- Wikipedia

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\"Edison\" redirects here. For other uses, see Edison (disambiguation).

Thomas Edison
Edison, c. 1922
Born	Thomas Alva Edison (1847-02-11)February 11, 1847 Milan, Ohio, U.S.
Died	October 18, 1931(1931-10-18) (aged 84) West Orange, New Jersey, U.S.
Burial place	Thomas Edison National Historical Park
Education	Self-educated; some coursework at Cooper Union
Occupations	Inventor businessman
Years active	1877\u20131930
Known for	Phonograph, Electric light, Electric power distribution, early motion pictures, see list
Spouses	\n Mary Stilwell \n (m. 1871; died 1884) \n Mina Miller (m. 1886)
Children	6, including Madeleine, Charles, and Theodore
Relatives	Lewis Miller (father-in-law)
Awards	\n See list \n Matteucci Medal (1887)\n John Scott Medal (1889)\n Edward Longstreth Medal (1899)\n John Fritz Medal (1908)\n Franklin Medal (1915)\n Navy Distinguished Service Medal (1920)\n Congressional Gold Medal (1928)\n \n
\n \n \n Thomas Edison's voice \n \n Edison reciting \"Mary Had a Little Lamb\" Recorded 1929 \n
Signature

Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman.^[1]^[2]^[3] He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures.^[4] These inventions, which include the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and early versions of the electric light bulb, have had a widespread impact on the modern industrialized world.^[5] He was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of organized science and teamwork to the process of invention, working with many researchers and employees. He established the first industrial research laboratory.^[6]\n

Edison was raised in the American Midwest. Early in his career he worked as a telegraph operator, which inspired some of his earliest inventions.^[4] In 1876, he established his first laboratory facility in Menlo Park, New Jersey, where many of his early inventions were developed. He later established a botanical laboratory in Fort Myers, Florida, in collaboration with businessmen Henry Ford and Harvey S. Firestone, and a laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey, that featured the world's first film studio, the Black Maria. With 1,093 US patents in his name, as well as patents in other countries, Edison is regarded as the most prolific inventor in American history.^[7] Edison married twice and fathered six children. He died in 1931 due to complications from diabetes.\n

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v t e Thomas Edison
Discoveries and inventions	\n List of Edison patents \n Carbon microphone \n Edison's Phonograph Doll \n Edison screw \n Etheric force \n Kinetoscope \n Phonograph \n Phonomotor \n Quadruplex telegraph \n Tasimeter \n
Advancements	\n Consolidated Edison \n Edison\u2013Lalande cell \n Fluoroscopy \n Incandescent light bulb \n Movie camera \n Nickel\u2013iron battery \n Thermionic emission \n Ticker tape \n
Ventures	\n Thomas A. Edison, Inc. \n Edison and Swan Electric Light Company \n Edison Gower-Bell Telephone Company of Europe \n Edison Illuminating Company \n Edison Machine Works \n Edison Manufacturing Company \n Edison Ore-Milling Company \n Edison Portland Cement Company \n Edison Records \n Edison Storage Battery Company \n Edison Studios \n General Electric \n Motion Picture Patents Company \n Mine Safety Appliances \n Oriental Telephone Company \n
Monuments	\n Birthplace \n Black Maria \n Depot Museum \n Memorial Tower and Museum \n National Historical Park \n State Park \n Storage Battery Company Building \n General Electric Research Laboratory \n Winter Estates \n
Family	\n Charles Edison (son) \n Theodore Miller Edison (son) \n
Films	\n Young Tom Edison (1940) \n Edison, the Man (1940) \n \"The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace\" (1998) \n The Current War (2017) \n Tesla (2020) \n
Literature	\n The Future Eve (1886) \n Edison's Conquest of Mars (1898) \n Tales from the Bully Pulpit (2004) \n
Productions	\n The Execution of Mary Stuart (1895) \n The Kiss (1896) \n Frankenstein (1910) \n A Night of Terror (1911) \n Kidnapped (1917) \n
Terms	\n Edisonade \n Edisonian approach \n
Related	\n Thomas Edison in popular culture \n War of the currents \n Pearl Street Station \n Edison Museum \n Thomas Edison House \n Edison Hotel \n Telephonoscope \n Statue of Thomas Edison \n Thomas Alva Edison silver dollar \n

