Post by dex on Feb 24, 2020 10:22:00 GMT -5
MY TURN
Our nation’s unschooled superman
By Daniel F. Harrington
He was the most productive human being ever born. His accomplishments, when itemized, strain credulity and read like the exploits of a comic book hero.
Beginning in the late 19th century, with little more than a chemistry set, Thomas Alva Edison invented the light bulb, the electric power plant and its infrastructure, the phonograph, motion pictures, stock ticker, X-ray machine, electric pen and even a sensor that measured the heat of starlight — plus hundreds of other creations!
He filed over 1,000 patents — by hand, acting as inventor, draftsman and lawyer — and in his prime was averaging one every four days. When a prominent British scientist was asked why no one else had thought of Edison’s elegant plan for electric distribution, he replied “because no one else is Edison.”
Born in 1847, Edison was raised in rural Michigan, where by the second grade the aloof boy with the large head and bright blue eyes was bullied out of school. After a period of homeschooling by his mother, he educated himself by devouring science books.
He got his first job at 12, selling fruit aboard a Michigan passenger train, and then quickly progressed to selling a self-published newspaper. By 15, he learned Morse code and became the fastest telegrapher on the tracks. Edison then began experimenting with the locomotive’s telecommunications equipment. Improvements and patents followed. Before long, he was doing the same on Wall Street.
He never looked back.
At the height of his power, he was managing 72 different projects, including the founding of General Electric, which, today, is still included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
For most of his life the elite scientists of the world ridiculed the “unschooled American huckster,” but the American public properly saw his inventions for what they were: miracles. Upon first listening to the sound of a recorded human voice, one admirer said Edison’s invention validated the Resurrection itself.
For a people born on the prairie, Edison’s advances in sight and sound were literally frightening.
Many of his patents helped improve other people’s inventions. Alexander Graham Bell, for instance, could not effectively market his telephone to the masses until Edison equipped it with a practical transmitter. Mercifully, it was Edison who convinced Bell to use “Hello!” instead of “Ahoy!” when answering the device.
The key to Edison’s success was his work ethic. He routinely worked 16 to 20 hours a day, supplemented only by brief naps. While the average person today works about 90,000 hours in a lifetime, Edison likely worked three or four times that amount. Work was his pleasure.
Doggedness was another factor of his success. To find a durable filament material for his light bulb, for example, Edison tested over six thousand substances before declaring Japanese bamboo the ideal choice. Thus sweat, not brilliance, gave us light!
Not everything he touched prospered. He spent a decade — and millions — unsuccessfully mining iron ore in New Jersey. In 1882, he invented a contraption to extract ore from the black sand beaches of an exotic place called Quonochontaug, Rhode Island. He failed there as well.
But failure would never define him.
Edison is likely America’s most uncelebrated HR man. Nicola Tesla, Henry Ford and African-American inventor Lewis Latimer all labored in Edison’s famous Menlo Park workshop. He showed no favoritism. Ideas and results were the things that mattered.
On Jan. 31, 1931, Edison submitted a patent application for an electroplating process, his 1,093rd and his last. He died two days later at age 84.
“What would Edison do?” might be a daring question to ask yourself the next time you find yourself nearing a dead end, jawing in a room of naysayers or clutching a fresh pink slip. But it will also be a jolting reminder that your brain, like Edison’s, is among the most powerful machines ever imagined.
Daniel F. Harrington ( danielfharrington@yahoo. com ), a monthly contributor, is president of Chartwell Wealth management in Rumford.
Our nation’s unschooled superman
By Daniel F. Harrington
He was the most productive human being ever born. His accomplishments, when itemized, strain credulity and read like the exploits of a comic book hero.
Beginning in the late 19th century, with little more than a chemistry set, Thomas Alva Edison invented the light bulb, the electric power plant and its infrastructure, the phonograph, motion pictures, stock ticker, X-ray machine, electric pen and even a sensor that measured the heat of starlight — plus hundreds of other creations!
He filed over 1,000 patents — by hand, acting as inventor, draftsman and lawyer — and in his prime was averaging one every four days. When a prominent British scientist was asked why no one else had thought of Edison’s elegant plan for electric distribution, he replied “because no one else is Edison.”
Born in 1847, Edison was raised in rural Michigan, where by the second grade the aloof boy with the large head and bright blue eyes was bullied out of school. After a period of homeschooling by his mother, he educated himself by devouring science books.
He got his first job at 12, selling fruit aboard a Michigan passenger train, and then quickly progressed to selling a self-published newspaper. By 15, he learned Morse code and became the fastest telegrapher on the tracks. Edison then began experimenting with the locomotive’s telecommunications equipment. Improvements and patents followed. Before long, he was doing the same on Wall Street.
He never looked back.
At the height of his power, he was managing 72 different projects, including the founding of General Electric, which, today, is still included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
For most of his life the elite scientists of the world ridiculed the “unschooled American huckster,” but the American public properly saw his inventions for what they were: miracles. Upon first listening to the sound of a recorded human voice, one admirer said Edison’s invention validated the Resurrection itself.
For a people born on the prairie, Edison’s advances in sight and sound were literally frightening.
Many of his patents helped improve other people’s inventions. Alexander Graham Bell, for instance, could not effectively market his telephone to the masses until Edison equipped it with a practical transmitter. Mercifully, it was Edison who convinced Bell to use “Hello!” instead of “Ahoy!” when answering the device.
The key to Edison’s success was his work ethic. He routinely worked 16 to 20 hours a day, supplemented only by brief naps. While the average person today works about 90,000 hours in a lifetime, Edison likely worked three or four times that amount. Work was his pleasure.
Doggedness was another factor of his success. To find a durable filament material for his light bulb, for example, Edison tested over six thousand substances before declaring Japanese bamboo the ideal choice. Thus sweat, not brilliance, gave us light!
Not everything he touched prospered. He spent a decade — and millions — unsuccessfully mining iron ore in New Jersey. In 1882, he invented a contraption to extract ore from the black sand beaches of an exotic place called Quonochontaug, Rhode Island. He failed there as well.
But failure would never define him.
Edison is likely America’s most uncelebrated HR man. Nicola Tesla, Henry Ford and African-American inventor Lewis Latimer all labored in Edison’s famous Menlo Park workshop. He showed no favoritism. Ideas and results were the things that mattered.
On Jan. 31, 1931, Edison submitted a patent application for an electroplating process, his 1,093rd and his last. He died two days later at age 84.
“What would Edison do?” might be a daring question to ask yourself the next time you find yourself nearing a dead end, jawing in a room of naysayers or clutching a fresh pink slip. But it will also be a jolting reminder that your brain, like Edison’s, is among the most powerful machines ever imagined.
Daniel F. Harrington ( danielfharrington@yahoo. com ), a monthly contributor, is president of Chartwell Wealth management in Rumford.