1. Thomas Edison's first inventions include an electric vote recorder and a stock ticker.
2. Thomas Edison was partially deaf. He developed this problem after he developed the scarlet fever. Though his hearing was impaired from the age of 12, he said that it did not bother him because it helped him concentrate better.
3. Thomas Edison holds around 1,093 U.S. patents as well as many other patents in the United Kingdom, Germany and France.
4. He built his own science laboratory at the age of 10. This was built in the basement of his home.
5. At the age of 14 he saved a 3 year old boy - Jimmie MacKenzie from being hit by a train at the Grand Trunk Railroad.
6. Despite the fact that Thomas Edison has been such a great inventor, he had very humble beginnings. He even sold newspapers on trains and vegetables to be able to add to his income.
7. It has also been said that Thomas Edison tested about 6,000 vegetable growths. This was for the purpose of filaments to be used in his light bulbs.
8. Thomas Edison also invented the carbon microphone between the period 1877-1878. This was used in all the telephones.
9. Edison married his first wife Mary Stilwell at the age of 24. She was his employee. They had 3 children together. After Mary died, Edison married Mina Miller. An interesting fact about his marriage proposal to Miller was that he proposed using Morse code.
10. Thomas Edison invented the first incandescent light bulb in 1879.
11. With the invention of the phonograph in 1877, Thomas Edison soon became a known figure. He was thereafter known as 'The Wizard of Menlo Park' in New Jersey.
12. Thomas Edison was famous for the following words, 'Genius is one percent inspiration, 99 percent perspiration'.
13. Edison attended school for 3 months only in Port Huron, Michigan. This was his only formal public education.
14. When he was 12, his job was selling newspapers, apples, and candy on the Detroit and Port Huron branch of the Grand Trunk Railroad.
15. Oftentimes, he wore dirty shirts and shabby working clothes. Nevertheless, his associates describe him a humorous type of person and had a genuine affection for his family.
16. He would sleep for 4 hours only in a day and would work for 72 hours especially when an experiment is about to be completed.
17. Among his most important inventions were the electric light, the phonograph, and the motion-picture camera.
18. The period from 1879 to 1900 is called the Age of Edison. This span of time is the period when Edison produced and perfected most of his devices.
19. One of Edison’s significant inventions was the quadruplex, a highly efficient telegraph that could send four messages at a time over a telegraph wire.
20. In 1876, Edison established a laboratory at Menlo Park, New Jersey, the world’s first laboratory dedicated to industrial research.
21. The so-called Edison effect, which he discovered, became the foundation of all modern electronics. Radio, television, radar, and computers all depend on it.
22. He invented also an improved electrical storage battery where he had spent eight years and a million dollars. This battery was widely used in electric cars and even to power submarines.
23. Edison received awards from the governments of Chile, Britain, Japan, Russia, and many other nations.
24. In 1889, Italy made him a Grand Officer of the Crown.
