Famous people with disabilities and health problems

http://videos.disabled-world.com/category/inspirational

Today I am going to be writing about famous people with disabilities and health problems, I don’t know about you but I think if they can work anyone with disabilities and health problems can work with the right support. As long as people are in a job that’s right for them, what they can manage and what their interest is meaning there are limits and wages are enough for people to live the best as possible. No one should be put into a job they can’t manage, what they are not safe to do and what they have no knowledge of or interest in.

Already and I am not even in full time work, which I am hoping to be. Despite of that I have learned to believe from own experience that from every negative there’s a positive.

Isaac Newton 1643 – 1727

Isaac Newton was born prematurely and he was abandoned by his Mother at the age of three. Isaac had Epilepsy, Bipolar depression, may be Autism, Blindness and Hyperactively. Isaac didn't learn easy in school he hated school work but he liked reading and making things like the reflecting telescope he built.

Through young adulthood the positive side of Isaac was his science such as gravity, the famous story about the apple falling from a tree. Isaac was well known for light and colour. Isaac studied maths, physics and astronomy at the University of Cambridge.

If you would like to learn more about Isaac Newton http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/newton/timeline.html

Vincent Van Gogh 1853 – 1890

The Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) suffered from seizures and depression. After quarrelling with fellow artist Paul Gauguin (1848–1903), he sliced off a piece of his ear lobe. Van Gogh committed suicide in 1890.

Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Van Gogh suffered from seizures which doctors, including Dr. Felix Rey and Dr. Peyron, believed to be caused by temporal lobe epilepsy. Van Gogh was born with a brain lesion that many doctors believe was aggravated by his prolonged use of absinthe causing his epileptic condition. Dr. Gachet, another of Van Gogh's physicians, was thought to have treated his epilepsy with digitalis. This prescription drug can cause one to see in yellow or see yellow spots. This may have been one of the reasons why Van Gogh loved this colour.

Bipolar disorder

Due to Van Gogh's extreme enthusiasm and dedication to first religion and then art coupled with the feverish pace of his art production many believe that mania was a prominent condition in Van Gogh's life. However, these episodes were always followed by exhaustion and depression and ultimately suicide. Therefore, a diagnosis of bipolar disorder or manic depression makes sense with the accounts of these episodes in Van Gogh's life.

Thujone poisoning

In order to counteract his attacks of epilepsy, anxiety, and depression, Van Gogh drank absinthe, a toxic alcoholic drink popular with many artists at the time. Thujone is the toxin in absinthe. Unfortunately, the Thujone worked against Van Gogh aggravating his epilepsy and manic depression. High doses of thujone can also cause one to see objects in yellow. Various physicians have differing opinions on whether or not this is what caused Van Gogh's affinity with yellow.

Lead poisoning

Because Van Gogh used lead based paints there are some who believe he suffered from lead poisoning from nibbling at paint chips. It was also noted by Dr. Peyron that during his attacks Van Gogh tried to poison himself by swallowing paint or drinking kerosene. One of the symptoms of lead poisoning is swelling of the retinas which can cause one to see light in circles like halos around objects. This can be seen in paintings like The Starry Night.

Hypergraphia

Hypergraphia is a condition causing one to need to write continuously; this disorder is commonly linked to mania and epilepsy. Some believe that the massive collection of over 800 letters Van Gogh wrote during his lifetime could be attributed to this condition.

Sunstroke

Because Van Gogh strived for realism in his paintings he was often painting outdoors especially during his times in the South of France. Some of his episodes of hostility and the nausea and "bad stomach" he refers to in his letters may have been the effects of sunstroke.

Vincent went to boarding school in Zevenbergen at the age of eleven. He drew from time to time but there was no proof of his art skills at that point. He moved to secondary school at the age of 13, which was in Tilbury. He’d got good marks for languages in the second year, which was his academic year 1867 – 68, he left school half way through but reason were unknown, he never went back.

