Thomas Edison biography was mentally retarded. How a “mentally retarded” person turned into a genius
The world knows Thomas Edison as the inventor who managed to improve the electric light bulb, as well as the author of the phonograph, the electric chair and the telephone greeting. However, unlike many geniuses, the man was distinguished by a brilliant talent for entrepreneurship.
Childhood and youth
Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847 in the American town of Mailen, into a family of immigrants from Holland. Al, as the future inventor was called in childhood, was not distinguished by great health - short and frail (although in childhood photos Thomas looks well-fed). In addition, the scarlet fever he suffered affected his hearing - the boy became deaf in his left ear. The parents surrounded their son with care, because they had previously lost two children.
Thomas did not manage to settle down at school; the teachers were enough for a “limited” child for three months, after which his parents took him out of the educational institution with a scandal and sent him to home schooling. Edison was introduced to the basics of school science by his mother, Nancy Eliot, the daughter of a priest with an excellent upbringing and education.
Thomas grew up as an inquisitive child, keenly interested in what was happening around him - he loved to look at steamships, and often hung around carpenters, watching their work. Another unusual activity to which he devoted hours was copying inscriptions on warehouse signs.
When the Edisons moved to Porto Huron, seven-year-old Thomas became acquainted with the fascinating world of reading and tried his hand at invention for the first time. At that time, the boy and his mother were selling fruits and vegetables, and in their free time they ran to the town’s People’s Library to buy books.
By the age of 12, the teenager became acquainted with the works of Edward Gibbon, David Hume, Richard Burton, but the first scientific book was read and put into practice at the age of 9. Natural and Experimental Philosophy by Richard Greene Parker brought together scientific and technological advances and examples of experiments, which Thomas repeated.
Chemical experiments required investments; in the hope of earning more money, young Edison got a job as a newspaper seller at a railway station. The young man was even allowed to set up a laboratory in the baggage car of the train, where he conducted experiments. However, not for long - because of the fire, Thomas was expelled along with the laboratory.
While working at the station, an event occurred that helped enrich the work biography of the aspiring inventor. Edison saved the station master's son from death under the wheels of a moving carriage, for which he received the position of telegraph operator, where he worked for several years.
At the end of his youth, Thomas wandered around America in search of a place in life: he lived in Indianapolis, Nashville, Cincinnati, returned to his home state, but in 1868 he ended up in Boston, and then in New York. All this time I barely made ends meet, because I spent the lion's share of my income on books and experiments.
Inventions
The secret of the great self-taught inventor is simple and lies in a quote from Thomas Edison himself, which over time became a catchphrase:
“Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.”
He proved the truth of the statement more than once, spending days and nights in laboratories. As he himself admitted, he was sometimes so carried away that he spent up to 19 hours a day working. Edison has 1093 patents received in the United States and 3 thousand documents on the authorship of inventions issued in other countries. At the same time, they did not buy the first creations from the man. For example, compatriots considered the vote counter in elections useless.
Luck smiled during the period of work at the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company. Thomas got a job thanks to the fact that he repaired the telegraph apparatus - no one could cope with this task, even invited craftsmen. And in 1870, the company happily bought out the system he had improved for telegraphing exchange bulletins about gold and stock prices. The inventor spent the money on opening his own workshop for the production of tickers for stock exchanges; a year later, Edison already owned three such workshops.
Soon things went even better. Thomas founded the company "Pope, Edison & Co", the next five years were fruitful, in particular, the greatest invention appeared - the quadruplex telegraph, with which it became possible to transmit up to four messages simultaneously on one wire. Inventive activity required a well-equipped laboratory, and in 1876, near New York, in the town of Menlo Park, the construction of an industrial complex for scientific research work began. The laboratory later brought together hundreds of bright minds and skillful hands.
Attempts to convert telegraph messages into sound resulted in the advent of the phonograph. In 1877, Edison recorded the children's song "Mary Had a Little Lamb" using a needle and tinfoil. The innovation was considered on the verge of fantasy, and Thomas received the nickname The Wizard of Menlo Park.
Two years later, the world accepted Thomas Edison's most famous invention - he managed to improve the light bulb, extending its operating time and simplifying production. Existing lamps burned out after a couple of hours, consumed a lot of current, or were expensive. Edison declared that soon all of New York would be illuminated by fireproof light bulbs, and the price of electricity would become affordable, and began an experiment. For the filament, I tried 6,000 materials and finally settled on carbon fiber, which burned for 13.5 hours. Later the service life increased to 1200 hours.
Thomas Edison and his light bulb
Edison demonstrated the possibility of using light bulbs, as well as the developed system for producing and consuming electricity, by creating a power plant in one of the New York districts: 400 light bulbs flashed. The number of electricity consumers increased from 59 to half a thousand over several months.
In 1882, the “War of Currents” broke out and lasted until the beginning of the second millennium. Edison favored the use of direct current, which, however, was transmitted without loss only over short distances. , who joined Thomas's laboratory, tried to prove that alternating current was more efficient - it was transmitted over hundreds of kilometers. The future legendary inventor proposed using it for power plants and generators, but did not find support.
Tesla, at the request of the owner, created 24 alternating current machines, but did not receive the promised 50 thousand dollars for the work from Edison, was offended and became a competitor. Together with industrialist George Westinghouse, Nikola began to introduce alternating current everywhere. Thomas sued and even conducted black PR campaigns, using the killing of animals to prove the dangers of this type of current. The apogee was the invention of the electric chair for executing criminals.
The war ended only in 2007: the chief engineer of the Consolidate Edison company ceremoniously cut the last cable through which direct current was supplied to New York.
The prolific inventor also patented an X-ray device, calling it a fluoroscope, and a carbon microphone that increased the volume of telephone communications. In 1887, Thomas Edison built a new laboratory in West Orange, larger than the previous one and equipped with the latest technology. A voice recorder and an alkaline battery appeared here.
Edison also left his mark on the history of cinematography. In Thomas's laboratory, the kinetoscope, a device capable of showing moving images, saw the light of day. In essence, the invention was a personal cinema - a person watched a film through a special eyepiece. A little later, Edison opened the Kinetoscope Parlor hall and equipped it with ten boxes.
Personal life
Thomas’s personal life also turned out well - he managed to get married twice and have six children. The inventor almost walked down the aisle with his first wife, telegraph operator Mary Stillwell, two months after they met. However, the wedding had to be postponed due to the death of Edison's mother. The wedding took place in December 1871. A funny event is connected with the celebration: Thomas immediately after the festivities went to work and forgot about the wedding night.
In this union, a daughter and two sons were born, the eldest children - Marriott and Thomas - with the light hand of their father at home, bore the nicknames Dot and Dash, in honor of Morse code. Mary died at age 29 from a brain tumor.