v t e Telecommunications
History	\n Beacon \n Broadcasting \n Cable protection system \n Cable TV \n Communications satellite \n Computer network \n Data compression\n audio \n DCT \n image \n video \n Digital media\n Internet video \n online video platform \n social media \n streaming \n Drums \n Edholm's law \n Electrical telegraph \n Fax \n Heliographs \n Hydraulic telegraph \n Information Age \n Information revolution \n Internet \n Mass media \n Mobile phone\n Smartphone \n Optical telecommunication \n Optical telegraphy \n Pager \n Photophone \n Prepaid mobile phone \n Radio \n Radiotelephone \n Satellite communications \n Semaphore\n Phryctoria \n Semiconductor\n device \n MOSFET \n transistor \n Smoke signals \n Telecommunications history \n Telautograph \n Telegraphy \n Teleprinter (teletype) \n Telephone \n The Telephone Cases \n Television\n digital \n streaming \n Undersea telegraph line \n Videotelephony \n Whistled language \n Wireless revolution \n
Pioneers	\n Nasir Ahmed \n Edwin Howard Armstrong \n Mohamed M. Atalla \n John Logie Baird \n Paul Baran \n John Bardeen \n Alexander Graham Bell \n Emile Berliner \n Tim Berners-Lee \n Francis Blake \n Jagadish Chandra Bose \n Charles Bourseul \n Walter Houser Brattain \n Vint Cerf \n Claude Chappe \n Yogen Dalal \n Donald Davies \n Daniel Davis Jr. \n Amos Dolbear \n Thomas Edison \n Philo Farnsworth \n Reginald Fessenden \n Lee de Forest \n Elisha Gray \n Oliver Heaviside \n Robert Hooke \n Erna Schneider Hoover \n Harold Hopkins \n Gardiner Greene Hubbard \n Bob Kahn \n Dawon Kahng \n Charles K. Kao \n Narinder Singh Kapany \n Hedy Lamarr \n Roberto Landell \n Innocenzo Manzetti \n Guglielmo Marconi \n Robert Metcalfe \n Antonio Meucci \n Samuel Morse \n Jun-ichi Nishizawa \n Charles Grafton Page \n Radia Perlman \n Alexander Stepanovich Popov \n Tivadar Pusk\u00e1s \n Johann Philipp Reis \n Claude Shannon \n Almon Brown Strowger \n Henry Sutton \n Charles Sumner Tainter \n Nikola Tesla \n Camille Tissot \n Alfred Vail \n Thomas A. Watson \n Charles Wheatstone \n Vladimir K. Zworykin \n Internet pioneers \n
Transmission media	\n Coaxial cable \n Fiber-optic communication\n optical fiber \n Free-space optical communication \n Molecular communication \n Radio waves\n wireless \n Transmission line\n telecommunication circuit \n
Network topology and switching	\n Bandwidth \n Links \n Network switching\n circuit \n packet \n Nodes\n terminal \n Telephone exchange \n
Multiplexing	\n Space-division \n Frequency-division \n Time-division \n Polarization-division \n Orbital angular-momentum \n Code-division \n
Concepts	\n Communication protocol \n Computer network \n Data transmission \n Store and forward \n Telecommunications equipment \n
Types of network	\n Cellular network \n Ethernet \n ISDN \n LAN \n Mobile \n NGN \n Public Switched Telephone \n Radio \n Television \n Telex \n UUCP \n WAN \n Wireless network \n
Notable networks	\n ARPANET \n BITNET \n CYCLADES \n FidoNet \n Internet \n Internet2 \n JANET \n NPL network \n Toasternet \n Usenet \n
Locations	\n Africa \n Americas\n North \n South \n Antarctica \n Asia \n Europe \n Oceania \n Global telecommunications regulation bodies \n
\n $\"\"$ Telecommunication portal \n $\"\"$ Category \n $\"\"$ Outline \n $\"\"$ Commons \n

