Purpose: Read about the life of Thomas Alva Edison.

Instructions: Read the biography below.

Thomas Alva Edison
1847-1931

Written by- Ms. Jasztal

If anyone fits the description of an inspiring figure in history, it is Thomas Alva Edison. Thomas Edison was a compelling individual because he did not learn to talk until he was almost four years old and he struggled while in school, yet he did not let that get in the way of how he would later succeed in life. His teacher thought he would never go anywhere in life, yet he would later be the man who made electricity a reality.

Born on February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio, Edison had broad interests. His father encouraged him to read books that were "classics", so it was not long before he became interested in history and William Shakespeare's literature. Because he had such an interest in Shakespeare, he briefly considered entering the theater. When he was eleven years old, his parents brought him to the public library, and he read The World Dictionary of Science and several books that introduced him to chemistry. He even became so interested in science that his parents couldn't deal with all his questions about scientists they never read much about before! His parents had to hire a tutor to guide his "way of learning".

Thomas was also quite a writer. He convinced his parents to let him get a job to work for the railroad, selling newspapers. Yet by age fourteen, he began writing and publishing his own paper, getting three hundred people to subscribe for it! His paper, The Weekly Herald, was the first paper to be printed and sold on a train. His newspaper earned him more than ten dollars per day, which he started putting toward a science laboratory in the basement of his family's home.

He was so interested in science that he brought some of his chemicals with him to work, where he would store them in his locker room on the train. One day while he was on the train, it got off track for a moment, and a stick of phosphorous rolled onto the floor. A part of the train caught fire. The train conductor realized soon after that Thomas had been storing some of his chemicals on the train, and his punishment was that he could never sell his newspaper on the train again.

Thomas also had a hearing loss, and as the years went by, he became completely deaf in his left ear and was experiencing 80% hearing loss in his right ear. His hearing loss helped him to better concentrate on his thoughts, yet at the same time he was miserable that he could not hear the beautiful sounds of singing birds. However, when he realized he had the option of having an operation to restore his hearing, he refused because he thought it would be really difficult to get used to an "ever more noisy world".

Still when he was fourteen years old, he saved the life of a young boy who had a father working for the train. He had wandered onto the tracks in front of an oncoming train... and Thomas leaped onto the tracks. They tumbled away from the wheels and ended up only being slightly injured. After experiencing a difficult time with his newspaper and being fired from his job just shortly before saving the boy's life, the boy's father helped him to use Morse code and the telegraph. He soon became a telegrapher.

Thomas would go on to invent new devices and improve on several inventions. Without him, we would not have several of the inventions we have these days. Without electricity and his inventions, we would be living quite a different life.

Here are some of his inventions-