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Thomas Edison

by Tuan from Spanish Fork

"Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety nine percent perspiration,"
Thomas Edison (menloparkmuseum.org)
Thomas Edison (menloparkmuseum.org)

Thomas Edison, one of the greatest inventors in human history, not only gave our world his modern inventions that changed our lives in a better way, but also left us something to learn from him. He is my hero because his life has helped me to realize many things that I have never thought of before, to realize how a person can really succeed by using his own power to move forward, and to realize what makes a person become a genius. Many people regard Edison as a genius for what he did, but for me, he was truly a genius because of what he couldn't do in his life.

When a boy, Edison showed that he was an intelligent person. He questioned everything and always tried to find the answer for his questions. However, Edison didn't seem to like school. He often let his mind wander in class and ask his teacher some odd questions that no one could answer. Without his teacher's support, Edison then stopped going to school. However he didn't let this affect his studying. He studied everything with the help of his mother at home. He soon found science interesting and started to do experiments himself. When his family couldn't afford his scientific instruments, he decided to find a job. Edison sold candy and newspapers on trains to help his family. Having finished his work, Edison went back with his experiments, conducting them right on the train where he sold newspapers. Edison did all of these things when he was around 10. He had showed that he was not only a smart kid but also a truly brave man who knows what to do, even when some unexpected things happen.

Edison's vote recorder (edison.rutgers.edu)
Edison's vote recorder (edison.rutgers.edu)

Looking at Edison's work, people can see a lot of successful inventions. There are still many of his inventions that are still used nowadays. However, in my opinion, the most important invention of Edison is his first invention, the Vote recorder, which was, ironically, never used. It was a good invention, except that people could easily change the result of the record, which means changing the result of the election. This first unexpected failure gave Edison an important thing to learn from, and he didn't give up his work. His later inventions were so successful that people started to call him The Wizard of Menlo Park, even though sometimes, he failed hundreds of times before being able to make those inventions work. One of his famous quotes is that: "If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward." Edison had been showing tireless effort at work throughout his life.

School and the first invention are just 2 examples of things that Edison couldn't succeed at in his life. In fact, people cannot believe that such a great person as Edison can ever fail, but he did fail, and fail a lot. Nevertheless, the important thing is that Edison didn't give up on his work. He kept going forward and believing that he could do it, no matter how difficult it might be. For me, that's what made Edison become a genius. One of my favorite Edison quotes is that: "Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety nine percent perspiration," which totally reflected character of Edison, a hero that never gave up.

Page created on 10/5/2012 12:00:00 AM

Last edited 10/5/2012 12:00:00 AM

The beliefs, viewpoints and opinions expressed in this hero submission on the website are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs, viewpoints and opinions of The MY HERO Project and its staff.

Related Links

Wikipedia - Information about Edison