His uncle found him a job as a trainee at the international Art Dealer Goupil & cie he was transferred to London branch. He visited the British and Nation Gallery where works, he read everything from museum guides and magazine to literature and poetry. He was transferred to Paris in 1857, he became religious. He wrote to his brother Theo, who started work for Goupil in 1873, this time in Brussels. Vincent was transferred that same year to Goupil’s London branch.

Van Gogh moved with his parents to the Etten countryside in April 1881. He continued drawing, often using neighbours as subjects. During the first summer, he took long walks with his recently widowed cousin, Kee Vos-Stricker, daughter of his mother's older sister and Johannes Stricker.^[36] Kee was seven years older than Van Gogh and had an eight-year-old son. He proposed marriage, but she refused with the words "No, nay, never" ("nooit, neen, nimmer").^[37][38] Late that November, Van Gogh wrote a strongly worded letter to Johannes,^[39] and then hurried to Amsterdam, where he spoke with him on several occasions.^[40] Kee refused to see him, and her parents wrote: "Your persistence is disgusting." In desperation, he held his left hand in the flame of a lamp, with the words: "Let me see her for as long as I can keep my hand in the flame."^[41] He did not recall the event well, but later assumed that his uncle blew out the flame. Kee's father made it clear to him that Kee's refusal should be heeded and that the two would not be married ^[42] because of Van Gogh's inability to support himself.^[43] Van Gogh's perception of his uncle and former tutor's hypocrisy affected him deeply and put an end to his religious faith forever.^[44] That Christmas, he refused to go to church, quarreling violently with his father as a result and leading him to leave home the same day for The Hague.^[45][46]

He settled in the Hague in January 1882, where he visited his cousin-in-law, Anton Mauve, a Dutch realist painter and a leading member of the Hague School. Mauve introduced him to painting in both oil and watercolour and lent him money to set up a studio,^[47] but the two soon fell out, possibly over the issue of drawing from plaster casts.^[48] Van Gogh's uncle Cornels, an art dealer, commissioned 12 ink drawings of views of the city, which Van Gogh completed soon after arriving in The Hague, along with a further seven drawings that May.^[49] In June, he spent three weeks in a hospital, suffering from gonorrhoea,^[50] and that summer, he began to paint in oil.^[51]

Rooftops, View from the Atelier The Hague, 1882, watercolour, Private collection.

Mauve appears to have suddenly gone cold towards Van Gogh and did not return some of his letters.^[52] Van Gogh supposed that Mauve had learned of his new domestic arrangement with an alcoholic prostitute, Clasina Maria "Sien" Hoornik (1850–1904), and her young daughter.^[53][54] He had met Sien towards the end of January, when she had a five-year-old daughter and was pregnant. She had already borne two children who died, although Van Gogh was unaware of this;^[55] and on 2 July, she gave birth to a baby boy, Willem.^[56] When Van Gogh's father discovered the details of their relationship, he put pressure on his son to abandon Sien and her children, although Vincent at first defied him.^[57] Vincent considered moving the family out of the city, but in the end, in the autumn of 1883 after a year with her, he left Sien and the two children.^[58] It is possible that lack of money pushed Sien back to prostitution; the home became less happy, and Van Gogh may have felt family life was irreconcilable with his artistic development. When he left, Sien gave her daughter to her mother and baby Willem to her brother. She then moved to Delft, and later to Antwerp.^[59]

Willem remembered being taken to visit his mother in Rotterdam at around the age of 12, where his uncle tried to persuade Sien to marry in order to legitimize the child. Willem remembered his mother saying, "But I know who the father is. He was an artist I lived with nearly 20 years ago in The Hague. His name was Van Gogh." She then turned to Willem and said "You are called after him."^[60] While Willem believed himself Van Gogh's son, the timing of his birth makes this unlikely.^[61] In 1904, Sien drowned herself in the River Scheldt.^[62] Van Gogh moved to the Dutch province of Drenthe, in the northern Netherlands. That December, driven by loneliness, he went to stay with his parents, who had been posted to Nuenen, North Brabant.^[62]

