What is genius? Thomas Edison said it was 1 percent inspiration (getting an idea) and 99 percent perspiration (hard work). Edison was living proof of this definition.
From childhood to the end of his life, Edison was always working on his projects. Many of them changed the world we live in. The electric light bulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture projector are the most famous, but there were many more. In his lifetime, Edison received patents for 1,093 inventions.
But Edison was more than an inventor. To make sure his inventions became a reality, he had to become a businessman, too. After building the first movie camera, for example, he built a studio on the grounds of his West Orange, New Jersey, laboratory. Then he produced the first motion pictures.
Edison was far from the common idea of the antisocial inventor. He didn’t turn his back on society to follow his inner vision. More than any other inventor, he created the modern team approach to research and development of new ideas. You might say it was an unpatented invention.
So where did Thomas Edison get all his inspirations? Just how much perspiration did it take to make his dreams become reality? Read on, as Kids Discover takes you on a journey with a genius.