American inventor. Famous for founding factory laboratories and pioneering ways to integrate technological development with scientific research, he was born on February 11, 1847, to Dutch immigrants in Mylan, Ohio, and died on October 18, 1931, in West Orange, New Jersey. Had only 3 months of formal education as a child...worked as a paperboy, peddler, and newsagent from the age of 12 to earn his living. Influenced by M. Faraday, Edison spent his life experimenting with electricity and inventing, and in 1868 he invented a ballot recorder that he tried to sell to Congress, but it was not adopted. Edison's failure to find a market for his first invention made him pay more attention to the practicality of his inventions.In 1869, Edison moved from Boston to New York. He improved the telegraph of the Golden Indicator Telegraph Company and was rewarded by the manager of the company with a salary of $300 per month (a very high salary at that time.) In 1870, he moved to New Jersey and began his period of efficient invention; in 1874, he improved the typewriter, and in 1876, he added a charcoal microphone to the telephone invented by A.G. Bell, which improved the loudness of the received calls.
In 1876, he founded his famous laboratory. In this laboratory, he broke the tradition of individual scientists engaged in research alone, organizing a group of specialists (including N. Tesla and others), by his title and assigned tasks, *** with a commitment to an invention, thus creating a modern scientific research in the right way. 1877, the invention of the phonograph, which made him famous throughout the world. 1878, the beginning of the incandescent lamp research in more than ten months after a number of failures in 1877, the invention of the phonograph in 1877, the invention of the phonograph in 1877, the invention of the phonograph in 1877, the invention of the phonograph in 1877, which made him famous throughout the world. In 1878, began research on incandescent lamps, in more than a dozen months after many failures, in October 21, 1879 successfully lit the incandescent charcoal filament lamps, stable light for two full days. 1882, in New York, Pearl Street, founded the world's second public thermal power plant, the establishment of the New York City District, electric lighting system, which has become a prototype of the modern electric power system. The realization of electric lighting, not only greatly improve the conditions of people's production and labor, but also heralded the electrification of daily life era is coming. 1883, Edison in the test vacuum bulb, accidentally found that the cold, hot electrodes between the current through. This phenomenon, later known as the Edison effect, became the basis of the electron tube and the electronics industry. 1887, moved to West Orange, and in the same year in the city to create a larger scale, also equipped with newer laboratories, that is, the famous Edison Laboratory (later called the invention of the factory). Here, based on the inventions of G. Eastman, he made his own camera, and in 1914, he made the first sound movie system with a phonograph and a camera. In later years, his inventions and innovations included the storage battery, the cement mixer, the recording telephone, the duplex and multiplex telegraph systems, and the railroad brake. During World War I, he served as chairman of the Naval Technical Advisory Board, directing research on torpedoes and anti-submarine equipment and inventing dozens of weapons. In 1920, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal by the U.S. government and the Legion of Honor by the French government, and in 1928, he was awarded the Medal of Honor by the U.S. Congress. Throughout his life, Edison and his laboratory*** were awarded 1,093 patents for their inventions. Edison invented many inventions in his life, but after all, he lacked systematic scientific knowledge, and thus the development of modern technology can not make the correct judgment. the late 19th century, AC power transmission system has appeared, but he still insisted on direct current transmission, and in the fierce competition with the G. Westinghouse lost the construction of Niagara hydroelectric power plant contract; his laboratory blindly test production of magnetic ore dressing equipment, exhausted the invention of electric light income funds, and finally had to give up. The funds from the invention of the electric light were exhausted, and finally had to be abandoned. However, Edison in the development of electric power, electrical manufacturing to promote the application of electric energy and other aspects of the contribution, making him one of the greatest inventors in human history.
In 1883, Edison discovered the phenomenon of hot electron emission, also known as the "Edison effect", that is, near the surface of the metal part of the electrons or ions due to the high temperature of its irregular movement to get enough kinetic energy to overcome the surface of the bondage, to escape from the metal outside. The Edison effect is important for the operation of all vacuum tubes, and the cathode, which is the emitting surface, is often coated with a layer of alkaline-earth metal oxide to facilitate electron emission and is heated with an electric current to maintain the high temperature.
In 1900, Edison invented the iron-nickel battery, a kind of alkaline battery, electric potential of about 1.3 ~ 1.4 volts, long life, but not high efficiency. Edison had many inventions in his life, but when others asked Edison the reason for his success, he said: some people think I have what genius, this is not true, "genius" is one percent of the inspiration, ninety percent
Edison is a world-famous great inventor. His life's inventions are unrivaled in the world. Edison's main contributions are:
1. Edison's most significant contribution to science and technology is the invention of the phonograph and the incandescent electric light.
