THOMAS EDISON 1847 1931 INVENTOR EDISON THOMAS 1847 1931 TECHNOLOGY COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY THOMAS ALVA EDISON WAS BORN IN MILAN OHIO AND RECEIVED MOST OF HIS EDUCATION AT HOME FROM HIS MOTHER AS A TEENAGER HE CONDUCTED EXPERIMENTS IN THE BAGGAGE CARS OF TRAINS IN 1863 EDISON BECAME A TELEGRAPH OPERATOR FIVE YEARS LATER HE MOVED TO BOSTON TO WORK FOR THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY HIS FIRST INVENTIONS IMPROVED TELEGRAPH EQUIPMENT IN 1869 HE THEN MOVED TO NEW YORK TO WORK AS A CONTRACT INVENTOR FOR SEVERAL COMPANIES IN 1876 HE BUILT AN INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH LABORATORY IN MENLO PARK NEW JERSEY EDISON CREATED THE PHONOGRAPH IN 1877 TWO YEARS LATER HE INVENTED THE LIGHT BULB EDISON SOON BECAME KNOWN AS THE WIZARD OF MENLO PARK FOR HIS INVENTIONS IN 1887 EDISON BUILT A BIGGER LABORATORY IN WEST ORANGE NEW JERSEY WHERE HE CONDUCTED MOST OF HIS RESEARCH INTO ELECTRIC LIGHTING UNTIL THAT PART OF HIS BUSINESS MERGED WITH GENERAL ELECTRIC IN 1892 BY THE TIME OF HIS DEATH EDISON HELD MORE THAN 1000 PATENTS INCLUDING PATENTS FOR A MOVIE CAMERA A STORAGE BATTERY A DICTAPHONE AND AN ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE
