Thomas Edison

" This is exactly what he did as he worked his whole life compiling the most patents in history, 1,093 in all "his last patent application was filed in 1931, the year of his death." .
             Perhaps the greatest attribute of Thomas Edison was his ingenuity. More than any other inventor Edison would lead America and the world into the modern age. His contributions included incandescent electric lighting, the phonograph, and surprisingly cement. Edison's research also leads to improvements of other products including telegraphs, telephones, and motion pictures. The most famous contributions of Edison's inventiveness were the advancements made in telegraphy, the phonograph, and electric lighting. .
             While trying to develop a automatic telegraphy and at the same time working on their "Edison Carbon telephone" Edison and his staff accidentally created the phonograph. During their research, Edison noted that " if they put a point on the center (needle) of the diaphragm and talked to it whilst we pulled some of that waxed paper under it so that it could indent it, it would give us back talking when we pulled the paper through a second time." Edison's assistant recalled, " the brilliance of the suggestion did not at first strike any of us." Although an accident Edison embraced the phonograph and listed many practical uses for it that would help change the world. One such example was to use it for educational purposes "elocutionary teacher, or as a primary teacher for children, it will certainly be valuable. By it, difficult passages may be correctly rendered for the pupil; but once, after which he has only to apply to his phonograph for instructions. The child may thus learn to spell, commit to memory, a lesson set for it, etc., etc," The phonograph like most technological advances was not always warmly embraced as a New York Times article stated that Mr. Edison has invented to many things of the most deleterious character.