Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison is credited with doing more to shape our modern-day civilization than any other person. He was a creative, hard working, and dedicated person. He was also a very interesting person. Being the youngest in his family of seven children, he didn’t learn to walk until he was four years old. He began asking questions at a very young age.

Edison was born in 1847 to middle-class parents in Milan, Ohio. Tom’s inquiring mind was too much for his schoolteacher. She felt he was self-centered and asked too many questions. His mother eventually taught Tom at home. His father encouraged him to read the classics and would pay him for each one he finished. Edison grew to love reading and writing—especially poetry. Edison soon grew to love the sciences and could not be turned away. His parents found it hard to keep up with their son’s quest for knowledge.

Edison put all of his knowledge to great use. He went on to become an inventor who held at least 1,093 patents. Many of these patents were improvements on earlier patents. Edison’s greatest innovation was Menlo Park. Menlo Park was a research laboratory built in New Jersey. It was here that Edison created many inventions. One of his greatest inventions was the electric lamp.