The great American inventor Thomas Alva Edison was born on 11th of February in Milan, state Ohaio, in 1847. It was often been said that Edison had no schooling. And it is true that he went to school for only 6 month (when he was 7 years old he went to school, but Thomas had to leave it because his teacher thought that he was a stupid boy). But his mother taught him at his boyhood at home in Port Huron, Michigan. With her help, he was reading histories of the Roman Empire at the age of 8 or 9.

When Thomas was 12 years he started selling newspapers on Michigan trains, he spent whole days reading in the Detroit Free library (he visited it at first in 1855). In his home he always had books, magazines and half a dozen of daily newspapers.

From childhood, this man who was to achieve so much was almost completely deaf. He could hear only the loudest noises, but this didn't trouble him. He believed that it drove him to reading when he was young, provided silence in which he could think, and saved him from small talk.

People asked him why he didn't invent a machine to help him hear. And he always replied that "a man who has to shout can never tell a lie".



Thomas Alva Edison never looked like a man whose inventions had changed the world. Once, a visitor asked whether he had received many honours and medals and he replied that his wife had baskets of them. He is remembered for his courage, his imagination and determination, his humility, his wit.

Thomas worked in his laboratory at Menlo Park, New Jersey. Because he spent such long hours in the laboratory, he was at home very little. But he did find time to go fishing and to take short trips with his family. And when the children were young, he often played games with them. Thomas helped his son to start building a full-sized car. Thomas' favourite holiday was the Independence Day. He always made huge fireworks at dawn.

At home or at the laboratory Thomas seemed to know how to get other people to do things. He could and did give orders, but he liked better to inspire people by his own example. This was one of the secrets of his success.

He was not, as many people believe, a scientist working alone in his laboratory. After he sold his first successful inventions - for $140,000 - he began hiring chemists, mathematicians, engineers - anyone who knew things that he thought would help him solve a difficult problem.



Often Edison had many troubles and couldn't pay his men. But they said "It didn't matter. We wouldn't stay away". His feelings about money were somewhat the same.

He never hesitated to spend every cent that he had. He considered money a material, like metal, to be used rather than kept. He put nearly all his money into his experiments. Several times he was almost completely without money, but it didn't stop him.

Edison usually worked 18 or more hours a day. He was sure that "Achievement provides the only real pleasure in life". He slept only 4 hours each night, with a few additional short naps. He thought that "if someone sleeps too much he get dopey, he loses time and opportunities as well".

And now I would like to tell you some words about his inventions. His 1st invention was a talking or recording machine. Then he invented the phonograph; the incandescent bulb, which lighted the world; he improved moving pictures; megaphone; telegraph and telephone. He liked to say; "98% perspiration and only 2% inspiration". Edison failed quite often, but he was not afraid of failing.

Once in December there was a great fire in his laboratory. All chemicals were exploding and everything was damaged. He was 67 and a lot of people thought that he could not begin to work again. But with the help of his workmen he managed. That's why he was often called "The Wizard of Menlo Park".

He enjoyed music and he could listen with the help of his phonograph (it was his favourite invention).

Edison never stopped working and he wasn't afraid of growing age. At the age of 80 he began to study Botany, a science new for him. He wanted to find a North American plant which would produce rubber. And he found it. It was an ordinary roadside plant, the goldenrod.

Finally, at 84, his health started to fail. Newspapers arrived to his door to keep watch. Every hour the news was sent out to them:"The light still burns". But on 18th of October in 1931 word came:"Te light is out".

On the day he was buried, all electric lights in the nation were to be turned off for one minute in his honour.