The Legend of Thomas Edison

I grew up in Edison, New Jersey and although I've been a voracious reader for most of my life, I finally read a book about the great Thomas Edison. Most people identify Edison with the discovery of the light bulb, but he was involved in the telegraph, radio, camera, telephone, phonograph and the movie industry.  I'm going to give you some highlights that I picked up in the 600 page biography I read.

He was not anything like a normal person. From the time he was a teenager he slept very few hours and would regularly as an inventor sleep in his lab in the corner of the room.  He looked at every setback as an opportunity.  He was always in a hurry even when he went to get his dry cleaning done.  He had his driver slow down and he would throw a large bag of his clothes out the window to the door of the dry cleaner, who recognized the sound of his clothes hitting the door. 

The chapters in this book are titled unlike any other book: Botany, Defense, Chemistry, Magnetism, Light, Sound, Telegraphy and Natural Philosophy.  He was deaf in one ear and half deaf in the other and it did not stop him from being called, "The Wizard of Menlo Park."

Throughout his life he focused his time on multiple projects and back and forth he was an inventor and a businessman.  He overcame fires and business losses and financial struggles to gain the respect of the world.  In his life he had 1,093 patents in this country.

As a young child he sold newspapers on a train and had his own newspaper and wound up being a top telegraph operator.  While he received worldwide admiration which he didn't really want, he earned a lot of jealousy.  One friend in Europe sent him a message, "My boy, you are not liked over here by these fellows. You have committed the grave error of succeeding."

The town of Edison began as one of his factories.  At the age of 84 he died in West Orange, New Jersey in 1931.  Below are some of the tributes when he passed:

Albert Einstein: "An inventive spirit has filled his own life and all our existence with bright light."

Henry Ford: "His achievement was etched in light and sound on the daily and hourly life of the world."

President Hoover: "He multiplied light and dissolved darkness. The dependence of the country on electrical current for it's life and health is itself a monument to Mr. Edison's genius."

Finally, for one full minute most of the country went dark one night at 10:00 pm in his honor. He had little formal education, but he gave the world everything he had. The Latin words, "Carpe Diem," or "seize the day", was something he did every day of his life.