Thomas Edison
(1847-1931)

Died aged c. 84

Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, which include the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and early versions of the electric light bulb, have had a widespread impact on the modern industrialized world. He was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of organized science and teamwork to the process of invention, working with many researchers and employees. He established the first industrial research laboratory. Edison was raised in the American Midwest. Early in his career he worked as a telegraph operator, which inspired some of his earliest inventions. In 1876, he established his first laboratory facility in Menlo Park, New Jersey, where many of his early inventions were developed. He later established a botanical laboratory in Fort Myers, Florida, in collaboration with businessmen Henry Ford and Harvey S. Firestone, and a laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey, that featured the world's first film studio, the Black Maria. With 1,093 US patents in his name, as well as patents in other countries, Edison is regarded as the most prolific inventor in American history. Edison married twice and fathered six children. He died in 1931 of complications of diabetes.

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Commemorated on 4 plaques

Here the Motion Picture Began: On the night of April 23, 1896, on this site in Koster & Bial's Music Hall Thomas Edison with the "Vitascope" first projected a moving picture. In commemoration of the event, this tablet is here affixed by The Motion Picture Industry, October 4, 1938

1313 Broadway, New York, NY, United States where they first projected a moving picture

Godalming leads the world in installing electricity. The street light on the nearby plinth in the middle of the road resembles the first electric street lighting in the world. Godalming provided electric lighting for its citizens not only in the streets but also in the houses. Achieving this in 1881, a year before Edison's scheme in Pearl Street, New York. The design of the lanterns on the lights is taken from a print of Godalming in "the graphic" of 21st November 1881.

Croft Road, Godalming, United Kingdom where they was

First Electric Light. First successful use of a three-wire electric lighting system was made July 4, 1883, in the City Hotel building in Sunbury. Thomas A. Edison directed the work. The Edison Electric Illuminating Co. plant was at 4th and Vine Streets.

Pa. 147 (Front St.) at Market St., Sunbury, PA, United States where they was

Thomas Alva and Mina Miller Edison [full inscription unknown]

entrance pillar to the Edison and Ford Winter Estates, 2350 McGregor Boulevard, Fort Myers, FL, United States where they was