“There’s a better way to do it,” was Thomas Edison’s lifelong motto. Thomas Edison was the man of the lightbulb, the phonograph, and the movie camera. In today’s era, phones, movie cameras, and lightbulbs have all advanced in so many ways. All of these inventions have been combined to create a smart phone.

But who was Thomas Alva Edison? He was born in poverty, and had very little school educating. But he read a lot because of  his curiousity. Whatever money he had as a teenager he spent in books or on laboratory equipment. At the age of 21, he built his first major invention. Ever since, he built many inventions.

Edison’s first lightbulb lasted under 40 hours. But today, light bulbs can last between 25,000-50,000 hours! Such an increase is insane.  Edison made the first public demonstration of his incandescent  light bulb on December 31, 1879. This forever changed history and many invention ideas.

Even though his most famous invention was the lightbulb, he made many others. Another successful invention he created was the phonograph. Created in 1877, the phonograph was Edison’s favorite invention. He was able to figure out a way to record sound through a tin-foil coated cylinders. This machine was able to record and playback.

Nowadays, phones are fairly small devices and are capable of more than calling. They can store apps, songs, files, etc. Phones today have become a major part of people’s life.

I talked to a phone addict, Jana Ghoul,” I use phones more than I should. Even though I don’t call much on my phone, this invention was important to many inventors and for smart phones today.”

Edison built a small movie studio that could be rotated to capture the best available sunlight. This invention is now known as the movie camera. This invention was originated from George Eastman. Without a camera visuals such as movies, T.V. shows and pictures wouldn’t exist.

Jaafar Beydoun

Unis Middle School Journalism