On 27 July 1890, again suffering from depression, Van Gogh shot himself. He died two days later.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Albert Einstein was born in Germany in 1878. Albert Einstein was a sciencest find out more on   http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/einstein_albert.shtml

 Albert Einstein is frequently included in lists of historical figures thought to have learning disabilities. Yet, Marlin Thomas, in a past issue of the Journal of Learning Disabilities, contends the supposition that Einstein had a learning disability may be more based in the desire to include someone of Einstein's stature in with a group around which there is a lot of misperception. Thomas presents evidence that Einstein's purported delayed speech, problems reading, school challenges and difficulty with employment may be unsubstantiated upon closer examination. Einstein’s sister once wrote of the concern their parents had about his late development of speech. However, Einstein himself negates this when he wrote that between the ages two and three, he practiced sentences sub vocally before saying them aloud. In addition, his grandparents wrote that at age two Einstein had “droll ideas.” Thomas posits that Einstein did not have difficulty reading, citing the remembrance of Einstein’s tutor that at age thirteen he understood the writing of philosopher Immanuel Kant. In addition, writings he had done between the ages of 12 to 16 shows a writer who was able to relate abstract concepts in clear and sophisticated language. Academically, Thomas writes, “Einstein’s available grade reports also present a picture of, at worst, a moderately successful student.”

While Einstein admitted difficulty with memorization and related that one teacher said he “would never be able to do anything that would make any sense in this life”, there is also much to suggest he was an accomplished student. Finally, Thomas explores Einstein’s unsteady employment early in his career, but finds that there are many possible reasons, and a lack of persistence of job problems.

It is difficult to diagnose a person posthumously. Certainly, others who have explored the evidence have reached different conclusions than Thomas. Whether or not Einstein would meet a stringent definition for learning disabilities as we now define it, his own writings indicate that he experienced some academic challenges. About test taking, he wrote, “I would feel under such strain that I felt, rather than going to take a test, that instead, I was walking to the guillotine.” In addition, he related that teachers thought he asked too many questions and that he found learning difficult. Hence, amidst all of Einstein’s other great accomplishments, a piece his legacy can continue to be motivating other bright students who face learning challenges, regardless of classification.

Death

On 17 April 1955, Albert Einstein experienced internal bleeding caused by the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm, which had previously been reinforced surgically by Rudolph Nissen in 1948.^[112] He took the draft of a speech he was preparing for a television appearance commemorating the State of Israel's seventh anniversary with him to the hospital, but he did not live long enough to complete it.^[113]
Einstein refused surgery, saying: "I want to go when I want. It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share, it is time to go. I will do it elegantly."^[114] He died in Princeton Hospital early the next morning at the age of 76, having continued to work until near the end.
During the autopsy, the pathologist of Princeton Hospital, Thomas Stoltz Harvey, removed Einstein's brain for preservation without the permission of his family, in the hope that the neuroscience of the future would be able to discover what made Einstein so intelligent.^[115] Einstein's remains were cremated and his ashes were scattered at an undisclosed location.^[116][117]
In his lecture at Einstein's memorial, nuclear physicist Robert Oppenheimer summarized his impression of him as a person: "He was almost wholly without sophistication and wholly without worldliness ... There was always with him a wonderful purity at once childlike and profoundly stubborn."^[118]

http://www.ppu.org.uk/learn/infodocs/people/pp-einstein.html

Alexander Graham Bell 1847 – 1922  Read on how the telephone was invented http://www.famousscientists.org/alexander-graham-bell/

Alexander Graham Bell Biography

 Alexander Graham Bell Biography 1847 - 1922

It was in Edinburgh, Scotland on March 3, 1847 that Alexander Graham Bell was born.

His father was Alexander Melville Bell and his mother was Eliza Grace Symonds Bell.

The young 'Aleck' as he was known, was the couple's second child and was given the name of his father and grandfather as was the tradition of the time.

Sadly, both of his two brothers died from the disease of tuberculosis which was a common cause of infant mortality (or child death) in those days.