Today, it's hard to imagine life without electricity - not being able to turn on a light, listen to a record, go to the movie theater, or make a phone call to someone. Yet all of these things we take for granted are all the result of one man's practical inventions - and he was Thomas Edison.
Before Edison, there were only dim, hand-lit gas lamps on the roads, in homes, and in factories. When night fell, factories closed. Edison didn't invent electricity or the telephone. But his kind of practical inventions and improvements pushed the uses of electricity and telephones to every corner.
Edison was perhaps the greatest inventor of all time, pioneering technological innovation in the modern world. This tireless inventor brought us from the age of steam into the 20th century.
2. Edison was also famous for his inventions in movies, streetcars, mining, architecture, and weaponry.
3. Edison also observed the phenomenon of hot electron emission in a vacuum bulb, later called it the "Edison effect", the discovery of hot electron emission, for the development of the electron tube laid the foundation.
Three, anecdotes
1. hatching egg experience
Edison in his childhood on the love of brains, curiosity is particularly strong, one morning, the whole family suddenly found that Edison disappeared, looking for all over the world can not be found, has been to the evening, only to find that he lay on his back next to the chicken coop, his stomach pressed the bottom of a large number of eggs, it turned out that he whimsical, to use their own bodies to incubate chicks! The result was not what he had hoped for: the eggshells were cracked and the yolks were overflowing. Little Edison also realized that chickens can hatch eggs, but for some reason people cannot.
2. The Worst Student
Edison liked to learn about things that interested him. But school was another story. Edison started school when he was 8 years old, shortly after his family moved to Port Huron, on the other side of the Great Lakes. Stuck in a classroom all day, he found it too uninteresting.
Like most teachers at the time, the teachers at this school believed in the stick. Edison was terrified of the cane, but despite this, he couldn't learn much of what he was being taught. And his habit of asking questions made the teachers even more angry.
Edison became the worst student in his class for three months. Then he heard the teacher talking about him, saying he had a problem, that he was "addled". Edison knew what this meant: an addled egg is a bad, spoiled egg. In a fit of rage, he stormed out of the classroom, never to return.
At home, his mother, Nancy, sided with him. For a while Edison went to some other schools on and off. But most of the time his mother taught him herself. Or rather, she let him teach himself. With her encouragement, he read hungrily: Shakespeare, history, the Bible. One day, when he was nine years old, she gave him a book on science, the first of its kind he had ever read. The book was called The School of Natural Philosophy, and it allowed readers to do simple experiments at home. From that point on, Al's life changed.
He read the book like a maniac, did all the experiments in it, and then he did his own experiments. He bought chemicals, searched around for wires and other edges, and built a lab in his bedroom. One of the experiments he did was to rest the tails of two big cats on the wires and rub their fur against each other in an attempt to create static electricity. The only result was that he was scratched and bloodied by both cats!
Another of his early experiments was to put a friend on a large dose of blistering powder in the hope that the gas produced by this powder in the human body would send him up into the air like a filled balloon.
3. Hard exploration, "looking for a needle in a haystack" finally succeeded
Edison to the age of 12 when he began his difficult career, he worked as a newsboy on the train, learned to send the newspaper technology, to Boston, New York, until the age of 24 when he had his own factory and happy family, Edison in 1878 when he announced his intention to invent a new type of paper. In 1878, Edison announced his intention to invent a soft, inexpensive and safe electric light. To find the right filament, Edison experimented with boron, ruthenium, chromium, carbide, and various metal alloys,*** more than 1,600 materials over a period of 13 months, but without success. Some people blew a cold wind, said Edison this time is "eat into their own can not chew things". A physicist who once worked for Edison called the experiment "looking for a needle in a haystack". However, Edison is not afraid of failure, adhere to the test, determined to find a needle from the sea. At 5 p.m. on Sunday, October 10, 1879, Edison lit a light bulb with a carbonized cotton filament as the filament, which he personally observed and recorded. This time, the bulb was bright and steady, and for one hour, two hours, three hours, ...... the bulb stayed on. From the 19th and 20th to the 21st, none of them went on break. Until 2:00 p.m. on the 21st, when lit to the 45th bell, Edison told his assistant to raise the voltage a little, and the bulb got brighter. After a few more minutes, the filament finally burned out, and on December 21st, the New York Herald Tribune devoted a full-page story to the success of the light bulb test. Edison received a full patent, and it is recognized that he invented the incandescent light bulb. 1879 New Year's Eve, Edison put 60 bulbs lit up and hung in Monroe Park, when it was snowing heavily, and more than 3,000 people came to visit in the snow.