v t e John Fritz Medal
1902\u20131924	\n 1902 : John Fritz \n 1903 : No award \n 1904 : No award \n 1905 : Lord Kelvin \n 1906 : George Westinghouse \n 1907 : Alexander Graham Bell \n 1908 : Thomas Alva Edison \n 1909 : Charles Talbot Porter \n 1910 : Alfred Noble \n 1911 : Sir William Henry White \n 1912 : Robert Woolston Hunt \n 1913 : No award \n 1914 : John Edson Sweet \n 1915 : James Douglas \n 1916 : Elihu Thomson \n 1917 : Henry Marion Howe \n 1918 : J. Waldo Smith \n 1919 : Gen. George W. Goethals \n 1920 : Orville Wright \n 1921 : Sir Robert Hadfield \n 1922 : Charles P. E. Schneider \n 1923 : Guglielmo Marconi \n 1924 : Ambrose Swasey \n
1925\u20131949	\n 1925 : John Frank Stevens \n 1926 : Edward Dean Adams \n 1927 : Elmer Ambrose Sperry \n 1928 : John Joseph Carty \n 1929 : Herbert Clark Hoover \n 1930 : Ralph Modjeski \n 1931 : David Watson Taylor \n 1932 : Mihajlo Idvorski Pupin \n 1933 : Daniel Cowan Jackling \n 1934 : John Ripley Freeman (posthumous) \n 1935 : Frank Julian Sprague (posthumous) \n 1936 : William Frederick Durand \n 1937 : Arthur Newell Talbot \n 1938 : Paul Dyer Merica \n 1939 : Frank Baldwin Jewett \n 1940 : Clarence Floyd Hirshfeld (posthumous) \n 1941 : Ralph Budd \n 1942 : Everette Lee DeGolyer \n 1943 : Willis Rodney Whitney \n 1944 : Charles F. Kettering \n 1945 : John Lucian Savage \n 1946 : Zay Jeffries \n 1947 : Lewis Warrington Chubb \n 1948 : Theodore von K\u00e1rm\u00e1n \n 1949 : Charles Metcalf Allen \n
1950\u20131974	\n 1950 : Walter H. Aldridge \n 1951 : Vannevar Bush \n 1952 : Ervin George Bailey \n 1953 : Benjamin F. Fairless \n 1954 : William Embry Wrather \n 1955 : Harry Alonzo Winne \n 1956 : Philip Sporn \n 1957 : Ben Moreell \n 1958 : John R. Suman \n 1959 : Mervin J. Kelly \n 1960 : Gwilym A. Price \n 1961 : Stephen D. Bechtel \n 1962 : Crawford H. Greenewalt \n 1963 : Hugh L. Dryden \n 1964 : Lucius D. Clay \n 1965 : Frederick Kappel \n 1966 : Warren K. Lewis \n 1967 : Walker L. Cisler \n 1968 : Igor Ivan Sikorsky \n 1969 : Michael Lawrence Haider \n 1970 : Glenn B. Warren \n 1971 : Patrick E. Haggerty \n 1972 : William Webster \n 1973 : Lyman Wilber \n 1974 : H. I. Romnes \n
1975\u20131999	\n 1975 : Manson Benedict \n 1976 : Thomas O. Paine \n 1977 : George R. Brown \n 1978 : Robert G. Heitz \n 1979 : Nathan M. Newmark \n 1980 : T. Louis Austin, Jr. \n 1981 : Ian MacGregor \n 1982 : David Packard \n 1983 : Claude Elwood Shannon \n 1984 : Kenneth A. Roe \n 1985 : Daniel C. Drucker \n 1986 : Simon Ramo \n 1987 : Ralph Landau \n 1988 : Ralph B. Peck \n 1989 : Robert N. Noyce \n 1990 : Gordon A. Cain \n 1991 : Hunter Rouse \n 1992 : Serge Gratch \n 1993 : Gordon Moore \n 1994 : Hoyt C. Hottel \n 1995 : Lynn S. Beedle \n 1996 : George N. Hatsopoulos \n 1997 : Arthur E. Humphrey \n 1998 : Ivan A. Getting \n 1999 : George H. Heilmeier \n
2000\u2013	\n 2000 : John W. Fisher \n 2001 : Paul C. W. Chu \n 2002 : Daniel Goldin \n 2003 : Robert S. Langer \n 2004 : John A. Swanson \n 2005 : George Tamaro \n 2006 : No award \n 2007 : Gavriel Salvendy \n 2008 : Kristina M. Johnson \n 2009 : Yvonne Claeys Brill \n 2010 : Gerald J. Posakony \n 2011 : Andrew Viterbi \n 2012 : Leslie E. Robertson \n 2013 : Gregory Stephanopoulos \n 2014 : Julia Weertman \n 2015 : Jon D. Magnusson \n 2017 : Frank Kreith \n 2018 : Anne S. Kiremidjian \n 2019 : No award \n 2020 : No award \n 2021 : Elon Musk \n 2022 : No award \n 2023 : Asad M. Madni \n