Edinburgh, Scotland's capital city, was then widely known as 'The Athens of the North' because it was such a vibrant centre of culture, education and learning. The truth is, it still is. Growing up in the city, the young Aleck was greatly influenced by the atmosphere of exploration and discovery in science and the arts.

He was also very much influenced by his grandfather, after whom he had been named. His grandfather was a well respected and admired nburgh, Scotland on March 3, 1847 that Alexander Graham Bell was born.teacher, a professor of elocution (the study of formal speaking and grammar).

Aleck's mother was deaf and yet, despite this disability, had become an accomplished pianist. Alexander Graham Bell would later attribute his determination to overcome difficulties and adopt a problem-solving approach to the influence of his mother.

xander Graham Bell 1847 – 1922  Read on how the telephone was in Alexander Graham Bell didn't go to school. He was educated at home by his mother. Together, they explored anything and everything that interested them, leading to the healthy development of wide-ranging interests and an insatiable curiosity about the world and its works in the young boy.

He did, later, go to a private school for one year in order to ready him for two years of more formal education at The Royal High School.

It was while he was at the High School, at the age of only twelve, that he made his first successful invention. He and a friend had been observing the operations of a flour mill and Aleck had been frustrated to note how difficult and long-winded the process of removing the husks from the grain was. Puzzling over the problem, he eventually developed a set of revolving paddles with rows of nails set into them which worked automatically to de-husk the wheat. It was a great success.

His father was Alexander Melville Bell and his mother was Eliza Grace Symonds Bell.

The young 'Aleck' as http://www.famousscientists.org/alexander-graham-bell/

Alder Graham Bell Biography

It was in Edinburgh, Scotland on March 3, 1847 that Alexander Graham Bell was born.

His Alexander Graham Bell and the Study of Speech

When he reached the age of sixteen, Aleck started his early researches into 'speech mechanics.' Even at such a young age, he took up a post at the Weston House Academy, teaching both music and elocution.

He continued to actively promote the technique of Visible Speech, which was a method whereby the deaf could learn the physical position of the organs associated with speech, such as the lips,   was known, was the couple's second child and was given the name of htongue, and palate, in order to generate the phonetic sounds by following a visual representation even if they could not themselves hear the result.

Eventually, in the year 1870, Aleck and his family emigrated across the ocean to start a new life in Canada.

It was the following year that he moved to the United States to teach, delighting in the rich intellectual atmosphere of the city of Boston.

It was there, in 1872 that Alexander Graham Bell founded a training school, using the techniques he had developed, for teachers of deaf people. The school was eventually amalgamated with Boston University. At that point a professorship was created and Aleck became the first Professor of Vocal Physiology in 1873. In 1882, he became a fully-fledged citizen of the USA.

is father and grandfather as was the tradition of the time.

Sadly, both oAlexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone ignited a revolution in communications that would reshape the world.

Before it, the telegraph and Morse Code were the latest thing, the most up-to-date technology.

Inspired by his work teaching speech to the deaf coupled with his technical understanding of the 'morse telegraph', Bell developed his first 'acoustic telegraph' later refined and renamed 'the telephone.'

 f his two brothers died from the disease of tuberculosis which was a commo

 Alexander Graham Bell's Achievement.

The idea of actually transmitting speech electronically over long distances had always been a concept that had fascinated Aleck. He had already given a lot of thought as to how it might be done, inspired by his investigations into the telegraph.

In 1875 he produced his first simple receiver which was capable of transforming electrical impulses into audible sound.n cause of infant mortality (or child death) in those days.

 The First Telephone

The first transmitting telephone that Alexander Graham Bell made would hardly be recognized today for what it was.

It was made of a double electromagnet with a membrane stretched in front of it, rather like the skin of a drum. In the center of the membrane was positioned a strip of iron. There was a mouthpiece that was shaped like a funnel, similar to those used in old gramophones. When words were spoken into this horn it would cause a series of vibrations in the membrane which would be transferred to the iron and generate oscillating electrical currents. These would then be passed down the wire.