Soon Edison married again, according to historians, out of great love. The chosen one was 20-year-old Mina Miller, whom the inventor taught Morse code, and even proposed marriage in this language. Edison also had two sons and a daughter from Mina - the only heiress who gave her father grandchildren.
Death
The great inventor did not live to see his 85th birthday for four months, but he carried on business until the last. Thomas Edison suffered from diabetes, a terrible disease that caused complications that were incompatible with life.
He died in the fall of 1931, in a house in the town of West Orange, which he bought 45 years ago as a gift to his bride, his future wife Mina Miller. Edison's grave is located in the backyard of this house.
- Edison is credited with inventing the simplest tattoo machine. The reason was five points on Thomas's left forearm, and then the Stencil-Pens engraving device, which was patented in 1876. However, Samuel O'Reilly is considered the father of the tattoo machine.
- The inventor is responsible for the death of the elephant Topsy. Three people died due to the animal's fault, so they decided to kill it. In the hope of winning the “war of currents,” Edison proposed executing the elephant with an alternating current of 6000 volts, and recorded the “performance” on film.
- The biography of the American genius includes a failed project, for the implementation of which they even built an entire plant to extract iron from low-grade ore. Compatriots laughed at the inventor, arguing that it was easier and cheaper to invest money in ore deposits. And they turned out to be right.
- In 1911, Edison built an uninhabitable house consisting of concrete, including window sills and electrical pipes. At the same time, the man tried himself as a furniture designer, presenting concrete interior items to future buyers. And again he failed.
- One of the wild ideas was the creation of a helicopter powered by gunpowder.
- The invention of the long-life lamp did humanity a disservice - people's sleep was reduced by 2 hours. By the way, when improving the light bulb, calculations took 40,000 pages of notebooks.
- The word “hello”, which starts a telephone conversation, is also Edison’s idea.
Discoveries
- 1860 – aerophone
- 1868 – electric vote counter for elections
- 1869 – ticker machine
- 1870 – carbon telephone membrane
- 1873 – quadruplex telegraph
- 1876 – mimeograph
- 1877 – phonograph
- 1877 – carbon microphone
- 1879 – incandescent lamp with carbon filament
- 1880 – magnetic iron ore separator
- 1889 – kinetoscope
- 1889 – electric chair
- 1908 – iron-nickel battery
16 min. reading
Updated: 02/19/2019
Most people miss an opportunity because it comes in overalls and looks like work / T. Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (eng. Thomas Alva Edison; 02/11/1847 – 10/18/1931) is a famous American inventor and businessman, co-founder of the General Electric Corporation. At the age of 23, he became the founder of a unique research laboratory.
During his professional career, Thomas received 1,093 patents at home and about 3,000 outside the United States.
A talented organizer, with his discoveries Edison put high-brow science on a commercial footing and linked the results of experiments with production. He improved the telegraph and telephone, and designed the phonograph. Thanks to his persistence, millions of incandescent light bulbs lit up the world.
Edison did not become a “mad scientist” vegetating in his declining years in obscurity and poverty, but achieved recognition. But he did not have a higher or even a primary education: he was kicked out of school with the stigma of “brainless.” The biography of Thomas Edison will tell you what qualities lead to success.
Edison's childhood
NEWBORN WITH “BRAIN FEVER”
The future genius was born in the American city of Milen (Ohio) on 02/11/1847. The newborn Thomas Alva Edison surprised the doctor who delivered the baby: the obstetrician expressed the opinion that the baby had “brain fever,” because the baby’s head exceeded the standard size. The doctor was right about one thing – the baby was definitely not “standard.”
LONG-LIVING FATHERS
Thomas was born into a family of descendants of Dutch millers. In the 18th century, part of the family emigrated to the USA, where they took root. Both Edison's great-grandfather and grandfather were long-livers: the first lived to be 102 years old, the second to 103.
Samuel Edison, Thomas's father, was a wide-ranging businessman: he traded in timber, real estate, and wheat. He built a 30-meter-high staircase in his yard at home and collected a quarter of a dollar from everyone who wanted to enjoy the panorama from above. People laughed, but they paid money. Thomas will inherit his father's business acumen.
Re-read the previous paragraph, a quarter of a dollar for viewing from a 30-meter ladder. It's practically money out of thin air. The idea was elementary, but a daredevil was found and brought it to life. This distinguishes successful people from ordinary people; their brains generate ideas of different kinds, and their hands bring them to life. Coming up with an idea is easy, but implementing it becomes an impossible task for many people. If you want to succeed, learn to act. And the sooner the better. Take the first step immediately after reading this article.
Nancy Eliot, the mother of the future genius, grew up in the family of a priest, was a highly educated woman, and worked as a teacher before her marriage.
Thomas's parents are Samuel Edison and Nancy Eliot
Thomas's parents married in 1837 in Canada. Soon, a rebellion began in the country due to economic decline; Samuel, who took part in the riots, fled from government troops to America. In 1839, his wife and children joined him.
Thomas was the couple's youngest child, the seventh. The family's name was Alva, Al or El. He often played alone as a child. Even before his birth, the Edison couple had three children die; the older brother and sisters were older than Thomas and did not share his games with him.
CHILDHOOD WITHOUT TOYS
In 1847, Edison's hometown was a thriving center on the Huron River, thanks to a water canal that carried farmers' crops and timber to the industrial centers.
Al grew up as an inquisitive child who got into trouble: once he fell into a canal and miraculously survived; fell into an elevator and almost suffocated in the grain; started a fire in my father's barn. According to the memoirs of Edison Sr., his son “did not know children’s games; his amusements were steam engines and mechanical crafts.” The boy loved to “build” on the river bank: he laid roads and constructed toy windmills.
SCATTERED FROM THE HURON RIVER
Once Thomas went with a friend to the river. While he was sitting on the bank in thought, his comrade drowned. Alva woke up from his thoughts and thought that his friend had returned home without him. Later, when his friend's body was discovered, the inattentive Thomas was blamed for the accident. This event was deeply imprinted in the boy’s mind.
RELOCATION TO THE GREAT LAKES STATE
In 1854 the family moved to the state of Michigan, the city of Port Huron. Thomas's native Mylen, where he spent the first 7 years of his life, began to fall into disrepair: the city canal lost its commercial importance because a railway line was built nearby.
In their new location, the family occupies a beautiful house with a large garden and a panoramic view of the river. Alve works on a farm, collects fruits and vegetables, and sells crops, traveling around the area.
RUMORS OF LOST HEARING
Thomas begins to hear worse, sources indicate different reasons for this:
- The “prosaic” version: the boy suffered from scarlet fever;
- “Romantic”: the conductor “ran into” the young inventor’s ear with a composter;
- “Plausible”: heredity is to blame (Alya’s dad and brother had a similar problem).
