Thomas Alva Edison was a master of combining ideas into working systems and overcoming technical hurdles that seemed insurmountable. He developed the notion of using teams of specialists in well-equipped laboratories to invent new devices. With the possible exception of the light-bulb, the inventions for which he was best known were in the field of communication.

Edison was born in Ohio; his father moved the family to Michigan when Thomas was seven years old. His father was looking for a town that would prosper in a country newly connected more by railroads than canals. It was on the new railroad lines in Edison's early teenage years that he first became entranced with communication technology.

In addition to selling newspapers on the trains, Edison began to print his own railroad newspaper called the Weekly Herald. He gathered some of his news stories from...