Milan, Ohio, United States. It’s a snowy morning. Thomas Alva Edison is born. He is the seventh and youngest child of Samuel Ogden Edison Jr. and Nancy Matthews Elliott. He is the first and only child not born in Canada, his father Samuel’s home country. Nancy, on the other hand, is the sister of two Baptist ministers and the grandson of a Quaker. Alva is the only child in the house: a vacant-eyed, big-headed boy. He would become a highly successful American inventor and entrepreneur, developing numerous devices in fields such as electricity generation, mass communication, artificial rubber, mining, sound recording, and film. These inventions, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and early versions of the electric light bulb, would have a huge impact on the modern industrialized world. He would be one of the first inventors to apply the principles of organized science and teamwork to the invention process, collaborating with numerous researchers and employees. He would also found the first industrial research laboratory.