His deafness increased throughout his life. When films with sound appeared, Edison complained that actors began to play worse, concentrating on their voices: I feel this more than you because I am deaf.
Inventor Education
SCHOOL: “HELLO AND FAREWELL”
In 1852, a law was passed requiring children to attend school. However, most continued to help their parents on family farms and did not study. Thomas's mother taught him to read and write, and enrolled his grown son in elementary school.
At the school, schoolchildren were punished with a belt, and Alya was punished as well. The boy was hard of hearing, absent-minded, and had difficulty cramming the material. The teacher more than once made fun of the careless student in front of schoolchildren, and once called him “stupid.”
CREATOR OF GENIUS
His mother took Thomas from school, where he suffered for 2 months. A tutor was hired for home education, and the boy learned a lot on his own. Mom did not require me to cram uninteresting subjects. Edison would later say: My mother was my creator. She understood me, she gave me the opportunity to follow my inclinations.
On this issue, I share the opinion of Edison’s mother. My eldest daughter will start school in a year, but she already reads perfectly, which we taught her on our own. And when she goes to school, I will never demand from her fours and fives, as was the case with me in childhood, I will not force her to cram something that is not interesting to her. I will even let her “skip” boring subjects. This does not mean that she will be idle; instead of boring lessons, she will do what interests her (creativity, sports, other subjects). The parent’s task is to identify the child’s creative abilities and direct all his energy in this direction, cutting off everything unnecessary. note from editor Roman Kozhin
There is a beautiful instructive story.
One day, little Thomas returned from class and gave his mother a note from the school teacher. Mrs. Edison read the message aloud: “Your son is a genius. There are no suitable teachers in this school who can teach him anything. Please teach it yourself."
Being a famous inventor, when his mother had already died, Edison found this note in the family archive, its text read: “Your son is mentally retarded. We can't teach it at school with everyone else. Please teach it yourself."
Thomas Edison as a child (about 12 years old)
BOOKWORM
Just as a sculptor needs a block of marble, so the soul needs knowledge.
By the age of 9, Alva was reading books on history, the works of Shakespeare and Dickens, and visiting the local library. In his parents' basement, he sets up a laboratory and performs experiments from the book “Natural and Experimental Philosophy” by Richard Parker. So that no one touches his reagents, the young alchemist signs all the bottles “poison”.
Thomas Edison's track record
12 YEARS EMPLOYER
In 1859, Alya’s father found him a job as a “train boy” - the duties of the “trainboy” included selling newspapers and sweets on the train. The former book lover shuttles between Port Huron and Detroit and quickly catches on to the trade. He expands the business, hires 4 assistants and brings $500 into the family annually.
PRINTING HOUSE ON WHEELS
Business-minded and resourceful from a young age, Al organizes a couple of sources of income. In the train where he traded there was an abandoned carriage - a former “smoking room”. In it, Al sets up a printing house and publishes the first travel newspaper, the Grand Trunk Herald. He does everything himself - types the text, edits articles. “Bulletin...” informed about local news and military events (there was a civil war between the North and South). The train leaflet received a positive comment from the English edition of the Times!
WORKING ADVANCED
Al comes up with the idea of telegraphing newspaper headlines to the stations of his railway line. Upon the arrival of the train, the public eagerly buys up the latest press from the boy, wanting to know the details. The telegraph helped Thomas increase his newspaper sales. The guy will continue to strive to benefit from scientific inventions in the future.
LABORATORY ON WHEELS
You’re amazed at how much energy the little boy contained. In the same former smoking carriage, Thomas sets up a laboratory. But while the train is moving, a container with phosphorus breaks due to shaking and a fire starts. Alya is kicked out of work, his enterprises “burn out” in every sense.
UNDERGROUND
The guy transfers his vigorous activity to the basement of his father’s house. He designs a steam engine, arranges a telegraph message, using bottles for insulators. Typographical work also returns: Al publishes the newspaper “Paul Pr”. In one note he managed to insult a subscriber. The offended reader ambushed Thomas by the river and threw him into the water. It’s good that the teenager swam well, otherwise the world would have lost hundreds of his inventions.
RESCUE A CHILD
At the Mont Clemens station, Edison had to save a 2-year-old child when he climbed onto the rails. Thomas rushed onto the track and managed to snatch the child almost from under the locomotive. The noble act made Thomas popular in the city. The baby's father, stationmaster James Mackenzie, in gratitude, offered to teach Thomas how to operate a telegraph machine.
In 1863, 5 months after the start of his studies, 16-year-old Edison received a position as a telegraph operator in a railroad office with a salary of $25 and extra pay for working at night.
PROGRESS IS DRIVEN BY LAZY PEOPLE
Thomas loved night shifts; no one bothered him to invent, read or sleep. But the head of the office demanded that the given word be transmitted by telegraph twice an hour to make sure that the employee was awake. The resourceful Thomas designed an “answering machine” by adapting a wheel with Morse code. The boss's order was carried out, and he himself went about his business.
ALMOST CRIMINAL CASE
Soon the enterprising employee is fired with a scandal: the two trains miraculously avoided a collision, and all because of Edison’s oversight. Thomas was nearly prosecuted.
VERY LONG RESUME
From Port Huron, Thomas leaves for Adriana, where he finds a job as a telegraph operator. In subsequent years, he worked at Western Union subsidiaries in Indianapolis and Cincinnati.
Thomas then moved to Nashville, from there to Memphis, and finally to Louisville. Working there for the Associated Press telegraph office, Thomas again became the culprit of an emergency in 1867. For his chemical experiments, the guy kept sulfuric acid on hand, and one day he broke the jar. The liquid burned through the floor and damaged valuable property of the banking firm on the floor below. The restless “telegraph operator-alchemist” was fired.
Thomas's main troubles happened because he could not simply carry out routine operations; it was too boring for him.
THE FIRST PANCAKE IS LOMIC
The first patent received by Edison in 1869 for an “electric voting apparatus” did not bring him success. The machine presented before Congress in Washington received a verdict of “slow”: congressmen manually recorded their votes faster.
Starting a successful career
CITY LIGHTS
In 1869, Edison came to New York with the desire to find a permanent job. Luck smiled on Thomas, setting up a fateful meeting: in one of the companies he found the owner repairing a machine for sending reports on the exchange rate of gold and securities. Edison quickly repairs the device himself and gets a job as a telegraph operator. By using the ticker, Thomas improves the design of the device, and the entire office where he works switches to his updated machines.
UNSEEN CAPITAL
Most people believe that one day they will wake up rich.They're half right. Someday they will really wake up.
