|
Don't believe everything you read in a textbook!
Proof, proof! That is what I always have been after; that is what my mind requires before it can accept a theory as fact. --Thomas Alva Edison, 1911
 Remember the story about George Washington chopping down the cherry tree? When his father asked him who chopped it down, young George admitted doing it himself. "I cannot tell a lie," he said.
Unfortunately, the story itself is not true. It is a myth or a fable.
This section answers the most frequently asked questions about Thomas Alva Edison. It also gives the facts behind several Edison fables that still appear in films, textbooks and documentaries. See if you can tell the difference between fact and fable.
CHILDHOOD:
When and where was Edison born?
Was Edison deaf?
How did he lose his hearing?
How far did he go in school?
Did he try to hatch goose eggs by sitting on them?
Did he save a child's life?
THE ELECTRIC LIGHT SYSTEM:
What and where is Menlo Park?
Did Edison invent electricity?
Did he invent the first light bulb?
Did Edison steal his light bulb from Lewis H. Latimer?
SOME BASIC FAQs:
Was Edison married? How many children did he have?
How many patents did Edison earn?
What was his favorite invention?
What was it like to work for Edison?
Did he start all the companies that bear his name?
FAQs--OR FABLES?
Did Edison sleep only four hours a night?
Did he use Morse code to propose marriage?
Did he bite into phonographs in order to hear them?
Did he have a tattoo?
Did he fire people who salted their food before tasting it?
Does his family still make money from his patents?
DEATH AND BREATH:
When and where did Edison die? Where is he buried?
What was he worth when he died?
Did the clock in his office stop when he died?
Did he make a machine that could talk to the dead?
Did they save his last breath?
Did they save his brain?
Was Edison a genius?
When and where was Edison born?
Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio (pronounced MY-lan). His parents were Samuel Edison, who was born in Canada, and Nancy Elliot Edison. He was the youngest of seven children. Timeline of Edison's Life He spent much of his childhood in Port Huron, Michigan.
There is a rumor that Edison was actually born in Mexico, based on his middle name Alva. However, Alva was the name of a family friend, Captain Bradley. Top
Was Edison deaf?
That is how Edison described himself, but in fact he was not totally deaf. It is more accurate to say he was very hard of hearing. He once wrote, "I have not heard a bird sing since I was twelve years old."
So, why didn't Edison invent a hearing aid? He often told reporters that he was working on one; sometimes he tested hearing aids designed by others. But it seems that Edison saw advantages to being deaf. For example, he said that it helped him concentrate on his work. In 1927 he told a group of 300 hard-of-hearing adults, "Deaf people [like himself] should take to reading. It beats the babble of ordinary conversation." Top
 How did he lose his hearing? Was he really boxed in the ears as a child?
The movie Young Tom Edison shows Edison (played by Mickey Rooney) being boxed in the ears after he accidentally set fire to a train car with his experiments. But why, then, did Edison's father and his son Charles also have the same hearing loss? It seems that hearing loss ran in the family. An illness might also have made Edison's hearing worse.
Another story, told by Edison himself, says that he was picked up by the ears to keep from falling out of a train. He said that he heard something "pop" inside his ears. Maybe Edison thought this had caused his hearing loss, but experts doubt it.
By the way, Edison was not called "Tom" as a boy. His nickname was "Al," from his middle name Alva. Top
How far did Edison go in school?
Young "Al" Edison went to school only a few months. His teachers thought he was very slow. Afterward his mother taught him at home. He then taught himself, by reading constantly and trying experiments in the basement. He never attended any technical school, college or university. In later life, he said that his mother was the person most responsible for his success.
Edison had strong opinions about education. Most schools, he believed, taught children to memorize facts, when they ought to have students observe nature and to make things with their hands. "I like the Montessori method," he said. "It teaches through play. It makes learning a pleasure. It follows the natural instincts of the human being . . . The present system casts the brain into a mold. It does not encourage original thought or reasoning." Top
When he was a boy, did Edison sit on goose eggs to try to hatch them?
Probably not. Many children's books about Edison--and a few scholarly biographies--repeat this charming, but doubtful, story. Since Edison was so famous, anything he did or said was considered news: his latest invention, how he voted, even what he ate for breakfast. When reporters interviewed Edison, he often gave them something interesting to write about, including some stories that historians can prove were entirely false. (See "Did Edison invent a machine to talk to the dead?" below.) Top
As a teenager, did Edison save a boy who was playing on the railroad tracks?
This might not have been as dramatic a rescue as it sounds, but the main facts are true. Around 1862, teenager "Al" Edison spent time hanging around the Mount Clemens depot, on the line between Port Huron and Detroit. One day he saw three-year-old Jimmie MacKenzie, the son of the stationmaster, wandering onto the train tracks. Edison moved the child to a spot away from danger. The stationmaster, J.U. MacKenzie, was so grateful that he taught "Al" how to work a telegraph. Even with his hearing loss, Edison could hear the high-pitched sound of the telegraph. He had already taught himself Morse code. (See "Did he use Morse code to propose marriage?" below.) From 1863-1868, he worked as a "tramp telegrapher," moving 13 times in seven years. Later he earned 150 patents on telegraph improvements alone. Top
What and where is Menlo Park?
