Bao Huo Lao Biographies Library · Giants 100 Biographies Series -- Edison

Author: Li Zunyu, Han Gemin edited
Publisher:
Publishing Time: 1998-10-01
Features: We are pleased to recommend the "Giant Biographies Series" to the. At the turn of the century, having such a fine series accompany you is a joy in wisdom. We believe that from the footsteps of these giants and masters, you can learn how to properly treat success and failure, comfort and hardship, joy and pain, smoothness and tribulation, understand how to face life, how to learn to be a person, how to seek knowledge, how to shape oneself, and how to shape the future.
Principal of Peking University, Zhao Yulin Secretary of the Party Committee, Dong Lingsheng
Every great figure with global influence has a deeply moving story behind them. Their rich experience and life journey, their spirit of struggle and success factors, their character of pursuing excellence and their ability to seize opportunities, undoubtedly have a great enlightening and educational role for today's youth.
Principal of Tsinghua University, Zhao Qinggang
Giants are the elite of humanity. They have made outstanding contributions to the progress and civilization of human society. Their spirit of struggle and superhuman achievements are deeply admired by people, becoming models for people to learn from. Giants are human, not gods. They come from ordinary people but are above ordinary people. Their lofty ideals and belief in bringing happiness to the motherland and humanity are the driving force behind their relentless struggle and fearlessness of difficulties.
Principal of Tianjin Nankai, Kang Xiuyan
To carefully read this series of books is like seeing their appearance and demeanor, hearing their words and deeds, and feeling their ideals, beliefs, ambitions, and sentiments. This will help you learn to be a person, learn academic knowledge, and learn to do a career.
Principal of Fudan University, Cao Tianren
Thomas Alva Edison (Thomas Alva Edison) was a world-famous American electrician and inventor. In addition to his inventions and contributions in fields such as the phonograph, electric light, telephone, telegraph, and film, he also had many famous creations and insights in areas such as mining, construction, and chemical engineering. Edison had about 2000 inventions and creations in his lifetime, making great contributions to the civilization and progress of humanity. Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in the small town of Milan in the central-western part of Ohio, USA. His father was a descendant of the Dutch, and his mother, a descendant of the Scots, had once been a primary school teacher. When Edison was 7 years old, his father's roofing business went bankrupt, and the family moved to Gratiot Fort, north of Huron in Michigan, to settle down. Shortly after moving here, Edison contracted scarlet fever and was sick for a long time. People believed this disease was the cause of his deafness. At the age of 8, Edison started school, but he was expelled after only three months of study, scolded by his teacher as an "idiot." From then on, his mother became his "family teacher." Thanks to his mother's good teaching methods, he developed a strong interest in reading. "He not only read extensively but also read ten lines at a glance and memorized everything he read." At the age of 8, he read the works of the most important playwrights of the British Renaissance, Shakespeare and Dickens, as well as many important historical books. By the age of 9, he could quickly read books with higher difficulty, such as Parker's "Natural and Experimental Philosophy." At the age of 10, he was passionate about chemistry. In his 11th year, he experimented with his electric telegraph. To earn money to buy chemical supplies and equipment, he started working. At the age of 12, he got a job selling newspapers on trains, traveling between Huron Harbor and Detroit, Michigan. He sold newspapers while also doing business in fruits and vegetables, and whenever he had free time, he went to the library to read. He bought an old printing press and started publishing his own weekly newspaper, "The Herald," which was printed on the train. He set up a chemical laboratory in a baggage car with the money he earned. Unfortunately, one day, a fire broke out in the chemicals, and he and his equipment were thrown out of the car. Another time, when Edison was trying to get on a freight train, a conductor grabbed both his ears to help him board. This action led to him becoming deaf for life. In August 1862, Edison saved a boy from being hit by a train with great courage. The boy's father was deeply grateful, but as he had no money to repay him, he offered to teach him telegraph technology. From then on, Edison became involved in this mysterious new world of electricity and embarked on a scientific journey. In 1863, Edison became a telegraph operator at the Stratford hub station of the Grand Trunk Railway. From 1864 to 1867, he worked as a telegraph operator in various places in the Midwest, living a life similar to a vagabond. His travels included Stratford, Adrian, Wayne, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Nashville, Tennessee, Memphis, Louisville, and Huron. In 1868, Edison came to Boston as a telegraph operator. That same year, he obtained his patent for an automatic vote-recording device. He believed this device would speed up the work of Congress and would be well-received. However, a