In 1870, Mr. Lefferts, head of the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company, offered to buy out Edison's development. He hesitated on how much to ask: 3 thousand dollars? Or maybe 5? Edison admits that the first time he almost fainted was at the moment when the head of the company wrote him a check for $40,000.
Edison received the money through adventure. At the bank, the cashier returned the check to him for signature, but Thomas did not hear it and thought that the check was bad. Edison returned to Lefferts, who sent an employee to the bank to accompany the deaf inventor. The check was cashed in small bills, and Edison was afraid of a police patrol on the way home: what if he was confused with a robber? The inventor did not sleep at night, guarding the fallen treasure. He calmed down only after getting rid of a large amount of cash by opening a bank account the next day.
FIRST WORKSHOPS
In the city of Newark, New Jersey, a young man opens a workshop where he produces ticker devices. He enters into contracts with telegraph companies for the supply and repair of devices, and hires over a hundred workers.
In letters home, 23-year-old Edison said: “I have now become what you Democrats call a “bloated Eastern entrepreneur.”
Smiling Edison and Henry Ford as Sheriff
Two Muses of Thomas Edison
PICKUP LESSONS FROM EDISON
Thomas Edison's personal life did not take up much of his time; he endeared himself not with long courtships, but with determination. Among his employees was a pretty girl, Mary Stillwell. One day, the head of the workshop slowed down near her workplace and asked:
“What do you think of me, little one?” Do you like me?
- What are you doing, Mr. Edison, you're scaring me.
– Don’t rush to answer. Yes, this is not so important if you agree to marry me.
Seeing that the young lady was not serious, the inventor insisted:
- I am not kidding. But don’t rush, think carefully, talk to your mother and give me an answer when it’s convenient - even on Tuesday.
The date of their wedding had to be postponed due to the death of Edison's mother in April 1871. Thomas and Mary got married in December 1871, the groom turned 24 years old, the bride 16. After the ceremony, the newlywed went to work and stayed late, forgetting about his first wedding nights.
The couple moved in with Mary's sister Alice, who kept her company while her husband spent days and nights at work. The couple had three children: daughter Marion (1873), son Thomas (1876) and another son William (1878). Edison jokingly called his daughter “Dot”, and his middle son “Dash”, according to Morse code. Mary, Edison's wife, died at the age of 29 in 1884, presumably from a brain tumor.
SECOND CHANCE FOR PERSONAL HAPPINESS
In 1886, 39-year-old Edison married 21-year-old Mina Miller. He taught his beloved the rules of Morse coding, which allowed her to secretly communicate in the presence of Mina’s parents by tapping long and short symbols on her palm.
Mina Miller - Edison's second wife
In his second marriage, the inventor also had three heirs: daughter Madeline (1888) and sons Charles (1890) and Theodore (1898).
Thomas Edison was the father of six children, Charles (pictured with Edison) was one of four sons
Edison's inventions and operating principles
QUADRUPLEX
In 1874, Western Union acquired Thomas's invention - the 4-channel telegraph (aka quadruplex). Quadruplex allowed the transmission of 2 messages in two directions. This principle was formulated earlier, but Edison was the first to put it into practice. The scientist estimated the development at 4-5 thousand dollars, but again “cheapened”: Western Union paid 10. The chairman of the company will write in the report that Edison’s invention brought annual savings of half a million dollars.
By the age of 29, Edison had become familiar with the Patent Office: over the past 3 years, he came to register developments 45 times. The head of the office even commented: “The road to me does not have time to cool down from the steps of young Edison.”
ATHLETIC JUMP
In 1875, Edison’s father moved to Newark, whose arrival has a funny story. The ferry was leaving from the embankment. Suddenly, an old man of about 70, who was late for it, suddenly ran up and covered the distance between the embankment and the ferry with a huge leap. This old man turned out to be Edison Sr., heading towards his son. Reporters trumpeted the story about the inventor's bouncy parent.
Friends Henry Ford and Thomas Edison - icons of the era
"DO NOT ENTER! SCIENTIFIC WORK IN PROGRESS"
Edison uses the funds received for the quadruplex to build a laboratory in the town of Menlo Park.
I understood what the world needed. Okay, I'll invent it
In March 1876, construction of the research center was completed. Journalists and idle onlookers were prohibited from entering the territory. Laboratory experiments were carried out under the cover of secrecy, and the scientific genius himself received the nickname “the wizard of Menlo Park.” From 1876 to 1886, the laboratory expanded; Edison managed to organize its branches outside the United States.
SYMBOL OF PERSISTENCE
The biggest mistake is that we give up quickly. Sometimes, to get what you want, you just have to try one more time.
Edison's workaholism could not be treated; he spent 16-19 hours working every day. Once a great worker worked for 2.5 days in a row, and then slept for 3 days.
Healthy genes and love for his work helped him cope with such a load. The inventor stated that he did not divide the week into “workdays” and weekends, he simply worked and enjoyed it. His quote is widely known:
Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
Thomas became a living example of perseverance and determination.
TEAM EDISON
The workday was irregular not only for the manager, but also for the center’s employees. The scientist selected for his team people who were as enthusiastic and hardworking as he was. His workshop was a real “forge of personnel.” Among the “graduates” of the scientific center are Sigmund Bergman (later the head of the Bergman companies) and Johann Schuckert, the founder of the company, which later merged with Siemens.
MERCANTILE INVENTOR
The center’s strategy was determined by the rule: “Invent only what will be in demand.” The center functioned not for the sake of scientific publications, but for the mass implementation of developments.
In 1877, Thomas invented the phonograph, the first apparatus for reproducing and recording sound.
The development, demonstrated at the White House and the French Academy of Sciences, created a sensation. During its demonstration in France in 1878, a philologist professor attacked the commissioner Edison with accusations of ventriloquism. Even after an expert opinion, the humanist could not believe that the “talking machine” reproduced the “noble voice of a person.”
The phonograph's recordings were short-lived, which did not prevent the device from glorifying the name of Edison. The scientist did not expect such popularity and stated that he did not trust things that worked the first time.
Thanks to Edison's invention, the living speech of Leo Tolstoy has reached us. The writer, having ordered the device, received it as a gift. Edison, having learned who the device was intended for, sent it to Yasnaya Polyana free of charge with an engraving - “A gift to Count Leo Tolstoy from Thomas Alva Edison.”
When the inventor was asked whether in the future it would be possible to record human thoughts on a phonograph, he replied that most likely this would be possible, but warned that then “all people would hide from each other.”
Edison did not mind using ready-made ideas: “you can borrow the best of them.” In 1878, he set about improving the incandescent light bulb, the idea of which had been proposed even before him.
– Do you know why you created an incandescent lamp?
- No, but I think that the government will soon figure out how to take money from people for this.
