Thomas Edison

He tested thousands of materials before his light bulb finally lasted.

Who was Thomas Edison?

Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, in 1847. He became one of the most famous inventors in history, with more than 1,000 patents to his name. A patent is a paper from the government that says an invention is yours. Edison's team built the first practical electric light bulb, the first machine that could record and play back sound, and one of the first movie cameras. He also built something new: a whole laboratory whose only job was inventing.

A curious boy

Tom did not like school, and his teachers did not understand him, so his mother taught him at home. When he was 12 he got a job selling newspapers and candy on a train that ran between Port Huron and Detroit. He set up a little science lab in the baggage car and even printed his own newspaper on board. Tom had trouble hearing, and it got worse as he grew up. He said it helped him concentrate. Noisy rooms did not bother him, so he could sit and think.

Menlo Park

As a young man Tom worked as a telegraph operator, sending messages in Morse code, and he kept tinkering with ways to make the machines better. In 1876 he used the money from his inventions to build a laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. He hired skilled machinists, glassblowers, chemists, and mathematicians to work with him. He promised a small invention every ten days and a big one every six months. People called him the Wizard of Menlo Park.

The phonograph

In 1877, Tom built a machine with a crank, a needle, and a cylinder wrapped in tinfoil. He turned the crank and shouted, "Mary had a little lamb." Then he moved the needle back to the start and turned the crank again, and the machine said it back to him. It was the first time anyone had ever recorded a human voice and played it back. He called it the phonograph. Newspapers around the world wrote about it.

A lamp that lasted

Other inventors had already made electric lights, but they burned out in minutes. Tom's team tested thousands of materials for the thin thread inside the bulb, called the filament. Each test that failed taught them something. In October 1879, they made a bulb that glowed for more than 13 hours, and soon after that, one that lasted far longer. Then Tom did the harder part: he designed the generators, wires, switches, and meters to deliver electricity to people's homes. In 1882 he opened a power station on Pearl Street in New York City and lit up the neighborhood.

What we kept

Tom built an even bigger lab in West Orange, New Jersey, in 1887, where his team worked on movies, batteries, and much more. In 1914 a huge fire burned much of it down. He was 67. He started rebuilding the next morning. Edison died in 1931, and his West Orange lab is now a national park that you can visit. He liked to say that genius is mostly hard work. Every time you flip a switch, listen to recorded music, or watch a movie, you are using something that came out of his lab.

What's in the book

The 18 coloring scenes follow his life in order: A Curious Boy, He Listened Close, Menlo Park, A Team at Work, The Phonograph, Try Again, A Lamp That Lasted, Night Work, Notebooks, Power for the Street, West Orange, Family Table, Moving Pictures, Start Again, Keep Trying, What We Kept.

• A pronunciation page
• A map of Edison's America
• A "What We Kept" page on the inventions we still use
• A "You Did It!" page and certificate