Menlo Park, New Jersey, is where Edison built his most famous laboratory in 1876. (Menlo Park is now part of Edison, New Jersey.) There he developed the electric light system and invented the first phonograph. Newspapers started to call him "The Wizard of Menlo Park." However, Menlo Park served as his lab for only ten years. It has since been rebuilt, but now you have to go to Michigan to see it. Henry Ford rebuilt the lab as part of Greenfield Village, at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn.
In 1887 Edison built a much larger laboratory here in West Orange, New Jersey, where Edison worked until his death in 1931. Here he improved his phonograph and did all of his work on motion pictures. His lab and home in West Orange are now preserved by the National Park Service as Edison National Historic Site. Top
Did Edison invent electricity?
 No. Electricity, like gravity, is a force of nature. No one "invented" it. By flying his kite in a thunderstorm, Benjamin Franklin discovered in 1752 that lightning is a form of electricity.
Edison invented a light bulb that ran on electricity. He also invented machines that could generate electricity so that his light bulbs could work. He invented the electric power system,but that is not the same as inventing electricity. (See the next question.) Top
Did Edison invent the first light bulb?
Despite what you have probably heard, the answer is no. For at least fifty years before Edison, inventors tried to light the world using electricity. They worked with two kinds of electric light: arc lighting, which is bright enough to light a city street, and incandescent lighting, which is soft enough for use indoors. Charles Brush started his arc lighting business in 1877, two years before Edison's breakthroughs with incandescent lighting.
 Two points set Edison apart from the others. In 1879, he made an incandescent bulb that burned long enough to be practical, long enough to light a home. Then he and his "muckers" invented the entire system needed to bring electricity into your home--dynamos to make the electric power, wires and fuses, switches to turn the lights on and off. He invented the electric power system. Top
Did Edison steal his idea for the light bulb from an African-American inventor named Lewis Howard Latimer?
Lewis Latimer was an amazing man. The son of a runaway slave, Latimer overcame both racism and poverty to become an inventor, engineer and poet. However, neither he nor Edison invented the first light bulb. (See the question above.)
Soon after Edison made the first reliable incandescent bulb at Menlo Park, other inventors took notice. Many of them made their own improvements to every part of the electric light system. One of these inventors was Hiram S. Maxim, for whom Latimer worked as an assistant. (Maxim later invented the machine gun.) During this time Latimer patented his own method of making carbon filaments. Latimer's improved filaments made the light bulb last longer.
Latimer did not work for Edison until later on, when he took a job with the Edison Electric Light Company in New York City. There he served the company as an engineer, draftsman and legal expert. He never actually worked directly for Thomas Edison or at an Edison laboratory.
Late in life Latimer joined the Edison Pioneers, a group of men who had worked for Edison companies over the years. If Latimer had hard feelings toward Edison, he would probably not have joined the Pioneers. More About Latimer
Lewis Howard Latimer was a man of talent, vision and drive. He is a positive role model for all Americans. Top
Was Edison married? How many children did he have?
Edison had six children, three from each of his two marriages. Home and Family Life His first wife, Mary Stilwell Edison, gave birth to one daughter, Marion, and two sons, Thomas Junior and William. Two years after her death Edison married again. Mina Miller Edison also gave birth to a daughter, Madeleine, and two sons, Charles and Theodore. Top
How many patents did Edison earn?
Edison earned 1,093 United States patents, a record number for one person that still stands. Edison Patent List He also earned at least several hundred foreign patents from Great Britain, France, Germany and other countries. Most foreign patents were similar to the American ones. Top
What was Edison's favorite invention?
He liked the phonograph so much he called it his "baby." More About the Phonograph He also worked on the phonograph longer than any other invention--52 years--and made many improvements. Top
What was it like to work for Edison?
Most of Edison's "muckers" were young men who worked for him only a few years and then moved on. Edison could be a very tough boss. One mucker said that Edison "could wither one with his biting sarcasm or ridicule one into extinction." The money was not good, either, as Edison admitted himself. "The men I use receive only ordinary workman's wages." More About Muckers
So why work for him? Because, as Edison said, it was "not the money they wanted, but the chance for their ability to succeed." An electrician named Arthur Kennelly agreed. "The privilege which I had being with this great man for six years was the greatest inspiration of my life." Top
Did he start all the companies that bear his name?
No. In his day, electric utility companies who licensed Edison's patents also had permission to use his name. A good example is Commonwealth Edison, founded by Samuel Insull, who started out at age 21 working as Edison's personal secretary in New York. Companies not related to areas of Edison's work can legally use the Edison name. Top
Did Edison sleep only four hours a night?
 He claimed to sleep four to five hours a night, but he often "catnapped" at the office as well. Catnaps would help him work through the night, which he often did. His office had a cot for taking naps, but he might nap on the floor or a nearby table. Then he would go home and sleep through most of the next day. Top
Did Edison use Morse code to propose to his second wife, Mina Miller?