The lamps existing at that time quickly burned out, consumed a lot of current and were expensive. The inventor promised: “We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles.” This is perhaps called "vision" or the art of goal setting. “I look forward,” said the magician from Menlo Park.
The shape of the lamp known to us, the socket and base, plug and socket - all this was invented by Edison.
Having finalized the prototype of the lamp, the scientist made it suitable for industrial production and mass use. No one had managed to do this before Edison.
Edison with his product - the incandescent lamp
FACTS ABOUT PERSISTENCE
- To find a suitable material for the filament, the technical characteristics of about 6,000 materials were analyzed. During the experiments, charcoal fiber from Japanese bamboo showed good performance, which was the choice: the thread burned for 13.5 hours (later the duration was increased to 1200);
- 9,999 experiments were carried out, and the prototype lamp did not light up. Colleagues urged Edison to leave the experiments, but he did not give up: “I have 9999 experiments on how not to do it.” On the ten thousandth attempt the light came on.
BURN-BURN CLEAR
The year 1878 was fruitful: the scientist invented a carbon microphone, used in telephones until the 1980s, and in the same year he co-founded the Edison Electric Light company (from 1892 - General Electric). Then the company produced lamps, cable products and electric generators, now GE is a diversified corporation, in the Forbes ranking of “Most Valuable Brands” in 7th position (2017), in value ($34.2 billion) it is second only to IBM, Google and McDonald’s.
In 1882, having found investors, Edison built a distribution substation and launched an electrical supply system in Manhattan, a borough of New York.
The cost of the lamp was 110 cents, and the market price was 40. Edison suffered losses for four years, and when the price of the lamp reached $0.22, and their production increased to a million units, he covered the costs for the year.
Fact: Incandescent light bulbs reduced average sleep time by 1-2 hours.
MEETING OF TWO GENIUS
In 1884, Edison hired an engineer from Serbia, Nikola Tesla, to repair electrical machines. The new employee turned out to be a supporter of alternating current, while his manager sympathized with the “constant” one. Tesla claimed that Edison promised him $50,000 for significantly improving the performance of electric machines. Tesla presented 24 options during the “recess” with improved performance, and when reminded of the reward, Edison replied that the employee did not understand the joke. Tesla quit his workshop and founded his own company.
AC vs. DC: Battle of the Currents
Edison proved the dangers of alternating current and even participated in an information campaign against “change.” In 1903, he took part in organizing the execution by alternating current of a circus elephant, who trampled three people.
THE MAN INVENTS
In 1886, Edison presented his second wife with an estate in Llewellyn Park, West Orange (New Jersey), where he moved his scientific center.
It is now home to the Thomas Edison National Historical Park.
Edison's genius manifested itself in a variety of areas; he was a broad-spectrum inventor. The answer to a phone call “hello” (from the English “hello”) is his proposal, as is the idea of using waxed paper to wrap sweets.
In 1888, Edison invented the kinetoscope - an optical device for demonstrating moving pictures; one person could watch the “movie” through a special eyepiece.
Kinetoscope
Kinetoscope
In 1894, the first kinetoscopic salon opened in New York, equipped with 10 devices, each of which showed a 3-second video. But in 1895, the Lumière brothers patented the cinematograph for mass screening of films, and the personal kinetoscope could not compete with it.
In 1896, a kiss was shown on the big screen for the first time: Edison filmed the romantic ending of the play “Widow Jones.” The 27-second video was banned from showing.
After the discovery of X-rays in 1895, the scientist delegated the development of a device for fluoroscopy to employee Clarence Delley. This is how the fluoroscope was born. At that time, the dangers of X-ray radiation were not known. Clarence tested the X-ray tubes on himself, his health deteriorated and he died. Edison stopped developing the fluoroscope, and declared: "Don't talk to me about X-rays, I'm afraid of them."
Life priorities of Thomas Edison
During World War I, Edison was offered a position as a military consultant. The scientist warned that he would only design protective equipment. The inventor did not want to create weapons of destruction.
Money and fame did not spoil Edison; friends claimed that he remained the same sincere and handsome Tom. But he was a legend of American science; his name was given to an asteroid discovered in 1913.
Among his friends, the scientist was known as a humorist; the following anecdotal story is known:
There was a gate leading to Edison's estate that was difficult to open. Those entering quipped that the great inventor could have designed a better gate. Edison replied: “In my opinion, the gate was designed ingeniously. It is connected to the house water pump and anyone who opens it pumps 20 liters of water into the tank.”
Edison's time clock often read 90 hours a week.
One day, an experimenter refused a public dinner, declaring that “for $100,000 I would not agree to sit for 2 hours listening to praise.” Successful people understand the value of every minute and do not like to waste time.
I don’t need horses or yachts; I don’t have time for all this. I need a workshop!
Many celebrities are vegetarians, for example. Mr. Edison also did not eat meat. He was indifferent to alcohol, declaring that he could “find a better use for his mind.”
Death
For the last decade of his life, the scientist was interested in the afterlife. The 73-year-old inventor, in an interview with Forbes, notified readers that he was constructing a device for communicating with the dead - a necrophone. William Dinudi, Edison’s colleague, entered into an “electric pact” with him: the first person to die promised to send the survivor a message “from the other world.” Dinudi died first, in 1920. Probably, Edison's attempt to establish communication with the other world was not successful, judging by the lack of industrial production of necrophones.
Edison was not sure whether there was an existence after death, but one day he admitted to his wife: “I lived my life and did the best I could.” The scientist died on October 18, 1931 at the age of 84 from complications of diabetes mellitus. Mina's wife survived her husband by 16 years. The inventor's grave is located in the backyard of his estate.
In Dearborn, the museum displays a glass flask with the sealed “last breath” of a genius - the air from Edison’s room was sealed into a beaker by his attending physician.
In September 2017, the trailer for the film “The Current War” was released, where the role of Thomas Edison is played by Benedict Cumberbatch.
Thomas Edison is one of the greatest minds of his era, the most successful inventor of the 19th century.
If we did everything in our power, we would surprise ourselves
These words belong to a man who knew how to implement ideas and bring what he started to completion.
List of sources used
- Mikhail Lapirov-Skoblo. Edison.
- Kamensky Andrey. Thomas Edison. His life and scientific and practical activities.
- Thomas Edison National Park websitehttps://www.nps.gov/edis/index.htm
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Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) is an outstanding American inventor and businessman who received over four thousand patents in different countries of the world. The most famous among them were the incandescent lamp and the phonograph. His merits were noted at the highest level - in 1928 the inventor was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, and two years later Edison became an honorary member of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Thomas Alva Edison
“Faith is a comforting rattle for those who cannot think.”
“Our big flaw is that we give up too quickly. The surest path to success is to always try again.”
“Most people are willing to work endlessly to avoid having to think a little.”