Edison was a practical man. His motto was, "I inquire what mankind needs, and then I step forward and endeavor to invent it." Some say that inventions are the product of fate and that Edison was a genius. Edison, however, exclaimed, "Genius, one percent is inspiration, ninety-nine percent is blood and sweat!" When he was asked how he persevered during the 10,000 failed attempts to invent the light bulb, he said that he never failed during the process; instead, he found 10,000 ineffective ways to do it. The 3,400 notes he wrote during his life detailing his invention ideas and experiments are strong evidence of this statement. Edison was 77 years old when someone asked him, "When will you retire?" He blurted out, "The day before my funeral!" Once, Edison was asked, half-jokingly, "Would you agree to give science a ten-year sabbatical?" Edison replied gravely, "Science will not rest a day; it has worked every minute of the billions of years that have passed, and will continue to do so." Indeed, Edison practiced what he preached, and in his 80s, he was still working diligently to "make more inventions," devoting himself to extracting latex from the weeds of his country.
Timeline of events
On February 11, 1847, Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio.
1854 Edison's family moves to Port Huron, Michigan. Soon Edison became seriously ill with scarlet fever. This serious illness became the main cause of his later deafness.
1855 Edison attended the Ingle School for three months.
1859 At the age of 12, Edison became a paperboy on the Port Huron-Detroit train.
1861 The American Civil War breaks out.
1862 Battle of Hilo; Edison uses the telegraph to make newspapers reporting on the battle a bestseller.
1863 Sixteen-year-old Edison becomes a newspaper man and spends the next few years traveling around doing newspaper work.
1868 Edison arrives in Boston and gets a job with the Western Union Telegraph Company. He applies for his first patent (for a voting machine), and news of his two-way telegraph is published in a fellow newsagent's magazine.
In January 1869, Edison became a free inventor. He applies for a second patent for an improved automatic stock ticker.
April, tests of the two-way telegraph fail.
In October, Edison establishes a partnership with electrical engineer Franklin L. Pope.
1871 Edison opens a store department in Newark, New Jersey.
In December, Thomas Edison married Mary Stillwell.
1874 Edison successfully builds the multiplex telegraph system, a quadruple transmission system that allows two messages to be transmitted simultaneously in two directions over a single line.
1876 In January, Edison began construction of a new laboratory in Monroe Park, N.J., and moved in shortly thereafter.
In March, Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for his newly invented telephone.
1877 In January, Thomas Edison began work on the charcoal telephone transmitter.
In November, Edison made a major improvement in the effectiveness of the charcoal-refined telephone sender using lampblack.
In December, Edison invented the phonograph.
1878 Edison begins work on electric light and transmission systems
1879 In the summer of 1879, the design of the "low-waisted Mary Ann" dynamo is completed.
October 1879 Edison discovers that a charred cotton thread used as a filament in a highly vacuumed glass bulb will stay lit for many hours before burning out.
1880 An electric train is built and put into service at Monroe Park.
1881 Thomas Edison leaves Monroe Park and returns to New York.
1882 While working on the electric light, Edison notices some black deposits on the inside of the bulb, the first demonstration of the "Edison effect".
September 4, the power station on Pearl Street, New York, is activated.
1884 Edison's wife Mary dies.
1886 Thomas Edison marries Mina Miller and settles with her on "Glenmont," a large estate in Orangevale, New Jersey.
1887 Edison begins research to improve the phonograph; and builds a new laboratory in West Orange.
1888 Edison rescues an iron ore handling company that started in the 1970s.
In the years that followed, he purchased large tracts of land with iron ore in New Jersey and opened a mineral processing plant and a mine.
1891 Edison patented his "Continuous Photographic Projector of Moving Objects" in the United States.
1899 Edison begins work on batteries for electric cars.
1900 Edison's work on the treatment of iron ore finally stopped.
1902 Edison opened a successful cement factory. (From this business he developed road-building and house-building projects.)
1912 Edison began designing an electrical automatic starter for Ford's Model T automobile, which replaced the electric cars on the market.
1914-1918 World War I breaks out, and Edison spends much of his time on scientific developments for the U.S. Navy.
1927 Edison established a laboratory in Florida to study domestic sources of rubber to replace the usual Malayan products.
1931 In August, Edison was so distraught that he was diagnosed with a serious illness.
On October 18, Thomas Alva Edison died at the age of 84 years.
On October 21, the lights went out across the United States in mourning.