Thomas Alva Edison Research Paper

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Inventor, Thomas Alva Edison was born on February the 11th, 1847, in Milan, Ohio. He was the last of the seven children that Samuel and Nancy Edison had. Thomas's father was an exiled political activist from Canada. His mother, Nancy was an accomplished school teacher who was a major influence in Thomas’s early life. At an early age, Thomas got sick with scarlet fever as well as ear infections that left him with hearing difficulties in both ears. Sadly his parents got told that the sickness would eventually leave him nearly deaf as an adult. In 1854, the huge family moved to Port Huron in Michigan, where Edison attended a public school for a total of 12 weeks. He was a hyperactive child, that always got distracted by others. His teacher…show more content…
He convinced his parents to let him sell newspapers to passengers along the Grand Trunk Railroad line. Thomas soon began publishing his own small newspapers, called the Grand Trunk Herald. The up-to-date articles were a hit with the passengers. This was the first of what would become a long life of inventing and creating. Edison also used his access to the railroad to conduct & create chemical experiments in a small laboratory that he set up in a train baggage car. During one of his experiments, a large chemical fire started and the car caught fire. The conductor rushed in and hit Thomas, hard on the side of his head, probably furthering some of his hearing loss. He was soon kicked off the train and forced to sell his newspapers at different stations along the route. While he worked for the railroad, a near-tragic event turned to fortune for the young man. After Edison saved a 3-year-old from being run over by an errant train, the child’s grateful father rewarded him by teaching him to operate a telegraph. By age 15, he had learned enough to be employed as a telegraph operator. For the next five years, Edison traveled throughout the Midwest as an itinerant telegrapher, talking to those who had gone to the Civil
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