Download or read book The Wizard of Menlo Park written by Randall E. Stross and published by Crown. This book was released on 2008-03-25 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thomas Edison’s greatest invention? His own fame. At the height of his fame Thomas Alva Edison was hailed as “the Napoleon of invention” and blazed in the public imagination as a virtual demigod. Starting with the first public demonstrations of the phonograph in 1878 and extending through the development of incandescent light and the first motion picture cameras, Edison’s name became emblematic of all the wonder and promise of the emerging age of technological marvels. But as Randall Stross makes clear in this critical biography of the man who is arguably the most globally famous of all Americans, Thomas Edison’s greatest invention may have been his own celebrity. Edison was certainly a technical genius, but Stross excavates the man from layers of myth-making and separates his true achievements from his almost equally colossal failures. How much credit should Edison receive for the various inventions that have popularly been attributed to him—and how many of them resulted from both the inspiration and the perspiration of his rivals and even his own assistants? This bold reassessment of Edison’s life and career answers this and many other important questions while telling the story of how he came upon his most famous inventions as a young man and spent the remainder of his long life trying to conjure similar success. We also meet his partners and competitors, presidents and entertainers, his close friend Henry Ford, the wives who competed with his work for his attention, and the children who tried to thrive in his shadow—all providing a fuller view of Edison’s life and times than has ever been offered before. The Wizard of Menlo Park reveals not only how Edison worked, but how he managed his own fame, becoming the first great celebrity of the modern age.
Download or read book The Wizard of Menlo Park written by Randall E. Stross and published by Crown. This book was released on 2007-03-13 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thomas Edison’s greatest invention? His own fame. At the height of his fame Thomas Alva Edison was hailed as “the Napoleon of invention” and blazed in the public imagination as a virtual demigod. Starting with the first public demonstrations of the phonograph in 1878 and extending through the development of incandescent light and the first motion picture cameras, Edison’s name became emblematic of all the wonder and promise of the emerging age of technological marvels. But as Randall Stross makes clear in this critical biography of the man who is arguably the most globally famous of all Americans, Thomas Edison’s greatest invention may have been his own celebrity. Edison was certainly a technical genius, but Stross excavates the man from layers of myth-making and separates his true achievements from his almost equally colossal failures. How much credit should Edison receive for the various inventions that have popularly been attributed to him—and how many of them resulted from both the inspiration and the perspiration of his rivals and even his own assistants? This bold reassessment of Edison’s life and career answers this and many other important questions while telling the story of how he came upon his most famous inventions as a young man and spent the remainder of his long life trying to conjure similar success. We also meet his partners and competitors, presidents and entertainers, his close friend Henry Ford, the wives who competed with his work for his attention, and the children who tried to thrive in his shadow—all providing a fuller view of Edison’s life and times than has ever been offered before. The Wizard of Menlo Park reveals not only how Edison worked, but how he managed his own fame, becoming the first great celebrity of the modern age.
Download or read book The Wizard of Menlo Park written by Randall E. Stross and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2008-03-25 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thomas Edison’s greatest invention? His own fame. At the height of his fame Thomas Alva Edison was hailed as “the Napoleon of invention” and blazed in the public imagination as a virtual demigod. Starting with the first public demonstrations of the phonograph in 1878 and extending through the development of incandescent light and the first motion picture cameras, Edison’s name became emblematic of all the wonder and promise of the emerging age of technological marvels. But as Randall Stross makes clear in this critical biography of the man who is arguably the most globally famous of all Americans, Thomas Edison’s greatest invention may have been his own celebrity. Edison was certainly a technical genius, but Stross excavates the man from layers of myth-making and separates his true achievements from his almost equally colossal failures. How much credit should Edison receive for the various inventions that have popularly been attributed to him—and how many of them resulted from both the inspiration and the perspiration of his rivals and even his own assistants? This bold reassessment of Edison’s life and career answers this and many other important questions while telling the story of how he came upon his most famous inventions as a young man and spent the remainder of his long life trying to conjure similar success. We also meet his partners and competitors, presidents and entertainers, his close friend Henry Ford, the wives who competed with his work for his attention, and the children who tried to thrive in his shadow—all providing a fuller view of Edison’s life and times than has ever been offered before. The Wizard of Menlo Park reveals not only how Edison worked, but how he managed his own fame, becoming the first great celebrity of the modern age.
