1 Where would we be without electricity, light bulbs, movies, or music in our homes? Life as we know it would be very different. We can thank Thomas Edison for all of these things which are available to us every day.
2 Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio on February 11, 1847. He attended school for a short time, but his teachers lost their patience with him. He was constantly asking questions and interrupting class. When the school could no longer handle Thomas, his mother decided to educate him at home. She instructed him in the use of the local library and hired tutors to assist her when she could no longer answer his questions.
3 After a bout with scarlet fever at age 14, he became totally deaf in his left ear and lost eighty percent of his hearing in the right. This did not stop Thomas Edison. He continued to learn in any way he could. He was an avid reader. His mother once remarked that she thought he would read the entire library.
