Thomas Edison: Inventor of the Age of Electricity (Lerner Biography)

Thomas Alva Edison, one of the world's greatest inventors, compiled an unprecedented 1,093 patents during his eighty-four-year lifetime. Through hard work and perseverance, he spurred the growth of three industries: He blazed the trail for commercial electric power, transformed the entertainment industry through the creation of motion pictures, and helped create a music industry through his invention of the phonograph. Just three years before his death in 1931, Edison was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his lifelong contributions to science. He had brought the world out of darkness and into the age of electricity.