Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison (1847 to 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. He was a prolific inventor, holding 1,093 US patents in his name. Together with Nikola Tesla, he was one of the fathers of electricity.

Some of his inventions that have had a widespread impact on the second industrial revolution:


 * phonograph and chemicals to make phonograph records
 * the motion picture camera
 * electric light bulb
 * quadruplex telegraph
 * telephone transmitter (microphone)
 * fluoroscope, a machine that uses X-rays to take radiographs
 * lead acid rechargeable battery and nickel–iron battery

He was embroiled in scientific and legal battles promoting Direct Current versus Alternating Current whose most famous promoters were Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse.