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Thomas's father, Samuel Ogden Edison, Jr., took part in a protest of the British Crown’s rule of its North American territory. After the protest, he fled to America, where Thomas was born.

Edison thought his poor hearing helped him concentrate.

Edison was called "Al" as a child.

When Thomas was fifteen, he began printing a newspaper on the Grand Trunk Railway called the Grand Trunk Herald.

Edison's first two children were nicknamed with telegraph-inspired names: "Dot" and "Dash."

Nikola Tesla worked for Thomas Edison for a short time.

Thomas has been called "The Wizard of Menlo Park."

On December 31, 1879, the Menlo Park laboratory was electrically lit for the first time.

Edison enjoyed reading and reciting poetry.

Edison made a device to kill cockroaches with electricity.

The Henry Ford Museum claims to hold Thomas Edison's last breath in a test tube.

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"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."

"A genius is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework."

"If we all did the things we are really capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves."

"I have more respect for the fellow with a single idea who gets there than for the fellow with a thousand ideas who does nothing."

"The world owes nothing to any man, but every man owes something to the world."

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Edison was active in business even in his last years. He worked on developing the Lackawanna Railroad and was there when it began. He drove the train its first mile.

Thomas Alva Edison passed away on October 18, 1931, from complications from diabetes. He is buried behind his "Glenmont" home.

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Thomas Edison married Mary Stilwell in 1871. He had three children in that marriage: Marion Estelle Edison (also called "Dot"), Thomas Alva Edison, Jr. (also called "Dash"), and William Leslie Edison. Mary Stilwell died in 1884 at the age of twenty-nine.

When he was thirty-nine, Edison married his second wife, Mina Miller, who was nineteen. He had 3 children in that marriage: Madeleine Edison, Charles Edison (who took over the company when his father died and was later elected Governor of New Jersey), and Theodore Miller Edison.

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Thomas Edison was called a “wizard” because of his many important inventions. He created more than 1,000 devices on his own or with others.

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Edison did a lot of work in creating the motion picture camera and helping move forward the progress of practical movies.

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Although he did not invent the first electric light, Edison made the first practical electric light bulb that could be manufactured and used in the home. He also invented other items that were needed to make the light bulb practical for use in homes including safety fuses and on/off switches for light sockets.

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This was the first major invention by Edison and made him famous. It was the first machine that was able to record and playback sound.

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Thomas Edison set up his first lab in his parent's basement at the age of 10.

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He died on October 18, 1931) from type 2 diabetes

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Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio. He experienced hearing loss at an early age. He was an imaginative and curious child.

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His best-known inventions include the phonograph (record player), the lightbulb, and the motion-picture projector.