Thomas Alva Edison, is the archetype of American ingenuity and inventiveness. He played a critical role in the early commercialization of electric power. He designed the first commercial incandescent electric light and power system and his laboratory produced the phonograph, a practical incandescent lamp, a revolutionary electric generator, key elements of motion-picture apparatus, and many other devices. He was owner or co-owner of a record 1,093 U.S. patents

"Tom" Edison was born in the small town of Milan, Ohio, the son of middle-class parents. He was educated at home by his parents rather than at the local school, where he was thought to be of low intelligence. As a boy he showed an early proclivity for chemistry experiments and for turning a profit, first peddling vegetables, then newspapers. When the Civil War began, Edison was exempted from service because of deafness in...