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Thomas Alva Edison was an inventor born in Ohio in 1847. Then his family moved to Port Huron, Michigan. His parents worked hard and taught him to do the same.

Thomas's parents, Nancy and Samuel Edison, had seven children. Thomas was the youngest. His mother had been a school teacher. Thomas was easily distracted in school. He was curious about too many things and got into trouble for his curiosity. His parents thought that it would be good for his mother to teach him at home. Mrs. Edison used his curiosity to help him learn. She taught him more about the subjects that interested him. Other subjects he learned later in life. When Thomas was interested in something, he was not easily distracted. He loved reading, sketching and experimenting. All of these skills are needed by scientists and inventors.

While still a child, he turned the basement into a science lab. He experimented with chemicals. He tinkered with mechanical devices. At age 12, he needed money for things in his lab. So he began to sell vegetables that were raised on the family farm. Then he sold newspapers and candy to the passengers on the trains. He was very successful. So he began to write and print his own newspaper. The passengers loved his paper. These were his first successful businesses.

Most of the train stations had a telegraph office. At that time, sending a telegram was the fastest way to send a message. A telegraph machine uses a special code called Morse Code. It is a system of dots(short taps) and dashes(longer tap sounds) to spell a message. Thomas quickly learned this code. At age 15 he began a job as a telegraph operator. This job made him curious about electricity. He began to experiment on ways to improve the telegraph.

All of his experimenting allowed him to create his first invention. It was a machine that improved the stock ticker that helped the Wall Street investors. He used the money from this invention to help him set up a laboratory in New Jersey.

Mr. Edison's best inventions were the phonograph and the electric light bulb. His phonograph could play and record sound. His electric light bulb was a big improvement over gas or candle lighting.

When Thomas Edison died in 1931, he had over 1,000 patents from the things he had invented.

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