Edison was considered mentally retarded as a child
Thomas Edison was born on February 11, 1847 in the small town of Mylen, located in Ohio. His ancestors moved overseas in the 18th century from Holland. The inventor's great-grandfather participated in the War of Independence on the side of the metropolis. For this, he was condemned by the revolutionaries who won the war and deported to Canada. There his son Samuel was born, who became Thomas's grandfather. The inventor's father, Samuel Jr., married Nancy Eliot, who later became his mother. After an unsuccessful uprising in which Samuel Jr. participated, the family fled to the United States, where Thomas was born.
During his childhood, Thomas was inferior in height to many of his peers, looking a little sickly and frail. He suffered a severe illness from scarlet fever and practically lost his hearing. This affected his studies at school - the future inventor studied there for only three months, after which he was sent to home schooling with the teacher’s insulting verdict of “limited.” As a result, her son was educated by her mother, who managed to instill in him an interest in life.
“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”
Businessman by nature
Despite the harsh imprisonment of his teachers, the boy grew up inquisitive and often visited the Port Huron People's Library. Among the many books he read, he especially remembered “Natural and Experimental Philosophy” by R. Green. In the future, Edison will repeat all the experiments that were described in the source. He was also interested in the work of steamships and barges, as well as carpenters at the shipyard, which the boy could watch for hours.
Edison in his youth
From a young age, Thomas helped his mother earn money by selling vegetables and fruits with her. He saved the funds he received to conduct experiments, but there was a catastrophic lack of money, which forced Edison to get a job as a newspaperman on a railway line with a salary of 8-10 dollars. At the same time, the enterprising young man began publishing his own newspaper, the Grand Trunk Herald, and sold it successfully.
When Thomas turned 19, he moved to Louisville, Kentucky and got a job at the Western Union news agency. His appearance in this company was a consequence of the human feat of the inventor, who saved the three-year-old son of the head of one of the railway stations from certain death under the wheels of a train. As gratitude, he helped teach him the telegraph business. Edison managed to get work on the night shift because during the day he devoted himself to reading books and experiments. During one of them, the young man spilled sulfuric acid, which flowed through cracks in the floor to the floor below, where his boss worked.
First inventions
Thomas's first experience as an inventor did not bring him fame. His first apparatus for counting votes during elections turned out to be of no use to anyone; American parliamentarians considered it completely useless. After the first failures, Edison began to adhere to his golden rule - not to invent something that is not in demand.
In 1870, luck finally came to the inventor. For a stock ticker (a device for recording stock exchange rates automatically), he was paid 40 thousand dollars. With this money, Thomas created his own workshop in Newark and began producing tickers. In 1873, he invented a diplex telegraph model, which he soon improved, turning it into a quadruplex with the ability to transmit four messages simultaneously.
Creation of the phonograph
A device for recording and reproducing sound, which the author called the phonograph, glorified Edison for centuries. It was created as a result of the inventor's work on the telegraph and telephone. In 1877, Thomas was working on a machine that could record messages in the form of intaglio impressions on paper, which could then be sent repeatedly using the telegraph.
The active work of the brain led Edison to the idea that a telephone conversation could be recorded in a similar way. The inventor continued to experiment with a membrane and a small press, which were held over moving paraffin-coated paper. The sound waves emitted by the voice created vibrations, leaving marks on the surface of the paper. Later, instead of this material, a metal cylinder wrapped in foil appeared.
Edison with a phonograph
During a test of the phonograph in August 1877, Thomas uttered the line from the nursery rhyme, “Mary had a little lamb,” and the device successfully repeated the phrase. A few months later, he founded the Edison Talking Phonograph enterprise, receiving income from demonstrating his device to people. Soon the inventor sold the rights to make a phonograph for 10 thousand dollars.
Other famous inventions
Edison's prolific output as an inventor is amazing. His list of know-how includes many useful and bold decisions for its time, which changed the world around us in their own way. Among them:
- Mimeograph- a device for printing and duplicating written sources in small editions, which Russian revolutionaries loved to use.
- A method of storing organic food in a glass container was patented in 1881 and involved the creation of a vacuum environment in the container.
- Kinetoscope- a device for watching a movie by one person. It was a massive box with an eyepiece through which you could see a recording lasting up to 30 seconds. It was in good demand before the advent of film projectors, to which it seriously lost in terms of mass viewing.
- Telephone membrane- a device for reproducing sound, which laid the foundations of modern telephony.
- Electric chair- apparatus for carrying out the death penalty. Edison convinced the public that this was one of the most humane methods of execution and obtained permission for its use in a number of states. The first “client” of the deadly invention was a certain W. Kemmer, executed in 1896 for the murder of his wife.
- Stencil pen- a pneumatic device for perforating printed paper, patented in 1876. For its time, it was the most effective device capable of copying documents. 15 years later, S. O'Reilly created a tattoo machine based on this pen.
- Fluoroscope- an apparatus for fluoroscopy, which was developed by Edison's assistant K. Delli. At that time, X-rays were not considered particularly dangerous, so he tested the device on his own hands. As a result, both limbs were subsequently amputated, and he himself died of cancer.
- Electric car- Edison was truly obsessed with electricity and believed that it was the real future. In 1899, he developed an alkaline battery and intended to improve it to increase its service life. Despite the fact that at the beginning of the 20th century in the United States more than a quarter of cars were electric, Thomas soon abandoned this idea due to the widespread use of gasoline engines.
Most of these inventions were made in West Orange, where Edison moved in 1887. In Edison's series of achievements there are also purely scientific discoveries, for example, in 1883 he described thermionic emission, which later found application in detecting radio waves.
Industrial electric lighting
In 1878, Thomas began to commercialize the incandescent lamp. He was not involved in its birth, since 70 years earlier the Briton H. Devi had already invented a prototype of the light bulb. Edison became famous for one of the options for its improvement - he came up with a standard size base and optimized the spiral, making the lighting device more durable.
To the left of Edison is a huge incandescent lamp; in his hands is a compact version
Edison went even further and built a power plant, developed a transformer and other equipment, ultimately creating an electrical distribution system. It became a real competitor to the then widespread gas lighting. The practical application of electricity turned out to be much more important than the idea of its creation. At first, the system illuminated only two blocks, while immediately proving its performance and acquiring a finished presentation.
Edison had a long conflict with another king of American electrification, George Westinghouse, over the type of current, since Thomas worked with direct current, and his opponent worked with alternating current. The war proceeded according to the principle “all means are fair,” but time put everything in its place - as a result, alternating current turned out to be much more in demand.
