On this Day :: Birth of Thomas Alva Edison ( October 18, 1931)

On this Day :: Birth of Thomas Alva Edison ( October 18, 1931)

Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman.
He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures.
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.
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.

Thomas Edison was born in 1847 in Milan, Ohio, but grew up in Port Huron, Michigan, after the family moved there in 1854.
He was the seventh and last child of Samuel Ogden Edison Jr. (1804–1896, born in Marshalltown, Nova Scotia) and Nancy Matthews Elliott (1810–1871, born in Chenango County, New York).
His patrilineal family line was Dutch by way of New Jersey; the surname had originally been “Edeson”.
His grandfather John Edeson fled New Jersey for Nova Scotia in 1784, his father moved to Vienna, Ontario and fled after his involvement in the Rebellion of 1837.