Thomas Alva EdisonThesis: Thomas Alva Edison was the greatest inventor in history. On February 11, 1847, a new inventor was born in a hospital in Milan, Ohio. His parents, Samuel and Nancy, named this inventor Thomas Alva Edison. He was the seventh child. In his early life he set up a laboratory in the cellar of his house. Young Thomas thought that if enough gas was given to a person, that person would float. This turned out to be a wrong assumption because when he tried this experiment on his friend, the latter fell ill and his parents closed his laboratory. At the age of twelve Edison became a newsboy and candy butcher on the Grand Trunk Railway. At fifteen he published his first newspaper, "The Weekly Herald", on a moving train. His railway was quickly finished when his workshop caught fire in one of the freight cars. Luckily for him he saved his son JU Mackenzie from certain death in a train accident. The father of the boy he saved was the station agent at Mount Clemens, and Mr. Mackenzie taught Edison telegraphy. After finishing his telegraph work, he obtained his first patented invention for an electric election recorder on October 11, 1868. To Edison's surprise, it was not popular enough among the people. After this incident, Edison became more determined to ensure that there was strong public demand for everything he invented. He improved the original stock ticker and invented the universal stock ticker and the Unison device. I...... middle of paper...... ne buoys, destroying periscopes with machine guns, smearing the horizon, detecting aircraft, increasing power for torpedoes, oleum cloud shell, increasing maneuverability of a ship, navigation lights for convoys, sounding cartridges, and periscope observation in silhouette were made possible by Thomas Alva Edison. Edison was granted 1,368 separate and distinct patents during his lifetime. One of Edison's favorite quotes was "Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration." He died at the age of 84 on October 18, 1931, the anniversary of his invention of the working incandescent light bulb. Before he died, Mr. Edison said, "It's beautiful down there." This is why Thomas Alva Edison was the greatest inventor of his time.