The receiver at the other end of the wire was a metal disc at the end of a tube which attached to another electromagnet. The incoming electromagnetic impulses caused the disc to vibrate, making sound waves that corresponded to the speaker's voice.

Bell worked quickly after this initial experiment, to refine the design and improve the functionality of his telephone, which he had called 'the acoustic telegraph.'

tion of the time.

Sad The First Telephone Call

Edinburgh, Scotland's capital city, was then widely known as 'The Athens of the North' because it was such a vibrant center of culture, education and learning. The truth is, it still is. Growing up in the city, the young Aleck waAleck finally created a machine that could both transmit and receive sound and the patent for this remarkable and world-changing invention was registered by him in 1876.

Unlike many new inventions, the telephone was adopted quickly. After only a year the very first telephone exchange had been constructed in Connecticut and the Bell Telephone Company was founded. In consequence of the rapid spread of telephonic communications, Alexander Graham Bell soon became a very wealthy man.

Bell was awarded a number of prestigious prizes and went on to further develop experiments in many different fields. He continued to develop technologies to help deaf people.

r He also founded The National Geographic Society and was one of the first presidents and editors of the magazine.

He passed away peacefully in spring of 1922.s

 greatly influenced by the atmosphere of exploration and discovery in science and The very first telephone call ever transmitted was made, not surprisingly, by Alexander Graham Bell himself.

Bell had an assistant, his electrical mechanic, whose name was Thomas Watson. To try out the new machine, he sent Watson out of the workshop to a neighboring room where he had set up a receiver.

He called and when Watson answered he said simply, "Mr. Watson? Come here, I want to see you!"

It would be many years later and after much development of the instrument, that he would make the first public demonstration of a long distance call between New York and Chicago.

ly, both of his two brothers died from the disease of tuberculosis which was a Find Out More About Alexander Graham Bell

This article gives you the basic facts about Alexander Graham Bell but as you can imagine, there is much more to his life and work that you can still discover.

If you are interested in finding out more, either for a school project, your blog or just personal interest, I think you'll find the carefully selected resources listed here to be the most helpful place to start.

I've chosen websites, books and DVDs that could all help you with your project.

I hope you enjoy finding out more about Alexander Graham Bell.

Alexander Graham Bell Museum

A unique exhibit complex where models, replicas, photo displays, artifacts, and films describe the fascinating life and t·        work of Alexander Graham Bell.

common cause of infant mortality (or child death) in those days.

Communications

There is no doubt that the ability to communicate instantly across vast distances - even from distant space - has revolutionized our world and was one of the key inventions which ushered in all the wonders of the modern world.

Next time your ringtone sounds in your pocket, remember Alexander Graham Bell.

And just before you ring off, take a moment to answer the poll! The young Aleck was greatly influenced by the atmosphere of

From Telegraph to Telecommunications

Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone ignited a revolution in communications that would reshape the world.

Before it, the telegraph and Morse code was the latest thing, the most up-to-date technology.

Inspired by his work teaching speech to the deaf coupled with his technical understanding of the 'Morse telegraph', Bell developed his first 'acoustic telegraph' later refined and renamed 'the telephone.'

The Morse Telegraph

 .

He was also very much influenced by his grandfather, after whom he had been named. His grandfather was a well respected and admired teacher, a professor of elocution (the study of formal speaking and grammar).

Aleck's mother was deaf and yet, despite this disability, had become an accomplished pianist. Alexander Graham Bell would later attribute his determination to overcome difficulties and adopt a problem-solving approach to the influence of his mother.

The Bell Family at Home

Alexander's family at home in Scotland.

Source: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Alexander Graham Bell didn't go to school. He was educated at home by his mother. Together, they explored anything and everything that interested them, leading to the healthy development of wide-ranging interests and an insatiable curiosity about the world and its works in the young boy.

He did, later, go to a private school for one year in order to ready him for two years of more formal education at The Royal High School.

It was while he was at the High School, at the age of only twelve, that he made his first successful invention. He and a friend had been observing the operations of a flour mill and Aleck had been frustrated to note how difficult and long-winded the process of removing the husks from the grain was. Puzzling over the problem, he eventually developed a set of revolving paddles with rows of nails set into them which worked automatically to de-husk the wheat. It was a great success.

