical current from voltaic jars especially absorbing and soon operated a homemade telegraph set.

Edison was a poor student. When a schoolmaster called Edison “addled,” his furious mother took him out of the school and proceeded to teach him at home. Edison said many years later, “My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me, and I felt I had some one to live for, some one I must not disappoint.” At an early age, he showed a fascination for mechanical things and for chemical experiments.

Around the age of twelve, Edison lost almost all his hearing. There are several theories as to what caused his hearing loss. Some attribute it to the aftereffects of scarlet fever which he had as a child. Edison himself blamed it on an incident in which he was grabbed by his ears and lifted to a train. He did not let his disability discourage him, however, and often treated it as an asset, since it made it easier for him to concentrate on his experiments and research. Undoubtedly, though, his deafness made him more solitary and shy in dealings with others.

Edison opened a new laboratory in Menlo Park, NJ, in 1876. This site later become known as an “invention factory,” since they worked on several different inventions at any given time there. Edison would conduct numerous experiments to find answers to problems. He said, “I never quit until I get what I’m after. Negative results are just what I’m after. They are just as valuable to me as positive results.” Edison liked to work long hours and expected much from his employees.

Young Thomas Edison
Young Thomas Edison, age 14.
Mina Miller Edison with her children Madeleine Edison and Theodore Edison at Glenmont.
Thomas Edison in lab with Edison Effect bulbs.
Thomas Edison with trolley car powered by Edison Storage Batteries.
Thomas Edison and Mina Edison at dedication of plaque commemorating Edison’s achievements.
Thomas Edison with Edison searchlight.
Thomas Edison with Home Projecting Kinetoscope.
Thomas Edison, Luther Burbank and Henry Ford on California trip.

Edison’s role in life began to change from inventor and industrialist to cultural icon, a symbol of American ingenuity, and a real life Horatio Alger story. In 1928, in recognition of a lifetime of achievement, the United States Congress voted Edison a special Medal of Honor. In 1929 the nation celebrated the golden jubilee of the incandescent light. The celebration culminated at a banquet honoring Edison given by Henry Ford at Greenfield Village, Ford’s new American history museum, which included a complete restoration of the Menlo Park Laboratory. Attendees included President Herbert Hoover and many of the leading American scientists and inventors.

The last experimental work of Edison’s life was done at the request of Edison’s good friends Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone in the late 1920s. They asked Edison to find an alternative source of rubber for use in automobile tires. The natural rubber used for tires up to that time came from the rubber tree, which does not grow in the United States. Crude rubber had to be imported and was becoming increasingly expensive. With his customary energy and thoroughness, Edison tested thousands of different plants to find a suitable substitute, eventually finding a type of Goldenrod weed that could produce enough rubber to be feasible. Edison was still working on this at the time of his death.

Portrait of Mina Edison and Thomas Edison.

By Elysian Studios

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