Secrets of an Inventor's Success
Edison was able to combine inventive activity and entrepreneurship in an amazing way. While developing the next project, he clearly understood what its commercial benefits would be and whether it would be in demand. Thomas was never embarrassed by the chosen means and if it was necessary to borrow technical solutions from competitors, he used them without a twinge of conscience. He selected young employees for himself, demanding devotion and loyalty from them. The inventor worked all his life, without stopping, even when he became a rich man. He was never stopped by difficulties, which only strengthened him and directed him to new achievements.
In addition, Edison was distinguished by his uncontrollable capacity for work, determination, creativity of thought and excellent erudition, although he never received a serious education. By the end of his life, the fortune of the entrepreneur-inventor was $15 billion, which allowed him to be considered one of the richest people of his era. The lion's share of the funds earned went to business development, so Thomas spent very little on himself.
Edison's creative heritage formed the basis of the world famous General Electric brand.
Personal life
Thomas was married twice and had three children from each wife. He first married at the age of 24 to Mary Stilwell, who was 8 years younger than her husband. Interestingly, before marriage they knew each other for only two months. After the death of Mary, Thomas married Mina Miller, whom he taught Morse code. With its help, they often communicated with each other in the presence of other people, tapping their palms.
Passion for the occult
In old age, the inventor became seriously interested in the afterlife and conducted very exotic experiments. One of them was associated with an attempt to record the voices of dead people using a special necrophone device. According to the author's plan, the device was supposed to record the last words of a person who had just died. He even entered into an “electric pact” with his assistant, according to which the first person to die must send a message to his colleague. The device has not survived to this day, and there are no drawings left, so the results of the experiment remained unknown.
- Edison was a great workaholic, ready to do a lot to achieve results. During the First World War, he worked 168 hours without rest, trying to create an enterprise for the production of synthetic carbolic acid, and in the process of developing an alkaline battery, Thomas conducted 59 thousand experiments.
- Thomas had a rather original tattoo of 5 dots on his left forearm. According to some reports, it was made by an O'Reilly tattoo machine, created on the basis of an Edison engraving device.
- As a child, Edison dreamed of becoming an actor, but due to great shyness and deafness, he abandoned this idea.
- Thomas was interested in many areas of life, including everyday life. The inventor created a special electrical device that destroyed cockroaches using electricity.
- Edison left a rich creative legacy, which was expressed in 2.5 thousand books written.
For a long time, Thomas Edison’s acquaintances wondered why his gate was so difficult to open. Finally one of his friends said to him:
“A genius like you could have designed a better wicket.”
“It seems to me,” replied Edison, “the gate is designed ingeniously.” It is connected to the home water pump. Everyone who comes in pumps twenty liters of water into my tank.
Thomas Edison passed away on October 18, 1931, at his home in West Orange and was buried in his backyard.
Thomas Edison is a legendary man, a subverter of rules and canons, who became a world-famous inventor not because of, but in spite of.
Judge for yourself. He was the youngest child in a large family of a bankrupt merchant. Thomas had neither parental wealth nor higher education. But he was inquisitive, inquisitive and unusually able to work.
There is a legend that Thomas was kicked out of school after the first four months of school, the teacher said that he was mentally retarded. Geniuses are often underestimated, as was the case with Einstein and his eternal opponent - .
But Edison literally showed a passion for invention and entrepreneurial talent from childhood.
Al, as he was called in childhood, was short, looked weak and had little mobility (he liked to watch the work of the port, steamships, etc.). At school, teachers considered him disabled, and after one teacher called him retarded, his mother took him out of school and began teaching him at home.
Mothers very often turn out to be the most influential people in the lives of the most talented businessmen (for example), hence the lesson: be patient with your children, do not be led by public opinion.
Edison received his education in the library. He opened his first scientific book at the age of 9. It was "Natural and Experimental Philosophy" by Richard Greene Parker, which talks about scientific and technological achievements. Edison later performed almost all the experiments mentioned in the book.
He started earning his first money at the age of 12 - selling apples and candies in train cars, where he was allocated a carriage. The boy spent the proceeds on chemical experiments, which he conducted in his own laboratory, equipped in a baggage car. There he printed his own newspaper and sold it to passengers.
Passion for invention
At the age of 16 he worked as a telegraph operator in the notorious. It's the boom time of the telegraph, everyone wants to get connected and Thomas travels around the country a lot. He sees how people live, he has a wide circle of friends. In 1868, he stopped for a long time in Boston. Here he patents a device - a voting recorder - and learns an important lesson.
It must be said that while in Boston, Alva became acquainted with the works of Faraday and became interested in the idea of electricity.
Never invent something for which there is no demand. Edison followed this rule all his life after the electric vote counter he invented found no application. But all subsequent inventions brought him wide fame and admiration. We still use them today, unaware of their authorship.
The telegraph is one of the most important inventions of the 19th century. Edison significantly improved it - made it faster and more accessible.
Edison fearlessly took on the implementation of the most daring ideas. The stock ticker brought in the first 40 thousand dollars. Having used this money to set up a laboratory to produce a telegraph apparatus for transmitting stock quotes, he continued to improve this type of communication, resulting in the quadruplex telegraph.
Ethison is developing his standard scheme: first, a laboratory is created in which a certain prototype is developed, then workshops are organized. where a new invention is “stamped” for widespread sale.
In 1876, in the town of Menlo Park, Edison equipped a laboratory for testing and improving existing technologies, where he recruited a staff of capable employees. The creation of this laboratory is also considered an invention - it became the prototype of modern research institutes, it was called the “cauldron of thoughts”, in the modern interpretation - a think tank. Edison recruited people to match himself - capable of working without looking at the clock, thinking boldly and not afraid of non-standard solutions.
One of the first inventions created in Menlo Park was telephony. Western Union paid Thomas $100,000 to develop an effective sound amplification telephone microphone.
Edison's ideas
The list of ideas that became reality thanks to the genius of Thomas Edison is impressive. This is the phonograph that reproduced human speech for the first time; electric locomotive; talking dolls; alkaline battery; method of beneficiation of iron ore, etc.
His most revolutionary invention was the now common light bulb. Or rather, its improvement. Edison ensured that the filament worked efficiently, the lamp did not burn out too quickly, consumed a small amount of current, and was affordable. And then he developed a system for consuming electricity, first “lighting” a city block.
It is a mistake to believe that Thomas gained fame thanks to the lamp alone. no, his genius went much further: he thought through the organization of the electrical system (with its components - from the power plant to the methods of delivery to consumers) and in fact - he launched the age of electricity.
How it happened:
- December 1879 - Electric lighting system demonstrated in Menlo Park.
- In 1882, the first commercial power plant opened (Pearl Street in Lower Manhattan).
These two demonstration projects literally blew up the world. Electric companies are growing at a tremendous rate. Not only enthusiasts, but also the largest banks in the world are investing in them.
A page from that same patent, with drawings of an electric lamp.