Yes, he did. He taught her Morse code so that they could have secret conversations when her family was around. They used it as a type of sign language, tapping it into each other's hands. Edison asked, .--- --- ..- .-.. -.. -.-- --- ..-- -- .- .-. .-. -.-- -- . She answered -.-- . ... Top
Would Edison sometimes bite into a phonograph to listen to it?
Apparently so. There are several stories by people who knew Edison that tell of him biting into phonographs. The sound vibrations traveled through his teeth to his inner ear. Madeleine Edison Sloane, his daughter, remembered him biting into the piano at home as well. Top
Did Edison have a tattoo on his arm?
It looked nothing like today's tattoos, but yes, Edison had a tattoo. According to a policy with the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York dated March 29, 1911, Edison had five dots tattooed on his left forearm. They looked like the five dots on the face of dice. The insurance policy does not say how old he was when he got the tattoo or what it meant. Top
Would Edison fire people who salted their food before tasting it?
We have heard this story many times, but we have no evidence to support this. Another version of the story has Edison watching people eat before he hired them. If they salted their food before tasting it, they did not get the job. Either way, we have no idea where the story came from. If you find it in a book, movie or documentary, please tell us! Top
Do Edison's descendants (children, grandchildren, etc.) still make money from his patents?
No, because that is not how patents work. In Edison's day, patents lasted 17 years and could not be renewed except in very special cases. Today, patents are good for 20 years after the date you apply for them, but they still cannot be renewed once they expire. For more information on patents, contact the United States Patent and Trademark Office at http://www.uspto.gov Top
When and where did Edison die? Where is he buried?
He died in his home, Glenmont, on October 18, 1931, where he is buried today. However, he was originally buried in Rosedale Cemetery in West Orange. At the request of their children, he and his wife Mina were reburied behind their home in 1963. Top
What was Edison worth when he died?
When Edison died in 1931, his estate was worth about $12 million. Remember that most of this was not cash, but buildings and equipment in his labs and factories. Edison both made and lost millions of dollars during his life.
Henry Ford, the automobile industrialist who was also Edison's good friend, said it best:
Mr. Edison was comfortably well off. He always had what he needed. He was not a money-maker . . . his own portion was a mere nothing compared with the wealth he created for the world.
True, Edison earned millions of dollars from some inventions. These included the electric light system, phonograph and movies. But Edison also lost millions of dollars on other experiments, like an iron ore mine in western New Jersey.
What invention made Edison the most money? The alkaline storage battery. Top
Did the clock in Edison's office stop the moment he died?
Unlikely. An old song, written long before Edison died in 1931, might be the source of this myth. The lyrics to "Grandfather's Clock" go like this:
And the clock stopped
Never to go again
When the old man died.
Since Edison's nickname was the "Old Man," maybe people got confused. Top
Did Edison make a machine that could talk to the dead?
This seems to be another tall tale that Edison pulled on a reporter. In 1920 Edison told the reporter, B.F. Forbes, that he was working on a machine that could make contact with the spirits of the dead. Newspapers all over the world picked up this story. After a few years, Edison admitted that he had made the whole thing up. Today at Edison National Historic Site, we take care of over five million pages of documents. None of them mention such an experiment.
By the way, the reporter had a son named Malcolm Forbes. He published Forbes Magazine and became rich and famous himself. Top
Did they save Edison's last breath in a bottle when he died?
Not exactly. A few small, empty bottles sat on the bedstand near the bed where Edison died. After the inventor's death, his son Charles had the bottles sealed and given to close friends, including Edison's doctor and Henry Ford. Two of these bottles can be seen on display: one at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan and another at the Edison Winter Home in Fort Myers, Florida. (Neither of these two sites is run by the National Park Service.) Top
OK, then--did they save his brain when he died?
This was stated on an episode of "The Simpsons" (first aired September 20, 1998), but don't worry, it is not true. Edison's brain is buried with the rest of his body behind his home, Glenmont, which is part of Edison National Historic Site.
However, when Edison died, some people thought that saving his brain was a good idea. Professor Oskar Vogt at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin, Germany, said that Edison's brain should be saved and studied by scientists. (This was reported in the New York Times, October 25, 1931.) Luckily, no one listened to him.
Most of the facts given about Edison in the Simpsons episode were quite accurate--more so than most Edison documentaries! However, there were a few errors:
Although Edison claimed to have invented wax paper, he probably did not.
He invented the alkaline storage battery.
He did not invent the microphone.
He had no machine that talked to the dead. (See above.)
He had no poster of Leonardo daVinci.
There was no six-legged chair or electric hammer. Top
 Was Edison a genius?
Life Magazine thought so. In 1997 they named Edison the Man of the Millennium, even above such great people as Columbus, Galileo and daVinci. But, as Edison said, "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." Maybe there is a little bit of genius in all of us--if we are willing to work at it. Top
Back to Grade 4 and Above Back to High School Page
|
