Thomas Alva Edison - The Man and the Scientist - Subramanian A

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My admiration for Thomas Alva Edision has no parallel. His life and times are soinspirational. When I was a boy, I was very much after science and scientists andon 17th April 1971 I happened to purchase his biography written by GlenwoodClerk from Santha Book Stall, Guruvayur. That was an absorbing book. Even nowI can feel the freshness of that reading deep in my chest. From humble beginningshe rose to dizzy heights thro¶ dint of effort. True to his character he defined geniusas ninety nine percent perspiration and one percent inspiration.

Thomas Edison was born February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio. He was the seventhand last child of Samuel Edison, Jr. and Nancy Elliot Edison. His parents had nospecial mechanical background. His mother was a former schoolteacher; his father was a jack-of-all-trades - from running a grocery store to real-estate. WhenThomas was seven years old, his family moved to Port Huron, Michigan. He was avery curious child who asked a lot of questions.

Edison began school in Port Huron, Michigan when he was seven. His teacher, the

Reverend G. B. Engle considered Thomas to be a dull student. Thomas especiallydid not like mathematics. And he asked too many questions. The story goes thatthe teacher whipped students who asked questions. After three months of school,the teacher called Thomas, "addled," which means confused or mixed up. Thomasstormed home.

The next day, Nancy Edison brought Thomas back to school to talk with ReverendEngle. The teacher told his mother that Thomas couldn¶t learn. Nancy also became

angry at the teacher¶s strict ways. She took Thomas out of school and decided tohome-school him. It appears he briefly attended two more schools. However, hisschool attendance was not very good. So nearly all his childhood learning took

place at home.

Edison¶s parents loved to read. They read to him works of good literature and

history. They had many books that young Tom eagerly devoured. Before he was12, he had read works by Dickens and Shakespeare, Edward Gibbon¶s Fall of theRoman Empire and Decline, and more. Nancy Edison encouraged her curious son

to learn things for himself. His parents were dedicated to teaching their children.They did not force him to learn about things he didn¶t enjoy. So he learned aboutthings that interested him the most..



When Thomas was nine Nancy Edison gave him an elementary science book. Itexplained how to do chemistry experiments at home. Edison did every experimentin the book. Then Nancy gave him more books on science. He soon lovedchemistry and spent all his spare money buying chemicals from a local pharmacy.He collected bottles, wires, and other items for experiments. At age 10, Thomas

built his first science laboratory in the basement of the family¶s home. His father

disapproved of all the time Thomas spent in the basement. Sometimes Sam offereda penny to Thomas if he would go back to reading books. But Thomas often usedhis pennies to buy more chemicals for experiments. He labeled all his bottles"Poison".

In the grand trunk railway train that ran between Port Huron and Detroit, at the age

of twelve, he began his life as a fruit seller and a newspaper boy. He was already inthe world of chemistry after reading Richard Green Parker¶s ³School Compendiumof Natural and Experimental philosophy´.

It was sixty-three miles from Port Huron to Detroit and in his little cabin he kept alaboratory and a printing press. George Mortiver Pullman, a carpenter, made for him the necessary shelves and racks for such a laboratory and Edison procured anold printing press from a hotel in Detroit. He had his own paper published from thetrain ³Weekly Herald´. At Detroit he got six hours before the train returned to PortHuron. He utilised this time by visiting the Detroit Public Library. Those were hiscreative years.

Once at St.Clemen¶s station he saved a little boy who was playing on the tracksand this episode gave another twitch to his wakening life. The boy¶s father, Mr Mcnzey, was a telegraphist working in that station and he repaid his debt by

teaching Edison telegraphy. Edison really mastered it and he was one of the fastesttelegraphists of the whole continent over a period. This development is another story. During these formative days, when Edison stayed back at St.Clemens till thetrain reached Detroit and returned, he found an assistant to carry out his job in the

train during his absence.

And for three years he laboured between Port Huron and Detroit working,experimenting, publishing and learning. In 1862 it came to a full stop after amishap. Near Smith Creek station once when the train rattled, he lost his balanceand in a struggle to regain his balance, he tried to catch hold of the shelves in thelaboratory and they naturally toppled on the wooden floor. The Phosphorous did



the trick and the cabin was under fire. The conductor eventually sacked him andlater on the young Edison removed the press and laboratory to his house. His life inthe running train thus found an end.

When Edison was 16, he moved to Toronto, Canada. He became a telegraphassistant. His job was to report to Toronto every hour by telegraph signal. Edisonthought this was a waste of time. He invented a gadget that sent a signal even if he

was asleep. This was his first invention - the transmitter and receiver for theautomatic telegraph. His boss found him asleep. Edison was almost fired.