Alexander Graham Bell's Laboratory Notebook

Alexander Graham Bell's lab book open at the page in which he made notes about the first successful use of the telephone.

Source: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Alexander Graham Bell in Boston

Map Data

Terms of Use

Satellite

.

Alexander Graham Bell and the Study of Speech

When he reached the age of sixteen, Aleck started his early researches into 'speech mechanics.' Even at such a young age, he took up a post at the Weston House Academy, teaching both music and elocution.

He continued to actively promote the technique of Visible Speech, which was a method whereby the deaf could learn the physical position of the organs associated with speech, such as the lips, tongue, and palate, in order to generate the phonetic sounds by following a visual representation even if they could not themselves hear the result.

Eventually, in the year 1870, Aleck and his family emigrated across the ocean to start a new life in Canada.

It was the following year that he moved to the United States to teach, delighting in the rich intellectual atmosphere of the city of Boston. It was there; in 1872 that Alexander Graham Bell founded a training school, using the techniques he had developed, for teachers of deaf people. The school was eventually amalgamated with Boston University. At that point a professorship was created and Aleck became the first Professor of Vocal Physiology in 1873. In 1882, he became a fully-fledged citizen of the USA.

From Telegraph to Telecommunications

Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone ignited a revolution in communications that would reshape the world.

Before it, the telegraph and Morse Code were the latest thing, the most up-to-date technology.

Inspired by his work teaching speech to the deaf coupled with his technical understanding of the 'morse telegraph', Bell developed his first 'acoustic telegraph' later refined and renamed 'the telephone.'

The Morse Telegraph

The 'Morse Telegraph' was the most advanced method of long distance communication before Alexander Graham Bell invented his 'acoustic telegraph' or telephone.

Source: tomislavmedak CC-BY-2.0 via Flickr

Alexander Graham Bell's Achievement.

The idea of actually transmitting speech electronically over long distances had always been a concept that had fascinated Aleck. He had already given a lot of thought as to how it might be done, inspired by his investigations into the telegraph.

In 1875 he produced his first simple receiver which was capable of transforming electrical impulses into audible sound.

Aleck finally created a machine that could both transmit and receive sound and the patent for this remarkable and world-changing invention was registered by him in 1876.

Unlike many new inventions, the telephone was adopted quickly. After only a year the very first telephone exchange had been constructed in Connecticut and the Bell Telephone Company was founded. In consequence of the rapid spread of telephonic communications, Alexander Graham Bell soon became a very wealthy man.

Bell was awarded a number of prestigious prizes and went on to further develop experiments in many different fields. He continued to develop technologies to help deaf people.

He also founded The National Geographic Society and was one of the first presidents and editors of the magazine.

He passed away peacefully in spring of 1922.

Alexander Graham Bell in a Nutshell

What	Where	When
Born	Edinburgh, Scotland	1847
First Invention: corn de-husker	Edinburgh, Scotland	1859
Taught Elocution at Weston House Academy	Edinburgh, Scotland	1863+
Moves to London	London, UK	1865
Teacher to the deaf	Boston School for Deaf Mutes	1871
The first telephone call	Bell's Lb	1876
Bell Patented his Telephone	US Patent Office	1876
Died	Nova Scotia, Canada	1922

The First Telephone

The first transmitting telephone that Alexander Graham Bell made would hardly be recognized today for what it was.

It was made of a double electromagnet with a membrane stretched in front of it, rather like the skin of a drum. In the center of the membrane was positioned a strip of iron. There was a mouthpiece that was shaped like a funnel, similar to those used in old gramophones. When words were spoken into this horn it would cause a series of vibrations in the membrane which would be transferred to the iron and generate oscillating electrical currents. These would then be passed down the wire.

The receiver at the other end of the wire was a metal disc at the end of a tube which attached to another electromagnet. The incoming electromagnetic impulses caused the disc to vibrate, making sound waves that corresponded to the speaker's voice.

