Edison (1847- 193 1)
19th century is called the century of science, and it is also a century characterized by the technicalization and socialization of science. In this century, science has become an important part of social life. The surging great innovation has become a great driving force for technical science. Some technology giants in this century continued to be active in the 20th century. Thomas Alva Edison is one of them. Among the 65,438+000 most influential people in the past 65,438+0,000 years recently selected by American Life Weekly, Edison ranked first.
Edison came from humble origins and lived in poverty. His life's "education" is only three months of primary school. Because his teacher was always tongue-tied by his strange questions, he even told his mother that he was a fool and would have no future. Mother let him drop out of school in a fit of pique, and she personally educated him. At this time, Edison's talent was fully displayed. Under the guidance of his mother, he read a lot of books and built a small laboratory at home. In order to raise the necessary expenses of the laboratory, he had to go out as a newsboy and run a newspaper. Finally, a small laboratory was built in the luggage compartment of the train with the accumulated money to continue the chemical experimental research. Later, the chemicals caught fire and almost burned the carriage. The furious porter threw all Edison's experimental equipment out of the car and slapped him several times. It is said that Edison was deaf for life.
Edison is a legend admired by the American nation-although he did not receive a good school education, he achieved great success through personal struggle and extraordinary wisdom. Self-taught, he stood up from thousands of failures with perseverance, rare enthusiasm and energy, overcame countless difficulties and became an American inventor and entrepreneur. In his early years, he developed duplex and quadruple telegraph systems and invented the automatic telegraph. 1877 ~ 1879 invented the phonograph; Experiment and improve electric lights (incandescent lamps) and telephones. Later, a lighting system was established and a lot of work was done to realize centralized power supply. He proposed and adopted the DC three-wire system. The generator with the largest capacity at that time was made, and the first large-scale power plant was built with this generator in 1882. At the same time, the railway electrification test was carried out. 1883 discovered "Edison effect", that is, thermionic emission phenomenon. There are also many famous inventions in film technology, mining, architecture and chemical industry. Only from 1869 to 190 1 year, we obtained 1328 invention patents. In his life, there was a new invention every 15 days on average, so he was called "the king of inventions".
Edison devoted himself to science and ignored fame and fortune. When developing electric light, the reporter said to him, "If you can really make electric light instead of gas light, you will definitely make a lot of money." Edison replied: "If a person works only to save money, it is difficult for him to get anything else-even money!" " "He has always been called the father of modern movies, but at the grand banquet held by people in the film industry for his 77th birthday, he said," I just made some technical contributions to the development of movies, and the rest were contributed by others. "
Edison was broad-minded and good at facing adversity. Pointing to the inconvenience caused by his deafness, he said, "Walking in the crowd on Broadway, I can be as calm as a person living in the depths of the forest." Deafness has always been my blessing, saving me a lot of interference and mental pain. "19 14 one night, Edison's film lab suddenly caught fire, which caused great losses. Edison comforted his heartbroken wife and said, "Never mind, although I am 67 years old, I am not old.
From tomorrow morning, everything will start all over again. I believe that no one is too old to start working. "The next day, Edison not only began to build a new workshop, but also began to invent a new lamp-a portable searchlight to help firefighters move forward in the dark. The fire was like an episode for Edison.
Edison benefited the public and was not afraid of hardship. In order to find the filament, he tested thousands of materials; He failed to try the new battery 8000 times. So Edison often said, "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent diligence." At the age of 80, he still maintained the spirit of an inventor and persevered in his invention and creation activities. 1927, he founded Edison plant research company, devoted himself to a brand-new research field and looked for new chemical materials. Edison, 8 1 year-old, successfully extracted rubber from weeds and was highly praised by people.
1931018 At 3: 24 in the morning, Edison closed his eyes with a relieved smile at the age of 84. On his deathbed, he said frankly: "I did my best for the happiness of mankind;" There is nothing to regret. "
On the day of the funeral, the lights in the United States were turned off for one minute to show their condolences. This is the most solemn way for people to express their infinite memory of Edison, and it is also a silent hymn dedicated to this great inventor.