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Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman known for his work on the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, electric power distribution and early motion pictures. The merger of the Edison General Electric Company and the competitor Thomson-Houston Electric Company resulted in the formation of General Electric. Edison registered 1,093 patents in the United States.
business · American inventor and businessman (1847–1931) · engineer · inventor · entrepreneur · physicist · mathematician · screenwriter · film director · film producer · also Thomas Edison, Edison
Born 11 February 1847 · Died 18 October 1931 · Q8743
96 published statements · 0 followers
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14 photos · 1 audio · 2 video
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A day with Thomas A. Edison
Leonard-Cushing fight (1894)
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Thomas Edison Mary had lamb
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20265 items
Los Angeles Times: Man shot and killed by deputies after firing at Edison employees, authorities say
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ABC7 Los Angeles: Deputies shoot and kill armed suspect who allegedly fired at SoCal Edison crew in San Bernardino County
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Cape Coral Breeze: FDOT: Northbound lane closures tonight on Business U.S. 41 over the Edison Bridge
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Central New Jersey News: Edison mayor to help light Empire State Building for India Day
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20221 item
Snopes.com rated the claim “Thomas Edison once said, "Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time."” Correct Attribution.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
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20202 items
Snopes.com rated the claim “A Black man invented the lightbulb, not “a white guy named Edison,” according to presidential candidate Joe Biden in September 2020.” Mostly False.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
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PolitiFact rated the claim ““A Black man invented the light bulb, not a white guy named Edison.”” Mostly False.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
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20161 item
Snopes.com rated the claim “Thomas Edison’s mother lied about the contents of a letter from her son’s school informing her that the school had expelled him for “mental deficiencies.”” Mostly False.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
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20101 item
Awarded Technical Grammy Award (2010).
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20081 item
Awarded New Jersey Hall of Fame (2008).
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19841 item
Released album “The Edison CD Sampler™”.
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19771 item
Awarded Grammy Trustees Award (1977).
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19731 item
Awarded National Inventors Hall of Fame for incandescent light bulb (1973).
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193114 items
For a minute at 9:59 pm Eastern Standard Time, millions of lights were turned off throughout the United States for a minute to pay tribute
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At Glenmont and was buried on the property
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Died 1931-10-18.
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“No inspiration without perspiration”
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“Through all the years of experimenting and research, I never once made a discovery. I start where the last man left off. … All my work was deductive, and the results I achieved were those of invention pure and simple.”
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“Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.”
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“Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.”
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“Inspiration is perspiration”
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“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”
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“X-rays ... I am afraid of them. I stopped experimenting with them two years ago, when I came near to losing my eyesight and Dally, my assistant practically lost the use of both of his arms.”
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“Genius is inspiration, talent is perspiration”
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“Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration. Accordingly, a 'genius' is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework.”
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“A não-violência leva-nos aos mais altos conceitos de ética, o objetivo de toda evolução. Até pararmos de prejudicar todos os outros seres do planeta, nós continuaremos selvagens.”
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“[Thomas Edison] says, "Inspiration is perspiration.”
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19291 item
Awarded John Scott Award (1929).
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19282 items
Won Congressional Gold Medal (1928).
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Edison received the Congressional Gold Medal and Coolidge called into the ceremony via radio
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19261 item
At 79 years old, Edison handed over the presidency of Thomas A
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19213 items
Which involved restricting rubber supply in order to increase rubber prices
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Compared to 1920; from 1922 to 1926, radio sales went up by 843%
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Edison met Harding with the Firestone, Ford summer caravan
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19201 item
Won Navy Distinguished Service Medal (1920).
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19153 items
Won Franklin Medal (1915).
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"Every woman in this country is going to have the vote
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The United States consumed 75% of the world's rubber but produced a negligible amount
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19141 item
Edison fired Porter for unclear reasons
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19131 item
Movies used live actors and bands to add sound to the experience
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19082 items
Won John Fritz Medal (1908).
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Edison started the Motion Picture Patents Company, which was a conglomerate of nine major film studios (commonly known as the Edison Trust)
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19041 item
Edison was worried about losing the patent fight and personally petitioned president Theodore Roosevelt to step in
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19032 items
The owners of Luna Park, Coney Island, announced they would execute Topsy the elephant
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A shaken Edison said: "Don't talk to me about X-rays, I am afraid of them
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19012 items
Edison sought to parlay his cement business by starting a cheap housing development initiative
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And founded the Edison Storage Battery Company
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19004 items
Awarded honorary doctor of Rutgers University.