v t e Matteucci Medallists
1851\u20131900	\n Hermann Helmholtz (1868) \n Henri Victor Regnault (1875) \n Lord Kelvin (1876) \n Gustav Kirchhoff (1877) \n Gustav Wiedemann (1878) \n Wilhelm Weber (1879) \n Antonio Pacinotti (1880) \n Emilio Villari (1881) \n Augusto Righi (1882) \n Thomas Edison (1887) \n Heinrich Rudolph Hertz (1888) \n John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh (1894) \n Henry Augustus Rowland (1895) \n Wilhelm Conrad R\u00f6ntgen / Philipp Lenard (1896) \n
1901\u20131950	\n Guglielmo Marconi (1901) \n Albert A. Michelson (1903) \n Marie Curie / Pierre Curie (1904) \n Henri Poincar\u00e9 (1905) \n James Dewar (1906) \n William Ramsay (1907) \n Antonio Garbasso (1908) \n Orso Mario Corbino (1909) \n Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (1910) \n Jean Perrin (1911) \n Pieter Zeeman (1912) \n Ernest Rutherford (1913) \n Max von Laue (1914) \n Johannes Stark (1915) \n William Henry Bragg / Lawrence Bragg (1915) \n Antonino Lo Surdo (1917) \n Robert W. Wood (1918) \n Henry Gwyn-Jeffreys Moseley (1919) \n Albert Einstein (1921) \n Niels Bohr (1923) \n Arnold Sommerfeld (1924) \n Robert Andrews Millikan (1925) \n Enrico Fermi (1926) \n Erwin Schr\u00f6dinger (1927) \n Venkata Raman Chandrasekhara (1928) \n Werner Heisenberg (1929) \n Arthur Compton (1930) \n Franco Rasetti (1931) \n Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Joliot / Ir\u00e8ne Joliot-Curie (1932) \n
1951\u20132000	\n Wolfgang Pauli (1956) \n Bruno Touschek (1975) \n Abdus Salam (1978) \n Luciano Maiani (1979) \n Giancarlo Wick (1980) \n Rudolf Peierls (1982) \n Hendrik Casimir (1985) \n Pierre-Gilles De Gennes (1987) \n Lev Okun (1988) \n Freeman Dyson (1989) \n Jack Steinberger (1990) \n Bruno Rossi (1991) \n Anatole Abragam (1992) \n John Archibald Wheeler (1993) \n Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (1994) \n Tsung-Dao Lee (1995) \n Wolfgang K.H. Panofsky (1996) \n Oreste Piccioni (1998) \n
2001\u2013present	\n Theodor W. H\u00e4nsch (2001) \n Nicola Cabibbo (2002) \n Manuel Cardona (2003) \n David Ruelle (2004) \n John Iliopoulos (2005) \n Giorgio Bellettini (2006) \n Adalberto Giazotto (2016) \n Marco Tavani (2017) \n Gianluigi Fogli (2018) \n Federico Capasso (2019) \n Massimo Inguscio (2020) \n Amos Maritan (2021) \n Jocelyn Bell Burnell (2022) \n

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Academics	CiNii MathSciNet
Artists	ULAN MusicBrainz Museum of Modern Art Mus\u00e9e d'Orsay Photographers' Identities Discography of American Historical Recordings FID
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Early life

Early career

Menlo Park laboratory (1876\u20131886)

Research and development facility

Phonograph

Carbon telephone transmitter

Electric light

Electric power distribution

War of currents

West Orange and Fort Myers (1886\u20131931)

Other inventions and projects

Fluoroscopy

Tasimeter

Telegraph improvements

Motion pictures

Mining

Rechargeable battery

Chemicals

Spirit Phone

Final years

Death

Marriages and children

Views

On religion and metaphysics

On politics

Awards

Commemorations and popular culture

People who worked for Edison

See also

References

Bibliography

External links

Thomas Edison

Talks

17 December, 1880