Edison and His Brilliance essays

Edison and His Brilliance essays Thomas A. Edison earned his reputation as one of America's greatest inventors and heroes. Full of innovation, ingenuity, and enterprise, Edison "embodie[d] much of what Americans have felt was positive about the national experience. " Edison can put claim to 1093 US patents in addition to thousands more international patents. His works include such major contributions as advancements in telegraphy, the phonograph, a perfected nickel-iron-alkaline battery, and the first commercially successful incandescent lighting system. As shown by his many patents, Edison not only contributed innovative technologies to society, but he was also a successful entrepreneur. Edison's success with the incandescent light was not only one of his greatest achievements, but also one of man's greatest achievements. Edison began tinkering with the notion of incandescence in 1876 up to 1878, when he dedicated his efforts to produce an economical electric light. He combined both his stunning intellect with his spirit for hard work to produce some of the world's greatest inventions. Finally in 1879, after nearly four years of tedious work, Edison's first success came about with the use of a carbonized cotton thread. Born on February 11, 1847 to Samuel and Nancy Edison, Thomas spent the first seven years of his life in Milan, Ohio, his place of birth. In 1854, opportunity took the Edison family to Port Huron, Michigan, a city twice the size of Milan. Edison's formal education ended after only three months of private schooling; he "responded poorly to the regimented atmosphere of the school," which caused some to see Edison as a "problem child. " However, Edison's mother, a former school teacher, began educating Thomas at home. Edison credits some of his creativity to his non-formal education, claiming that formal education, "cast 'the brain into a mould' and '[did] not encourage original thought or reasoning,' laying 'more stress on memory than on observ...