Who Was Thomas Alva Edison? by Margaret Frith

 Who Was ...? biography series for middle grade brings inspiring character of Thomas Alva Edison– a man who lit up the world. 

Thomas Alva Edison (1847–1931) was born in Milan, Ohio. He was a very curious child. He loved reading. When he became interested in science, he started simple experiments. When he read about Morse’s telegraphic alphabet, he became fascinated with telegraph.

At twelve, he got a job as a newsboy on the train. At his stop in Detroit before heading back home, he noticed a newspaper getting rid of ink, paper, and old pieces of type. This led him to starting his own newspaper. 

Then, he got an offer to learn how to become a telegraph operator, which led him to work for Western Union. At night, he worked as an operator, and during the day he worked on his inventions. He slept very little and this habit stayed with him. He always had a notebook with him to write down ideas. 

He created electric machine for much faster voting, but the politicians preferred the slower count. So there was no interest in this machine. Despite this disappointment, he quickly became known as someone with original ideas. He worked on developing new machines. The most successful became the universal stock printer which he sold to Western Union. 

Tom liked working with a team. Thus, he hired people to work in teams on different projects. They worked on as many as forty projects at a time. 

Meanwhile, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. Tom was disappointed that it wasn’t his invention, but his carbon transmitter made telephones work better. 

Soon after, with his team, he invented a phonograph. He was thirty. Two years later, he invented an electric lightbulb. It took him another two and a half years to build the infrastructure for the electric light in one part of Manhattan but he did it on September 4, 1882.

He also became a pioneer in developing a system for filming and showing movie pictures. The storage battery became his biggest moneymaker. 

Many of his ideas failed, but he never gave up until he had tried every possibility. 

This biography embodies the true nature of an inventor, a man who was curious about the science and was crafting experiments from childhood to satisfy his curiosity, which led him to many successful inventions.

This illustrated biography series for young readers, ages 7-10, is presented in a relatable way, with simple sentences and enriched with insightful inserts. 

Published in 2005 by Penguin Workshop

 

TREDNING INSPIRATION: Explore what Interests You.

 

Traits:

·         Whatever interested him, he explored more of it.

·         As he was learning a trade, he continued to pursue his experiments at the same time.

·         He always had a notebook with him to write down ideas. Leonardo da Vinci did the same thing. Ideas were constantly coming to him and he didn’t want to miss anything. So he always had a pen and paper with him to write everything that came to him.

·         He preferred to work in teams as more minds put together meant more chances for success.

·         He had many failed projects but that didn’t discourage him from continuing to pursue what he loved.

 

 

“A man who doesn’t make up his mind to cultivate the habit of thinking cannot make the most of himself. All progress, all success, spring from thinking.” – Thomas Alva Edison 

“Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.” – Thomas Alva Edison 

“There’s better way to do – find it.” – Thomas Alva Edison 

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas Alva Edison

“If we all did the things we are really capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.” – Thomas Alva Edison