Download or read book Edison written by Paul Israel and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2000-03-01 with total page 565 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ein Bestseller jetzt neu als Broschurausgabe! Die gebundene Ausgabe erzielte hervorragende Kritiken im Daily Telegraph, New Scientist, The Independent und in der Sunday Times - um nur einige zu nennen. Israel hatte erstmals Zugang zu Werkstatt-Tagebüchern, Briefen und mehr als fünf Millionen Seiten Archivmaterial. Auf der Basis dieser Informationen hat er die erste maßgebende Biographie von Edison verfaßt. Zum ersten Mal wird Edisons Karriere als Erfinder systematisch untersucht und bewertet. Im Detail wird erforscht, wie er u.a. mit der Erfindung des elektrischen Lichts, der Photographie und mehr als tausend anderen Dingen das 20. Jahrhundert prägte. Dies ist auch die erste Biographie, die Edison im Zusammenhang mit dem rapiden industriellen Wandel betrachtet, indem die Auswirkungen dieses Wandels auf seine Erfindungen beschrieben werden. Dieses Buch liefert eine Fülle neuer Informationen über Edison und seine Erfindungen. Eine interessante und spannende Lektüre. (y03/00)
Download or read book Timeless Thomas written by Gene Barretta and published by Henry Holt and Company (BYR). This book was released on 2012-07-17 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What do record players, batteries, and movie cameras have in common? All these devices were created by the man known as The Wizard of Menlo Park: Thomas Edison. Edison is most famous for inventing the incandescent lightbulb, but at his landmark laboratories in Menlo Park & West Orange, New Jersey, he also developed many other staples of modern technology. Despite many failures, Edison persevered. And good for that, because it would be very difficult to go through a day without using one of his life-changing inventions. In this enlightening book, Gene Barretta enters the laboratories of one of America's most important inventors.
Download or read book The Story of Thomas Alva Edison Inventor written by Margaret Davidson and published by Turtleback Books. This book was released on 1990-03 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Delves into the life of the inventor Edison, recounting the joys, tragedies, and successes of his life, and explains the scientific principles behind his revolutionary work
Download or read book Edison s Electric Light written by Robert Friedel and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2010-07-19 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In September 1878, Thomas Alva Edison brashly—and prematurely—proclaimed his breakthrough invention of a workable electric light. That announcement was followed by many months of intense experimentation that led to the successful completion of his Pearl Street station four years later. Edison was not alone—nor was he first—in developing an incandescent light bulb, but his was the most successful of all competing inventions. Drawing from the documents in the Edison archives, Robert Friedel and Paul Israel explain how this came to be. They explore the process of invention through the Menlo Park notes, discussing the full range of experiments, including the testing of a host of materials, the development of such crucial tools as the world's best vacuum pump, and the construction of the first large-scale electrical generators and power distribution systems. The result is a fascinating story of excitement, risk, and competition. Revised and updated from the original 1986 edition, this definitive study of the most famous invention of America's most famous inventor is completely keyed to the printed and electronic versions of the Edison Papers, inviting the reader to explore further the remarkable original sources.
Download or read book Wizard of Menlo Park Thomas Edison written by Cynthia Parker and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2015-04-07 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Short, Yet Interesting, Biography! Learn More About This Visionary Inventor, Industrialist, and Businessman! Ever wanted to learn more about Thomas Edison, but never felt you had the time to read a comprehensive work? Here author Cynthia A. Parker removes that pain by offering an opportunity to Get-to-Know the Wizard of Menlo Park to learn of his youth and upbringing, his early career, and of course his pivotal role as in inventor, industrialist, and businessman! Turn these pages and enjoy the opportunity to learn history, but better yet to come to know Edison better through Parker's amazing ability to describe his life, his eccentricities and above all, his accomplishments; making this an enjoyable and interesting Quick-Read Biography.
Download or read book The Quotable Edison written by Michele Wehrwein Albion and published by University Press of Florida. This book was released on 2011-03-20 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thomas Edison was the "Wizard of Menlo Park." A prolific inventor and holder of numerous patents, he was also called a "magician," "the Napoleon of Science," and the "Inventor of the Age." But he was also a practical joker, a self-made man with a certain disdain for polite society, an ambitious explorer, and a public intellectual. The Quotable Edison offers a wealth of his insightful, enlightening, and sometimes humorous comments and witticisms on a wide range of subjects, from business to politics, from religion to nutrition, from advice to boys to opinions on women’s clothing.