member of Congress told him that they had no intention of speeding up the agenda, as slow voting was sometimes politically necessary. From then on, Edison decided never to invent anything that people didn't need. In early June 1869, he came to New York to find work. While waiting for an interview in a broker's office, a telegraph machine broke down. Edison was the only one there who could fix it, so he got a better job than he had expected. In October, he founded a company with Pop, "Pop-Eddison Company," specializing in scientific instruments for electrical engineering. Here, he invented the "Edison Universal Printer." He presented this printer to the manager of a large Wall Street company, intending to ask for $5,000, but lacked the courage to say it. So he asked the manager to give a price, and the manager gave him $40,000. With this money, Edison built a factory on Ward Street in Newark, New Jersey, specializing in manufacturing various electrical machines. He worked day and night. He trained many capable assistants and also met a hardworking Mary, who would become his future wife. In Newark, he made inventions such as wax paper and the mimeograph machine. From 1872 to 1875, Edison invented the dual and quadruple telegraph machines and helped others create the world's first English typewriter. In the spring of 1876, Edison moved again, this time to Menlo Park, New Jersey. Here, he built an "invention factory," which marked the beginning of collective research. In 1877, Edison improved the early telephone invented by Bell and put it into practical use. He also invented one of his favorite projects—the phonograph. The telephone and telegraph "were a revolution in expanding human sensory functions"; the phonograph was one of the three major inventions that changed people's lives, "in terms of the imagination of invention, this was one of his most significant achievements." By this time, people called him the "magician of Menlo Park." While inventing the phonograph, after countless failures, Edison finally made a breakthrough in his research on electric lighting. On October 22, 1879, Edison lit an electric light with widespread practical value. To extend the life of the filament, he conducted further experiments, trying about 6,000 different fiber materials before finding a new luminescent material—the bamboo filament from Japan, which could last for over 1,000 hours, achieving the goal of durability. In some ways, this invention was the pinnacle of Edison's achievements in his lifetime. Next, he created an electrical power supply system that allowed distant lamps to be supplied with electricity from a central power station, a major technological achievement. His first discovery in pure science occurred in 1883. While experimenting with the electric light, he observed what he called the Edison effect: charges moving from the hot filament through space to the cold plate inside the light bulb. Edison patented this discovery in 1884 but did not pursue further research. Other scientists later used the Edison effect to develop the electronics industry, especially radio and television. Edison also tried to do for the eyes what the phonograph had done for the ears, and the motion picture camera was born. Using a new celluloid film invented by George Eastman, he took a series of photos and rapidly and continuously projected them onto a screen, creating the illusion of movement. His first experiments with motion pictures in the laboratory were in 1889, and he patented them in 1891. In 1903, his company produced the first narrative film, "The Train Robbery." Edison did a lot of work to establish and standardize the film industry. In 1887, Edison moved his laboratory to West Orange, New Jersey, and to produce and promote his various inventions, he founded many commercial companies; these companies later merged into the Edison General Electric Company, which was later renamed General Electric. After that, his interest shifted to fluorescence, ore grinding machines, the magnetic separation of iron, batteries, and railway signaling devices. During World War I, he developed torpedo mechanisms, flamethrowers, and periscopes. On October 21, 1929, on the 50th anniversary of the invention of the electric light, a grand celebration was held in honor of Edison, and famous scientists such as Einstein from Germany and Curie from France sent him congratulations. Unfortunately, at this celebration, when Edison was giving his speech, he suddenly fainted due to excessive excitement. From then on, his health deteriorated. On October 18, 1931, this scientist, who had made great contributions to humanity, passed away due to illness at the age of 84. Edison had very little formal education, yet his contributions to humanity were so great. What was his "secret"? Besides having a curious mind and a natural inclination to conduct experiments, he possessed extraordinary energy and courage in hard work beyond the ordinary. When someone called Edison a "genius," he explained, "Genius is 2% inspiration and 98% perspiration." At the "invention factory," he organized many people with different specialties, including scientists, engineers, technicians, and workers, with over 100 people in total. Many of Edison's major inventions were successful thanks to this collective effort. His achievements were mainly due to his diligence and creative talent, as well as the power of the collective. Additionally, his wife also played a significant role.