What do you usually see at night? You probably talked about a form of light containing some sort of bulb. Well, before Thomas Edison came along, people used gas lamps and fire to see. Thomas Edison revolutionized the world with his astonishing invention of the incandescent light bulb, and he had other revolutionary inventions as well. Thomas Alva Edison was born February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio (Edison bulb). His parents were Samuel and Nancy Edison and he was the last of seven children. As a child, he had very little education. He only went to school for a few months, his mother taught him reading, writing and arithmetic (Edison Biography). But he was curious and learned on his own by reading. At thirteen, he got a job as a newspaper salesman, became interested in and learned how to use the telegraph. He became a telegraph operator at age 16 and his job was to send signals to the United States and Canada (Edison bulb). He worked in many cities, until he went to Boston in 1868. There he went from telegrapher to inventor (Edison Biography). His first patent was an electric vote recorder, which was supposed to record votes in legislative bodies more quickly. It was a failure and that is why he decided to make inventions only for the public. He moved to New York in 1869 and his first successful invention was the universal printer. He received $40,000 for this and other inventions. With the money, he established his first small laboratory and manufacturing plant in Newark, New Jersey in 1871. At the same time, he married Mary Stilwell and they had three children (Edison Biography). the village of Menlo Park, southwest New York, and opened a new laboratory/construction ...... middle of paper ...... December 15, 2013. Web. December 16, 2013. “Edison’s Light Bulb.” Edison's light bulb at the Franklin Institute. The Franklin Institute, nd Web. December 13, 2013. “Thomas Edison's patent application for the light bulb (1880). » www.ourdocuments.gov. National History Day, National Archives and Records Administration, USA Freedom Corps., nd Web. December 15, 2013. “Phonograph.” The files: Thomas Alva Edison. The Franklin Institute, nd Web. December 18, 2013. “Edison Motion Pictures.” www.memory.loc.gov. American Memory-Library of Congress, nd Web. December 18. 2013. .