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his age have. I will teach him myself. He will

not attend school.” And she started teaching

the boy at home.

And that boy grew up to be the great Thomas
Alva Edison. Edison went to school only three

months of his life. His mother made learning

so enjoyable. She always told him that it
was more important to think than simply

remember facts. She read out the best books

she could find. When Edison was just about
nine years old, he could
What did Edison’s mother
read difficult books always tell him?
very quickly.

His reading habits helped him to develop

interest in science. At the age of ten, he set

up a small laboratory in his room. He spent most of his time doing experiments
in the laboratory. He sold newspapers and candies on trains to earn money for his

experiments.

When Thomas was about 14 years old, he saved the life of a child who was the son of

a railway officer. The child’s father was very thankful to Thomas. He taught Thomas
how to use a telegraph to send and receive messages. Soon he learnt how to operate

the telegraph.

Edison invented many useful things – the phonograph, the world’s first machine

for recording sounds, the motion picture camera, the first workable telephone and
the automatic telegraph. But he is best known for inventing the electric bulb. The

invention of the bulb marked a new era in human progress. What happened after
Edison worked on it for a long time and there were many Edison’s thirteen months of
hard labour?
failures. After thirteen months, his hard labour bore fruit.

Can you believe that one man could have more than one hundred inventions to his

name? Edison was indeed a genius for he has changed the very life of mankind.
He was a man who never stepped back because of failures. He is rightly called the

inventor of inventors.

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