Thomas Edison

by Mimi

          Thomas Edison was born on February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio, that next to Odessa, Russia, had the largest wheat shipping center in the world. When he was seven, his family moved to Port Huron, Michigan. There, he had three months of education in a one-room schoolhouse with thirty-eight others eleven year-olds. After the three months, because of his hyperactive behavior, his teacher lost his patience. After that his mom  home-schooled him. When she was home-schooling him, she discovered that he had a remarkable intelligence.

            Edison soon learned the three Rs and the bible from his mother, while his father encouraged him to read the great classics, giving him a ten cents reward for each one he completed. It wasn’t long before Edison developed a deep interest in world history and English literature.

            Thomas Edison especially enjoyed reading and reciting poetry. His lifelong favorite was Thomas Gray’s In a Country Churchyard. Many years later, he had a fondness for Shakespeare’s plays. But because of his extreme shyness and high-pitched voice, Edison soon gave up the idea.

            At age eleven, Edison’s parents tried to increase his knowledge by teaching him how to use the resources of the local library. This skill gradually caused him to prefer learning independently. Before Edison learned to be more selective of what he read, he used to just start on the last book on the bottom shelf and read every book in the stacks. But by age twelve, Edison had not only read Rise and Fall of The Roman Empire, History of the World, and Anatomy of Melancholy, but he had completed The World Dictionary of Science and a number of works on Practical Chemistry!

             When Edison was twelve, he already began to make money. He sold newspapers, snacks, and candy on the local railroad. Edison also had a separate business selling fruits and vegetables! At age fourteen, Edison had published his own newspaper: The Weekly Herald. This mini paper allowed him to earn more than ten dollars a day, when he sold them on the railroads.

            Edison constructed many inventions. His invention that is most known today is the incandescent electric light bulb. Although he was a successful inventor, his first invention did not succeed! He invented things such as a vote-caster, a dictaphone, a kenetiscope, the first silent film, and much more! He also had the world’s first full fledged research and development center in West Orange, New Jersey. But within a year,  Edison had the largest scientific laboratory in the world!

            Thomas Edison died on October 18th, 1931 at nine p.m. in New Jersey. He was  84 years of age. Edison have had a wonderful life, even though he was totally deaf in his left ear, 80% deaf in his right ear and had a learning disability. He was a great man.

Credits: http://www.thomasedison.com/biography.html and http://images.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi (Google Image Search)