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Thomas Alva Edison was an inventor born in Ohio in 1847. However, at an early age, 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. When she sent Thomas, “Al”, to school, he was easily distracted. He was curious about too many things and got into trouble for his curiosity. So, his parent 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. Even though he was easily distracted by some things, he displayed determination in things that interested him. He loved reading, sketching and experimenting. All things needed for scientists and inventors.

While still a child, he turned the basement into a science lab. He experimented with chemicals and 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. Al quickly learned this code. At age 15 he began a job as a telegraph operator. This job made him curious about electricity, and he began to experiment 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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