The first invention that he tried to sell was an electric vote recorder. It made votingfaster and more accurate. But no one wanted to buy it. Today it is used in manystates to record votes of legislators. He moved to New York City in the summer of 1869. He had no money. A friend let him sleep in a basement office below Wall

street.

Edison spent a lot of time studying the stock market ticker. That was the machinethat gave information about stock market prices. It was a spin-off of the Morsetelegraph device. Once, Edison fixed a broken stock ticker so well that the ownershired him to build a better one. Within a year he made the Edison Universal Stock Printer. Edison sold the rights for the stock ticker. He thought he might get paidaround $4,000 for it. He got $40,000!

Edison built his new science laboratory at the village of Menlo Park, NJ. Now he

and his two business partners could devote their full attention to inventing. Edison promised that he would build a small invention every ten days and a big inventionevery six months! He also said he would "take orders" for inventions. They movedinto the new building in March, 1876. His first invention was an improvement onthe telephone. Before Edison¶s improvement, people had to shout when they usedthe telephone.

At the laboratory of Menlo Park, scientists could turn on and off different lights.This was something very new for the world. His bulbs were first installed on the

steamship "Columbia" and later in a New York City factory .

People called Edison "The Wizard of Menlo Park". Edison was often able to see



possibilities others missed because he was constantly learning. When he was 30and 40 years old he read everything he could about the latest developments in

photographic optics. This helped him in his inventions for movie cameras.

In 1887 he moved on to West Orange where he built a bigger invention factory.This laboratory was ten times bigger than the Menlo Park laboratory. In 1889, after spending nearly $40000 and performing over 1200 experiments, he succeeded inmaking a light bulb that used carbonized filaments from cotton threads. Thisinvention stole greatest amount of time and required most complicated experimentsof all experiments.

Edison thought of disasters as learning opportunities. One time his lab stove went

out in the dead of winter. Many expensive chemicals froze. Another timeunprotected chemicals were damaged by sunlight. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, Edison stopped all other projects and thought of ways to solve the

problem. He learned to change the makeup of some of the chemicals.

Some historians believe Edison learned his positive attitude from his energeticfather. Sam Edison was not afraid to take risks and he never gave up when a

business project failed. Sam Edison brushed himself off and started a new

business. This positive message of persistence may have been why Edison learned

it¶s okay to fail.

Edison, the man

Edison married Mary Stilwell. Edison was upset to discover that his new wifewould not be his partner in his science laboratory. Just over a month after marryingMary, the twenty-four-year-old Edison wrote in a notebook, "My wife DearlyBeloved Cannot invent worth a Damn!!" In 1884, Mary died, leaving him withthree young children. He married Mina Miller in 1886. He had three more childrenwith Mina.

Edison was five feet, 10 inches tall, gray eyes, long hair that looked as if he cut it

himself. He wore baggy acid-stained pants and scruffy shoes. His hands were



discolored by chemicals. Later he began wearing all black. Strangers mistook himfor a priest.

Edison was a workaholic. He could not tolerate laziness. He often worked as manyas 112 hours a week. Both his wives complained that he spent all his time in thelaboratory. He and his lab partners often worked late into the wee hours of themorning. Instead of going home to sleep, he took catnaps on a lab bench. Hissecond wife, Mina, had a cot set up in a corner of his library so he didn¶t have tosleep on a hard bench.

Edison¶s favorite piece of poetry was stanza nine from Thomas Gray¶s Elegy

To A Country-Churchyard, which he perpetually recited within earshot of his

many associates:

"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,

And all that beauty, all that wealth e¶er gave,

Awaits alike the inevitable hour:

The paths of glory lead but to the grave."

Thomas Alva Edison died when he was 84 years old, on Sunday, October 18, 1931in New Jersey at 9PM. Sortly before he passing away, he awoke from a coma and

quietly whispered to his very religious and faithful wife Mina, who had beenkeeping a vigil all night by his side:- ³It is very beautiful over there«´ . Three

days later, on October 21, 1931, electric lights were dimmed for one minutethroughout the United States. Edison and his wife, Mina, are buried on their home

estate grounds.

When I started my home library back in 1972, I had no second thought for thechoice of a name- ³Edison Memorial Library´. Crossing decades, the library isvery much alive even now.

Who is Edison to me? His very name takes me back through years to my boyhoodwhirlwinds. It is as if I am carried away by a whirl wind to my basic creative years.I am instantly transported into my boyhood days. Edison is an ever living conceptwithin my thoughts and reflections. Whenever I find that the present generation of

boys and girls are squandering away their creative resources and time, I am



reminded of my own boyhood days and of the inspirational life of Thomas AlvaEdison.

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Thomas Alva Edison - The Man and the Scientist - Subramanian A