Thomas Edison

American inventor and businessman (1847–1931)

OverviewAI-generated

Thomas Alva Edison (1847–1931) was an American engineer, inventor, entrepreneur, and businessperson born in Milan, Ohio. He was educated at Cooper Union and worked in the fields of invention, entrepreneurship, electrical engineering, and engineering. Edison owned Edison Studios and Edison Records and is recognized in the Hollywood Walk Of Fame and the National Inventors Hall Of Fame collections.

He received the Congressional Gold Medal, the Commander of the Legion of Honour, the Grammy Trustees Award, and the Benjamin Franklin Medal. Edison was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics and was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. His archives are held at Rutgers University.

Edison’s works include the titles Playful Life, Concept of Drug Use, Role of Conversions, Approach to Be Simple, and Lucrative Offer of Video Marketing. He is described in sources such as Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography, Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, The Nuttall Encyclopædia, and the Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition. He died in West Orange.

Synthesized by Vinony from 52 facts across 10 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Crossref, Last.fm, TMDb, Wikiquote, VIAF, Vinony collections, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Works: 32

Top works

Playful Life
Concept of Drug Use
Role of Conversions
Approach to Be Simple
Lucrative Offer of Video Marketing

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Production · Milan, Ohio, USA

Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who has been described as America's greatest inventor. 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 the long-lasting, practical electric…

Known for

History 101 — Self (archive footage)2020
Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound — Self (voice) (archive footage)2019
The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley — Self (archive footage)2019
Edison — Himself (archive footage)2015
The Extraordinary Voyage — Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)2011
Murnau, Borzage and Fox — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)2008
Edison: The Invention of the Movies — Himself (archive footage)2005
Naqoyqatsi — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)2002
Star Power: The Creation Of United Artists — Self (archive footage)1998
The Shadow of Hate: A History of Intolerance in America — Self (archive footage)1995

via TMDB

Music · MusicBrainz

Type: Person
Gender: Male
Origin: United States
Active from: 1847
Active to: 1931

jazzswing

Discography

Edison Blue Amberol: 37561919
The Edison CD Sampler™1984

Discogs Stream

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners: 870
Total plays: 1,678

Recent publications · Crossref

5 total works indexed

Analysis of Relative Gene Expression Data Using Real-Time Quantitative PCR and the 2−ΔΔCT Method
· 2001 · cited 163,277x
The PRISMA 2020 statement: an updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews
· 2021 · cited 85,169x
U-Net: Convolutional Networks for Biomedical Image Segmentation
· 2015 · cited 59,964x
STAR: ultrafast universal RNA-seq aligner
· 2012 · cited 51,098x
UCSF Chimera—A visualization system for exploratory research and analysis
· 2004 · cited 44,346x

via Crossref · CC0

Authority record · VIAF

Lifespan: 1847–1931
Nationality: US
Role / Field: Scientists, Motion picture producers and directors, Inventors, Inventor, Businesspeople, Science
Language: eng
Gender: Male

Recorded by 33 libraries

via VIAF · OCLC

Quotes

“To Monsieur Eiffel the Engineer, the brave builder of so gigantic and original a specimen of modern Engineering from one who has the greatest respect and admiration for all Engineers including the Great Engineer the Bon Dieu.”
“I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come indirectly through accident, except the phonograph. No, when I have, fully decided that a result is worth getting, I go about it, and make trial after trial, until it comes.”
“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.”
“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.”
“Hell! There ain't no rules around here! We are tryin' to accomplish somep'n!”
“Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

~40 min read

Encyclopedic overview

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, 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.

Edison was raised in the American Midwest. Early in his career he worked as a telegraph operator, which inspired some of his earliest inventions. In 1876, he established his first laboratory facility in Menlo Park, New Jersey, where many of his early inventions were developed. He went into business and became wealthy. Edison used his fortune to further his passion for invention. This was realized in experimental mining operations, the first film studio, and 1,093 US patents.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Thomas Edison” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.