Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, on 11 February 1847 and grew up in Michigan with little formal schooling. He became deaf as a child and learned through books and tinkering, and as a young railroad telegrapher he spent much of his time inventing improvements to telegraph systems.
He developed Menlo Park, now considered the first industrial research laboratory, and is known for his work on the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, electric power distribution and early motion pictures. He registered 1,093 patents in the United States and died on 18 October 1931.