Born: February 11, 1847

 

Industry: Inventor

 

Humanitarian efforts:

• Invented products that assisted people in their daily lives, including the incandescent light bulb, motion pictures, and the phonograph.

• Worked with the U.S. Navy during World War I to help fight attacks from German U-boats

• Permitted the medical profession to use his fluoroscope technology without charge to save lives

 

Fast Facts:

• Edison was awarded 1,093 patents in his lifetime, more than any other inventor to this day

• His three greatest inventions were the transmitter that became the basis for the telephone, the phonograph, and the incandescent electric light

• He was nearly deaf as a result of a scarlet fever infection when he was young

• He founded the Edison Illuminating Company, the first investor-owned utility, which later became General Electric