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Date of Birth
Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11th, 1847 in Milan, Ohio. He was the son of Nancy Matthews Elliott ans Samuel Ogden Edison Jr. Edison was one of 4 boys and on top of that had 3 sisters. (Sonneborn, Liz, The Eletric Light) -
Flow Stoppage of Niagara Falls
There was an ice jam at the mouth of the river causing the flow of water to completely stop. Niagara Falls has been reported to have been stopped for about 30-40 hours before returning back to normal. It was caused by a very strong wind that pushed ice in the waterfall over the mouth of it's river. (www.niagarafrontier.com/fallsstopped.html) -
Early Age
At the age of 12, Edison sold fruits, candy and papers on the Grand Trunk Railroad. At 14, Edison was already employing several boys to work for him. On the Grand Trunk Railroad he would have some key things that were a success and others that would affect his later life. (Hylander, Clarence J. American Inventors) -
Printing Press
On the Grand Trunk Railroad, Edison set up a printed press. He would print a weekly newspaper on this train for the people on the train and others. This was the first newspaper to be printed on a train in motion. (Asimov, Isaac. Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology.) -
Problems on the Railroad
A fire started in a boxcar of the train that Edison worked on when he was younger. The conductor went to Edison's boxcar and threw Edison's chemistry set out the door and down a hill. The conductor procceeded from there to kick Edison, giving him a vigorous boxing on the ears. This incident caused Edison to become deaf. (Hylander, Clarence J. American Inventors) -
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American Civil War
Also called The War Between The States, it was fought between at the time, the United States and 11 suthern states. At the time this formed the Confederate States of America. This war was a fight to end slavery in the southern states. In 1865, Abraham Lincoln was able to abolish slavery in the southern states. (Weber, Jennifer L., and Warren W. Hassler. "American Civil War") -
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Invention of Telephone and Telegraph
Edison did lots of work on trying to invent a telephone. At the same time he was also working hard on the telegraph. In 1875, he met his expectations and invented both the telephone and the telegraph. (bulbs.com/learning/history.aspx) -
Lab Creation at Menlo Park, New Jersey
In the spring of 1876, Thomas Edison had moved all his operations to a laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. Here he started working on important inventuions such as the telephone. Edison also started experimenting of recording the sound of someone's voice in that laboratory as well. ("Thomas Edison and Menlo Park") -
Invention of Phonograph
While working on the telephone and the telegraph, he shortly after started with the phonograph. In the year 1877, Edison had yet again another invention. This time he had invented the phonograph. (bulbs.com/learning/history.aspx) -
Conduction of Electric Light
In the year 1879, Thomas Edison had conducted electric light. Many people believe that he was the first one to do it but he is just credited as it, he was not the first. The man who was the first person to conduct electric light was Humphry Davy in the year 1802. Some people claim that there were at least 20 people to invent electric light before Edison. ("History of the Lightbulb | Lightning Basics") -
Invention of Storage Battery
In 1901, Thomas Edison invented a type of storage battery that was lightweight and long-lasting for automobiles. Starting in the late 1890's, it took Edison almost a decade to invent t and by that time were powered by internal combustion engines. Edison was still able to find and extensive market for his product though. (Storage Battery-The Edison Papers) -
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World War I
World War I started over the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. This was a worldwide war and contained many countries. Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire went up against Great Britain, Russia, France, Italy, Romania, Japan and the United States. There were lots of destruction and carnage due to the new military advances. (History.com Staff. "World War I History") -
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Russian Civil War
This war was fought on the topic of the Bolshevik government. It was fought between various Russians and the anti-Bolshevic armies against the Red Army who favored the Bolshevic government. In the end, the Red Army was able to keep the Bolshevic government led by Vladimir Lenin in power. (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica "Russian Civil War") -
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Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles is the treaty that ended up ending World War I. This treaty contains 15 parts and 440 articles. The treaty stripped Germany of many of their powers and responsibilities such as possesing certain weapons and losing all of their colonies. (History.com Staff. "Treaty of Versailles") -
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The Great Depression
The first two years of the Great Depression occured in the last two years of Thomas Edison's life. This was the worst economic downfall ever in history of the industrialized world. Several years into the depression, there were about 15 million Americans left without jobs. The main cause of the Great Depression was the massive and fast expansion of the U.S. economy. (History.com Staff. "The Great Depression) -
Death of Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison died on October 18th 1931 in West Orange, New Jersey at the age of 84. Edison was hard-working as he would work into his 80's. He is known to have 1,093 patents in their lifetime. ("Edsion dies" history.com)
