Today you are going to learn about a very famous American inventor. His name is Thomas Edison. The reason why I wanted you to learn about him right before we leave for Florida is because we are going to visit his house when we’re there with the nine! Here is a little video about the museum we’re going to. Next week you’ll learn about Henry Ford, who was Thomas Edison’s good friend and fellow inventor.
The year was 1853. The place was Ohio. Thomas Alva Edison and his family were visiting relatives on their farm. Thomas, or Al as his family called him, was six years old. One day, he went missing. His family looked and looked for him. But they could not find him.
Then Al’s uncle had an idea. He ran out to the barn. There was Al! He was sitting on a pile of straw. He was trying to hatch a goose egg.
Earlier he had seen a hen sitting on her eggs. Then some baby chicks came out. Al wanted to make a baby goose come of the egg. His parents weren’t surprised. They had three other children. Al was the youngest—and the most curious. He would be curious all of his long life.
When Al was a child, the world was very different than it is today. There was no electric light to see by. There was no recorded music to listen to. There were no movies to watch. Thomas Edison made all of these possible and much more! He changed our lives forever.
He believed in inventions. He wanted to make life easier and more comfortable. That is exactly what he did!
Thomas Edison was a great inventor. Perhaps he was the greatest inventor of his time.
Imagine what the world was like before there were electric lights, recorded music and the movies. Answer these questions:
1. What activities could you do without these things?
2. What activities that you do today could you not do before Thomas Edison invented these things?
The world was very different in 1847 when Thomas Alva Edison was born. There were no electric lights or movies. There was no recorded music. Thomas made all of these possible and much more. He changed our world.
In 1876, Thomas had his own company in Menlo Park, New Jersey. It was where he invented the phonograph. What did this machine do? It recorded sound and played it back! Thomas became known as “The Wizard of Menlo Park.”
His next invention made him even more famous. Thomas began working on a light bulb that would last a long time. He worked hard on the light bulb with his team. At last, on October 22, 1879, his light bulb glowed for 13 ½ hours. The next one glowed for over 100 hours. The long-lasting light bulb was born!
Later on, Thomas became interested in moving pictures. He came up with a system to film and show them. His kinetograph was the camera. It took the pictures. His kinetoscope provided a way to look at the moving pictures.
Thomas Alva Edison’s inventions changed our lives forever. Can you even imagine a world without them?
Watch this video about Thomas Edison and the invention of the light bulb:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWWgDn0C6DA
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