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Author: Randall E. Stross
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 1400047633
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 394
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Book Description
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.
Author: Randall E. Stross
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 1400047633
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 394
Get Book Here
Book Description
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.
Author: Robert Friedel
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 0801899443
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 247
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Book Description
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.
Author: Gene Barretta
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company (BYR)
ISBN: 1466816848
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 40
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Book Description
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.
Author: Paul Israel
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0471362700
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 565
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Book Description
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)
Author: Thomas A. Edison
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 976
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Book Description
Winner of the Association of American Publishers's Excellence in Professional and Scholarly Publishing, Architecture and Urban Planning AwardThe Making of an Inventor, volume 1 of the monumental The Papers of Thomas A. Edison, takes us through Edison's life from early childhood to age twenty-six, when his work in telegraphy laid the groundwork for some of his best-known inventions. An 1868 telegraph design by the twenty-one-year-old Edison, for instance, reveals the now-familiar drum and stylus that reappeared in the phonograph of 1877 and in his earliest motion picture design. The Making of an Inventor contains 90 percent of all known documents relating to Edison's boyhood and early career, including every entry from his Newark lab notebooks. Illustrated with nearly 600 of the inventor's own drawings and sketches, it provides a comprehensive account of the origins of Edison's creative genius. Praise for previous volumes of The Papers of Thomas A. Edison:"Those interested in America's technological culture can eagerly look forward to the appearance of each volume of the Edison Papers."--Technology and Culture"The essence of the volume is Edison's technical notebooks, a window onto the inventor's workshop. His lucidity comes through everywhere . . . His writing and drawing come together as a single, vigorous thought process."--Russell McCormmach, New York Times."A mine of material . . . Scrupulously edited . . . No one could ask for more . . . A choplicking feast for Edison biographers--well into the next century, and perhaps beyond."--Fred Howard, Washington Post."A triumph of the bookmaker's art, with splendidly arranged illustrations, essential background information, and cautionary reminders of the common sources on which Edison's imagination drew."--David Joravsky, New York Review of Books."In the pages of this volume Edison the man, his work, and his times come alive . . . A delight to browse through or to read carefully."--Thomas J. Misa, Science.
Author: Margaret Davidson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780812491982
Category : Electrical engineers
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
An accessible biography that explains the basic scientific principles behind Edison's discoveries as well as his joys, tragedies, and amazing successes.
Author: Thomas Alva Edison
Publisher: Greenwood
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 202
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Book Description
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.
Author: Alan Axelrod
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 9780470231395
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 192
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Book Description
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.
Author: Edmund Morris
Publisher:
ISBN: 081299311X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 801
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Book Description
From Pulitzer Prize-winning author Morris comes a revelatory new biography ofThomas Alva Edison, the most prolific genius in American history.
Author: Thomas Alva Edison
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780813035598
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
From the Dust Jacket: The Quotable Edison offers a wealth of insightful, enlightening, and sometimes humorous comments and witticisms from Thomas Edison (1847-1931), a man famous for his dictum that "Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration." He seemed always ready with a clever word or phrase. On religion, "Satan is the scarecrow of the religious cornfield"; On the English, "The English are not an inventive people; they don't eat enough pie"; On the secret of his success, "I start where the last man left off"; On work, "I've been working two shifts most of my life. Lots of other men work two shifts too, but they devote the other one to poker"; On the law, "A lawsuit is the suicide of time"; On philosophy, "I believe that life, like matter, is indestructible"; On vacations, "Florida is about as near to heaven as any man can get"; On vice, "Whatever a man likes he will have a tendency to overdo". Variously called a "magician," the "Wizard of Menlo Park," and "the Napoleon of Science," he was a prolific inventor and the holder of hundreds of patents. 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. By the age of 38, Edison was a world-famous celebrity, sought out by reporters eager for a scoop of just a comment. Even today, eighty years after his death, he remains one of the great scientific heroes of American and world history. The Quotable Edison brings the inventor to life like on other biography, allowing the man to speak in his own voice, including his reported final words: "It's very beautiful over there."
