Panos+M.

// Did you know that I made // // over 1,000 inventions? // // Hello! I'm Thomas Alva //// Edison. I was born on February 11, 1847, to middle-class parents in Milan, Ohio. My parents were Nancy and Samuel Edison. I was the last of seven kids, three of which died young. // // When I was a child, I was very interested in how the world worked. I kept trying to do things that humans couldn't do. When I was 3, I tried to hatch a chicken egg after I saw one of our hens do it. I was a daredevil and a trouble-maker, and I was regularly thrashed by my father. My family and I lived in a small house on a shore of Lake Erie. My father was in the lumber business. // // My formal education did not go so well. After a few months of school, my teacher said that was addled (messed up) but my mother believed I was smart and took me out of the class and home-schooled me. My favorite books were __the School of Natural Philosophy__ and __the Cooper Union__. // // As a young adult I was a telegraph operator and a part-time inventor. When my inventions were turned down, I thought it was a useful lesson on what people did not want. I always said: “I didn't fail, I found 10,000 ways that don't work.” // // I got married twice. I had three children with my first wife, Mary: Marion (nicknamed Dot), Thomas (nicknamed Dash), and William. With my second wife, Mina, we had Madeline, Charles, and Theodore. // // On July 18, 1877, I presented in Menlo Park the first ever means of recording sound, my phonograph. One needle etches the sound in an aluminum cylinder and another one replays it. People loved it. It could offer information, education, and entertainment. // // In 1879, I invented the light bulb, the first electric lighting suitable for a home. My light bulb had a carbonized cotton thread that glowed when electricity ran through it. Within a few months, I improved it using a carbonized bamboo filament that could last over 1,200 hours. // // People called me a genius. I always said: “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” // // It is fall of 1931. I have lived a long time...have faith, go forward. //