Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847 in Ohio. He started his primary education in Michigan. However, about 4 months after he started, he was suspended from school due to his slow perception. During this period, he established a chemistry laboratory in the cellar of their house and carried out various studies. After a while, he built a telegraph device on his own and learned Morse code. While working on the train, when one of the bottles containing chemicals broke and a fire broke out in the carriage, Edison both lost his job on the train and was injured in a way that caused his lifelong hearing. Between 1863 and 1868 he worked in telegraph offices in the USA and Canada. He founded a workshop in 1868, but was unable to sell the patent for his electric recording device. Edison invented an electric light bulb in 1879. In 1880, he began producing light bulbs that could be used safely at home, selling them for $2.5 each.
In 1878, an English scientist, Joseph Wilson Swan, also invented an electric light bulb. These two scientists decided to join forces and formed the Edison and Swan Electric Lighting Company (EDISWAN).
Henry Ford, the great man of the automobile industry, recently moved a few hundred meters from Edison's house. That's why Edison and Ford remained friends until his death.
Moving to New York in 1884 and continuing his studies there, Tesla started to work with Edison here, but the two scientists soon parted ways as Edison kept his distance from Tesla's inventions on alternating current systems. Parting ways with Edison, Tesla sold the patents for his inventions on alternating current generators, transformers and motors to George Westinghouse in 1885. Thus, Westinghouse and Tesla, who tried to spread alternating current, became direct competitors with Edison, who insisted on direct current systems. This rivalry soon turned into a great commercial war; In fact, this period became known as the "Current Wars".
In 1883, he realized what is called the Edison effect, the greatest invention of his life. So he found electron diffusion in the molecular cavity of a heated filament. This phenomenon, which he found in 1883, formed the basis of hot cathode tubes. Later, he realized the production of the incandescent lamp. This allowed the light bulb to become widespread among the people. Edison died of diabetes at his home in New Jersey on October 18, 1931. In memory of his death, the lights were turned off for 1 minute in the city where he lived.