Two gentlemen on the pier. Henry Ford and Thomas Edison are the people who changed the world.
State
Thomas Edison's fortune was estimated at $15 billion (). He invested most of the proceeds in his business, spending very little on personal needs.
Fanatical efficiency, determination, open-mindedness, enormous erudition, despite the lack of classical education, courage and determination - these are the components of the success of the great inventor. He believed: “To invent something truly incredible, sometimes it’s better not to know that experts consider it impossible.”
“I owe my success to the fact that I never kept a clock at my workplace” - this is Edison’s phrase that only through labor can significant results be achieved. And he knew what he was talking about - in 60 years, Thomas Edison patented 1093 inventions.
The legacy of the great improver formed the basis of the company.
Thomas Edison Quotes
- I didn't fail. I just found 10,000 ways that don't work.
- Success is ten percent luck and ninety percent sweat.
- Most people are willing to work endlessly just to avoid having to think a little.
- I had no working days or rest days. I just did it and enjoyed it.
- Most people miss the opportunity. Because she is sometimes dressed in overalls and looks like work.
Hollywood
Edison owned a patent for the 35mm film format. He had a system, employees, agents who were engaged in protecting patent rights, looking for those who illegally used inventions.
So in 1908, out of more than 800 movie theaters in New York, about half a thousand were closed for using the above film format without making payments to the Edison company.
It is often joked that the filmmakers ran away from Edison and stopped on the other coast, in the hope that Thomas’s long arms would not overtake them there.
Critical thinking is a way of thinking in which a person questions incoming information and his own beliefs.
Reduction to absurdity (lat. reductio ad absurdum) is a logical technique that proves the inconsistency of an opinion in such a way that a contradiction is discovered either in it itself or in the consequences that necessarily follow from it.
It is necessary to distinguish between a logical, emotionless simplification of a statement and a method of propaganda, when a sophist refutes an opinion that has been artificially strengthened to the point of absurdity. Also, the absurdity of the statement being discussed should be assessed in the context of the purpose of the conversation (the problem being solved).
Reducing critical thinking to the point of absurdity - Commentators on A&R.
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Edison was not a genius. The only invention was the phonograph (he himself considered it his most significant work). The rest is all nonsense: waxed paper for candies, selected carbon filament for a lamp, etc. He was more of a venture capitalist - an implementer. It seems that Hollywood arose because of him - competitors in the cinema fled from him to the west.
By the way, why do we need tablets?
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Wikipedia: Thomas Alva Edison (English Thomas Alva Edison; February 11, 1847, Milen, Ohio - October 18, 1931, West Orange, New Jersey) - American inventor and entrepreneur who received 1093 patents in the United States and about 3 thousand in other countries of the world; creator of the phonograph; improved the telegraph, telephone, cinema equipment, developed one of the first commercially successful versions of the incandescent electric lamp. It was he who suggested using the word “hello” at the beginning of a telephone conversation. In 1928 he was awarded the highest US award - the Congressional Gold Medal. In 1930 he became a foreign honorary member of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
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The theory of the photoelectric effect is not difficult to develop. But coming up with an experiment that would confirm or refute it requires more than being an A&R commentator. Or, let's say, measure the momentum of a photon through this experiment.
Poincare built many different models of space - for geometric reasons, he did not study the physics of the macrocosm. They were all in the public domain because there were only a couple hundred people on the planet who could figure them out.
Einstein selected a suitable model, which is no simpler than selecting an incandescent filament, and modified it. However, not completely: the development of the model continues even now, almost 100 years later.
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By the way, the theory of the photoelectric effect was discovered by the Russian physicist Stoletov even before Einstein, and even this unfortunate photoeffect Einstein stole from our physicist.
But who will stand up for Stoletov...
And then everyone’s brains were so fucked up that now ask anyone who Einstein is, no one will remember either Stoletov, or Poincaré, or Lorentz, who actually derived the formula e=mc2
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Coming up with a theory and proving it are two different things. It’s like in Soviet times they told everyone about Botkin - they say he discovered viral hepatitis. And no one abroad knows Botkin. And why? because he didn’t discover anything - he only wrote in a journal that this disease could be caused by a virus. Well, hundreds of people can write and assume this way. Find this virus, photograph it, cultivate it in a living environment, prove it, in general. And this was not done by Botkin at all.
It's the same with the photoelectric effect. Theory and practice are different things.
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Einstein was mediocre and a poor student at school and was so stupid in his childhood and youth that his contemporaries noted this.
Widely known for the tirelessly promoted theory of relativity, which he brazenly stole from Poincaré and Lorentz while working in the patent office.
In his old age he deteriorated so much that he stopped washing and shaving.
By the way, he received the Nobel Prize NOT for the theory of relativity, but for the quite modest “theory of the photoelectric effect.”
And to compare this miracle with Edison is at least incorrect...
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Excuse me, and I’ll once again express my surprise.
803 pluses. minus Lyoshik. that is, 802 people seriously believe that if their education certificates were changed (for example), then everything in their lives would be completely different? it (my surprise) is limitless! gee :)))
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Many geniuses were underestimated at school.
Everyone knows that Einstein barely managed to get from 2 to 3 in physics.
And there was also some mathematician, I don’t remember his last name, who, unexpectedly for everyone, proved some kind of theorem right on the exam at school.
So, he later said that what was surprising was not that he proved it as a schoolboy, but that he was able to convince the teachers during the exam.
Because they usually, as soon as they say a word that is not according to the textbook, they immediately reduce the score.
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Einstein developed late. I was several years behind. As he himself explained later, it was precisely because of this that he began to think about space and time much later - when most people had long been interested in other topics. Which led to the emergence of his hypotheses, which over the years transformed into a theory.
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How would the emphasis be placed in a slightly different way...
Firstly, Edison began having difficulties at school not at the age of 10 or 15, but in the third month of school (i.e. in the first grade), when it was a little early to talk about his genius, let’s say. The school teacher's complaints were expressed about his constant absent-mindedness in class, which (as is now clear) could be associated with hearing impairment at an early age, due to the many otitis media suffered in childhood. Later, Edison came up with some fantastic reasons for his deafness; allegedly, while working as a conductor, his boss dragged him by his ears into a departing train, but it’s your choice, it’s hard to believe.
Moreover, he then also named three or four other reasons for his deafness - changing them depending on his mood...
Secondly, his mother was a professional teacher. She left the school where she had worked for many years and began homeschooling her hearing-impaired youngest son (she was already about 45 years old at the time - Thomas was a late child).
In fact, Edison was most grateful to the head of the railway station, Mr. Mackenzie, whose 3-year-old son Thomas saved from a passing train, and who, in gratitude for this, taught Thomas the telegraph business and hired him as a telegraph operator, which is where Thomas’s career began as an inventor.