Thomas Alva Edison

What does a true hero mean to me? For me, heroes are the people who give all their lives to others and never give up even if they fail. So you already heard about the definition about my hero and now I will start my explanations about my hero.

My hero is Thomas Alva Edison. Why do I admire him? Because I think, Thomas Alva Edison was not only one of the most important scientists and inventors in the past two centuries, but his memory will live on because of the huge number of his inventions and their usefulness until today.

Young Thomas

Young Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11 1847 in Milan, Ohio. Young Thomas was raised there. Since he was kid, Thomas showed his interest in science. In 1854 Thomas and his family moved to Port Huron. When Thomas was 8 years old, his parents sent him to school which was owned by Father Engle. But only 3 months later his parents took him back because Thomas didn’t like the way Father Engle taught him. Soon after he left the school, his mother took charge to teach Thomas.

In 1859, 12 years old Thomas sold newspapers in the train. But one day an accident happened. Thomas was busy selling the newspaper and he didn’t realize the train was going to leave. He rushed to the train but something terrible happened. He did reach that train but he had to pay the price. He was injured when a conductor pulled him up by one of his ears which made some obstacles in hearing. His wound was not too much of an obstacle for him to create experiments. Thomas got some knowledge from Mr. Mac Kenzie. He was an expert in the telegram. Under Mr. Mac Kenzie, Thomas made a great improvement.

Old Thomas

4 years later, Edison who was 16 years old now, was about to head north to Canada. He worked in a night telegram office. During his time, he invented an alarm so the automatic telegram would give an alarm at the designated time. But he was fired. In a near time, there was another incident which caused him to leave Canada and start his time to be a traveler.

In 1868, Edison managed to invent a “Voting Machine”. As long as the participant of the election pushed the button on their desk, yes or no points were forced to come out of it. This is Edison’s first invention that got registered.

2 years from then, after creating lots of invention, Edison invented a “Recorder Telegram Machine” which were very easy and effective to use. In that winter years, Edison built his own laboratory in New Jersey. During his 7 years in New Jersey, Edison had completing 122 kinds of invention. All of them registered.

21st October 1879, his major project which was the light ball, had just completed its test. Edison finally opened a new page in human history. This electric light ball is so popular that people in all over New York celebrated a “Light Parade”

Summer of 1884, Edison’s wife, Maria, died from a disease. Edison who was at the top of his career had to receive this major blow. The deep sadness caused him to leave Menlo Park to forget about his wife’s death. Two years later, he married again. This time his wife named Mina Miller.

His meeting with Henry Ford had inspired him to study and perfect the car battery. After 10 years of hardworking and 50.000 times of experiments, Edison finally made a new battery which would complete the industrial advancement. But in the same year, his great laboratory was burnt to dust. Edison who never knew giving up rebuilt the destroyed lab again five weeks later.

21st October 1929 was the day to celebrate 50 years of electricity. Ford held a huge party to celebrate Edison’s part in this area. Lots of honorable guest come. Even the United States president was there too. After giving a short speech, Edison suddenly collapsed and fell to the ground. The rest of his life was spent in a sick condition. Finally on 8 October 1931, Thomas Alva Edison, one of the greatest people who ever lived on this planet, rested in peace at 84 years old.

Now you’ve already heard my story about hero. Why do I think he’s a hero? Because he has dedicated all of his life and wealth to the goodness of human kind. To be honest I got my lesson from this story : We have to work hard if we want to get what we dream about.

We can’t give up before we try.