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Thomas Edison is born.
Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio on February 11, 1847. His parents were Sam Edison Jr. and Nancy Elliott. -
Thomas starts chemistry.
In 1859, Thomas took a job selling candy and newspapers on the Grand Trunk Railroad. In the baggage car he set up a printing press and a laboratory to do chemistry. -
Thomas learns railroad telegraphy.
In 1862, Thomas rescued a three-year-old from a track where a boxcar was about to roll into him. In return, the grateful father, J. U. MacKenzie, taught Thomas railroad telegraphy. Later that year he took a job as a telegraph operator in Port Huron. -
Thomas patents his first invention.
In 1868, Thomas became a telegraph operator in the main Western Union office in Boston and files his first patent application for an automatic vote recorder. -
Thomas Edison marries Mary Stillwell.
On Christmas day, in 1871, Thomas marries Mary Stillwell, one of his employees. -
Thomas invents the light bulb.
In 1879, Thomas invented the carbon-filament lamp and a direct-current generator for incandescent electric lighting. -
Thomas marriers Mina Miller.
In 1886, two years after his former wife died, Thomas married Mina Miller. -
Thomas Edison dies.
Edison dies in Llewellyn Park, New Jersey, on October 18. The nation dims its light bulbs for one minute on the day of his funeral.
