Even though it's been nearly 90 years since Thomas Edison's death, countless devices that we use on a daily basis owe at least some of their history to the "Wizard of Menlo Park." From flipping on a light to going to a movie, our everyday lives would be much less interesting, and far less convenient, without Thomas Edison's input. But it wasn't just the impact of his creations that arguably made Edison the world's best-known inventor.
The man who set up his first lab as a youngster in his family home in Michigan went on to acquire an astounding 1,093 patents. Much of his work was devoted to electric light and power, but Edison also acquired dozens of patents relating to the phonograph, the telegraph, batteries, and the telephone. Edison never grew tired of inventing, it seems, assisting car manufacturer Henry Ford on a battery for the Model T and working on numerous ideas into his 80s. Edison said that none of his inventions came to him by luck; "they came by work," he once explained.
The inventiveness of Thomas Edison:
- Edison proposed to his second wife, Mina, by tapping the words on her hand in Morse Code.
- Edison clearly had a sense of humor, nicknaming his first two children "Dot" and "Dash."
- Edison didn't invent the telephone, but thanks to him we answer calls with "Hello," and not "Ahoy," as was originally used.