Inventor of the Modern World: Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio. As a child, Edison was very curious and constantly asked questions. His schoolteacher told his mother that Edison was 'addled'—meaning confused and unable to learn. His mother, Nancy, did not accept this. She pulled him out of school and taught him at home, encouraging his endless curiosity. Edison later said she was the most important person in his life.

Edison had little formal education, but he had an extraordinary mind. As a young man, he worked as a telegraph operator, and this experience helped him understand electricity. He sold newspapers and vegetables as a boy to earn money for science experiments. When he was twenty-two years old, he received his first patent—for an electric vote recorder. ...