Thomas Edison American inventor

When I look around at the resources of the electrical field today, I feel that I would be glad to begin again my work as an electrician and inventor. Thomas Edison, one of the most prolific inventors in history, was born in Milan, Ohio, on February 11, 1847. With little formal education, Edison gained experience as a telegraph operator and then went on to invent the phonograph, the incandescent light bulb, and a forerunner of the movie projector. In West Orange, New Jersey, he also created the world's first industrial research laboratory, where he employed dozens of workers to systematically investigate a given subject. However, perhaps his greatest contribution to the modern industrial world came from his work in electricity. He developed a complete electrical distribution system for light and power, set up the world's first power plant in New York City, and invented the alkaline battery, the first electric railroad, and a host of other inventions that laid the basis for the modern electric world. He continued to work into his eighties, and acquired a record 1,093 patents in his lifetime. He died in West Orange on October 18, 1931.