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Won Benjamin Franklin Medal.
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Awarded star on Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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This phonograph was sold for $10, and buyers could additionally select from the 3,000 different musical records produced by Edison's 1,000 employees in the phonograph works
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18994 items
Won Edward Longstreth Medal (1899).
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Edison began research for a more efficient rechargeable battery to power electric cars
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Established the Edison Portland Cement Company
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And caused scandal for himself and the senior Edison
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18981 item
“Genius is three per cent. inspiration and ninety-seven per cent. perspiration”
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18962 items
Following their discovery by Wilhelm Röntgen
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While working for the Edison Illuminating Company
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18951 item
Awarded Rumford Prize (1895).
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18931 item
The United States was in a severe recession
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18921 item
Won Albert Medal (1892).
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18911 item
Edison built a Kinetoscope or peep-hole viewer
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18901 item
Told president Henry Villard he thought it was time to retire from the lighting business
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18893 items
Awarded John Scott Award (1889).
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Awarded grand officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy (1889).
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Awarded Commander of the Legion of Honour (1889).
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18881 item
Edison and William Kennedy Laurie Dickson began trying to make a camera "to do for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear"
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18873 items
Won Matteucci Medal (1887).
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Began to support the development of an electric chair powered by Westinghouse AC in an attempt to smear the AC industry
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The Edison Phonograph Company was founded to compete with Bell
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18863 items
At the age of 39, Edison married the 20-year-old Mina Miller (1865–1947) in Akron, Ohio
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In Llewellyn Park in West Orange, New Jersey
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Edison struck out personally against his competitor stating, Just as certain as death, Westinghouse will kill a customer within six months after he puts in a system of any size
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18853 items
Edison bought 13 acres of property in Fort Myers, Florida, for roughly $2,750 (equivalent to $98,542 in 2025) and built what was later called Seminole Lodge as a winter retreat
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But their flirting was dampened by the religious nature of the gathering
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While working on a project with Ezra in Boston
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18831 item
The US patent office ruled that Edison's patented filament improvement process was based on William E
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18822 items
In Pearl Street, New York City, his 600 kW cogeneration steam-powered generating station, Pearl Street Station's, electrical power distribution system was switched on, providing 110 volts direct current (DC)
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Edison turned on the electrical lighting system to supply the company's 946 customers in Manhattan
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18811 item
Awarded Officer of the Legion of Honour (1881).
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18801 item
Founded the Edison Illuminating Company, and during the 1880s, he patented a system for electricity distribution
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18794 items
Edison was determined to create an electric utility to compete with the existing gas light utilities
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Awarded Knight of the Legion of Honour (1879).
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To demonstrate the phonograph, and met Benjamin Harrison in 1890
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Studied at Cooper Union (1875–1879).
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18783 items
Edison began working on a system of electrical illumination that he could deploy in a large-scale commercial utility, something he hoped could compete with gas and oil-based lighting
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Edison began working on an electrical lighting system which he hoped would replace the common gas lamp
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Did little to develop it commercially until Alexander Graham Bell, Chichester Bell, and Charles Tainter produced a phonograph-like device in the 1880s that used wax-coated cardboard cylinders
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18771 item
Edison and his backers at Western Union wanted to compete with Alexander Graham Bell on telephone technology
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18762 items
A part of Raritan Township (now named Edison Township in his honor) with the funds from the sale of Edison's quadruplex telegraph
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Edison began work to improve the microphone for telephones by developing a carbon microphone, which consists of two metal plates separated by granules of carbon that would change resistance with the pressure of sound wav
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18741 item
Received $30,000 ($853,676 in 2025) for inventing the quadruplex telegraph: the first telegraph that could simultaneously transmit four messages through a single wire
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18711 item
At the age of 24, Edison married 16-year-old Mary Stilwell (1855–1884), whom he had met two months earlier; she was an employee at one of his shops
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18472 items
Born 1847-02-11.
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In Milan, Ohio, but grew up in Port Huron, Michigan, after the family moved there in 1854
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