Download or read book The Papers of Thomas A Edison written by Thomas A. Edison and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 976 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This newest volume in the acclaimed Papers of Thomas A. Edison covers one year in the life of America's greatest inventor—1878. That year Edison, whom a New York newspaper in the spring first called "the Wizard of Menlo Park," developed the phonograph, one of his most famous inventions; made a breakthrough in the development of telephone transmitters, which made the instrument commercially viable; and announced the advent of domestic electric lighting, with only a few weeks' worth of tinkering necessary to complete its design (the announcement sent gas-company stocks plummeting; the research and development went on for four years). These inventions brought Edison financial support for his work and attention from the public. In January investors in the Edison Speaking Phonograph Company agreed to fund development work on the phonograph. The invention made Edison internationally famous and in May he traveled to Washington, D.C., to show the phonograph at the National Academy of Sciences, to Congress, and to President Rutherford B. Hayes at the White House. That same month Western Union agreed to pay Edison an annual salary of $6,000 for his telephone inventions, although other support from the company declined following the death of its president, William Orton. The stress of unceasing public attention, including a trans-Atlantic dispute over the question of who invented the microphone, led an exhausted Edison to travel west during the summer to witness a solar eclipse but also to seek rest. His six-week trip took him to San Francisco and the Yosemite region of California. Edison began working on electric lighting after his return and in October the Edison Electric Light Company was formed to support his research.
Download or read book Edison written by Edmund Morris and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 801 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Pulitzer Prize-winning author Morris comes a revelatory new biography ofThomas Alva Edison, the most prolific genius in American history.
Download or read book The Wizard of Menlo Park New Jersey written by Cheri Pray Earl and published by . This book was released on 2014-06-27 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the coldest winter ever, George and Gracie land in Menlo Park, New Jersey, 1879--near Thomas Edison's famous laboratory. Mr. Edison has just invented a long-burning light bulb, but he's keeping a huge secret: he's also discovered time travel.
Download or read book Edison on Innovation written by Alan Axelrod and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2008-01-07 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this fascinating exploration of one of the most celebrated and innovative minds, best-selling author Alan Axelrod cuts through the myths and reverence surrounding Edison’s “genius” to show how the inventor was, in fact, an ordinary man who created extraordinary work. While many of us believe that creativity, like genius, is something that just happens by chance or destiny, Edison’s life demonstrates that creativity of the very highest order can indeed be summoned up at will, and even reduced to a reliable working method and set of principles.
Download or read book The Diary and Sundry Observations of Thomas Alva Edison written by Thomas Alva Edison and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 1968 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Diary and Sundry Observations of Thomas Alva Edison edited by Dagobert D. Runes provides insight into the somewhat unique thinking and philosophy of the world's most prolific inventor (1093 U.S. patents). Taken from the actual speeches or writings of Edison, the reader learns the thoughts of the inventor on how his inventions have influenced society and more interestingly what Edison thinks about the future.
Download or read book Edison written by Neil Baldwin and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2001-04-28 with total page 548 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Appointment.
Download or read book Edison A Biography written by Matthew Josephson and published by Plunkett Lake Press. This book was released on 2019-07-31 with total page 537 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A great folk hero in American history, Edison is viewed by the public as a facile inventor, the electrical wizard and the perfect symbol of the self-made and practical creator. But he was also a paradoxical figure: deaf, impoverished and with no formal education as a youngster, Edison nevertheless became a fertile and versatile inventor, accumulated fortunes for himself and others but remained indifferent to wealth except as a means towards more inventions. Edison’s key contributions include the carbon microphone, the electric light bulb, electricity distribution systems, the phonograph and the motion-picture camera. Edison’s methods were also remarkable: halfway between the craftsman-tinkerer of the early 19th century and the scientist of today, he established and ran pioneering research laboratories with large staffs, yet lacked training in mathematics or the basic sciences. Matthew Josephson’s Edison: A Biography won the Society of American Historians’Francis Parkman Prize in 1960. “This is an outstanding biography... [Josephson] establishes the developing relationship between finance and invention which constitutes the basis for Edison’s success... [He] has mastered the substance of Edison’s inventive activity and has written of it quite authoritatively and vividly.” — Thomas P. Hughes, Technology and Culture “... It is clear that there is reason to welcome yet another book about a man of whom so much has been written. It must have been precisely because so much in the Edison record is myth, fostered by adulators and by Edison himself that Mr. Josephson turned his skillful, corrective hand to a saga that may have seemed more familiar than it actually is. From his well-presented, well-written findings emerges a giant without whom much of life as we live it would simply not exist. It is a first-rate job that needed doing.” — John K. Hutchens, New York Herald Tribune “A well-researched account of the life of one of America’s authentic folk heroes--Thomas Alva Edison--an original creator with a genius for strategic invention... Thoroughly absorbing, this significant volume is a competent contribution to the history of American science, and gives not only a sharply drawn picture of this self-educated giant of invention, but also of the beginnings of the telegraph, electrical, record, motion picture and automobile industries, as well as the sociological changes that were wrought by Edison’s practical discoveries.” — Kirkus Review “A biography that is dignified, detailed, and objective, sprinkled with moments of humor, pathos, and drama... One of the chief virtues of this book is the care taken by the author to build up a realistic picture of Edison the man.” — F. Garvin Davenport,The American Historical Review
Download or read book The Wizard of Menlo Park written by S. C. Bhattacharya and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