Bell worked quickly after this initial experiment, to refine the design and improve the functionality of his telephone, which he had called 'the acoustic telegraph.'

Bell's Acoustic Telegraph - the First Telephone

The 'acoustic telegraph' invented by Alexander Graham Bell and the precursor to the modern telecommunications revolution.

Source: Zubro CC-BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The First Long Distance Telephone Call

In 1892, Alexander Graham Bell made the first long distance call using his new device, making contact between New York and Chicago.

Source: Public Domain {US-PD} via Wikimedia Commons

The First Telephone Call

The very first telephone call ever transmitted was made, not surprisingly, by Alexander Graham Bell himself.

Bell had an assistant, his electrical mechanic, whose name was Thomas Watson. To try out the new machine, he sent Watson out of the workshop to a neighboring room where he had set up a receiver.

He called and when Watson answered he said simply, "Mr. Watson? Come here, I want to see you!"

It would be many years later and after much development of the instrument, that he would make the first public demonstration of a long distance call between New York and Chicago.

 

Thomas Edison 1847 to 1931

Born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio, Thomas Edison rose from humble beginnings to work as an inventor of major technology. Setting up a lab in Menlo Park, some of the products he developed included the telegraph, phonograph, electric light bulb, alkaline storage batteries and Kinetograph (a camera for motion pictures). He died on October 18, 1931, in West Orange, New Jersey.

He was educated 1 to 1 by his mother plus she was a teacher herself. He was a very slow learning plus he had hearing difficulties which got worse right through to old age.

Younger Years

Inventor Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio. He was the last of the seven children of Samuel and Nancy Edison. Thomas's father was an exiled political activist from Canada. His mother, an accomplished school teacher, was a major influence in Thomas’ early life. An early bout with scarlet fever as well as ear infections left him with hearing difficulties in both ears, a malady that would eventually leave him nearly deaf as an adult. Edison would later recount as an adult, with variations on the story, that he lost his hearing due to a train incident where his ears were injured. But others have tended to discount this as the sole cause of his hearing loss.

In 1854, the family moved to Port Huron, Michigan, where Edison attended public school for a total of 12 weeks. A hyperactive child, prone to distraction, he was deemed "difficult" by his teacher. His mother quickly pulled him from school and taught him at home. At age 11, he showed a voracious appetite for knowledge, reading books on a wide range of subjects. In this wide-open curriculum Edison developed a process for self-education and learning independently that would serve him throughout his life.

Early Career

At age 12, Edison set out to put much of that education to work. He convinced his parents to let him sell newspapers to passengers along the Grand Trunk Railroad line. Exploiting his access to the news bulletins teletype to the station office each day, Thomas began publishing his own small newspaper, called the Grand Trunk Herald. The up-to-date articles were a hit with passengers. This was the first of what would become a long string of entrepreneurial ventures where he saw a need and capitalized on opportunity.

Edison also used his access to the railroad to conduct chemical experiments in a small laboratory he set up in a train baggage car. During one of his experiments, a chemical fire started and the car caught fire. The conductor rushed in and struck Thomas on the side of the head, probably furthering some of his hearing loss. He was kicked off the train and forced to sell his newspapers at various stations along the route.

While he worked for the railroad, a near-tragic event turned fortuitous for the young man. After Edison saved a 3-year-old from being run over by an errant train, the child’s grateful father rewarded him by teaching him to operate a telegraph. By age 15, he had learned enough to be employed as a telegraph operator. For the next five years, Edison travelled throughout the Midwest as an itinerant telegrapher, subbing for those who had gone to the Civil War. In his spare time, he read widely, studied and experimented with telegraph technology, and became familiar with electrical science.

In 1866, at age 19, Edison moved to Louisville, Kentucky, working for The Associated Press. The night shift allowed him to spend most of his time reading and experimenting. He developed an unrestrictive style of thinking and inquiry, proving things to himself through objective examination and experimentation. Initially, Edison excelled at his telegraph job because early Morse code was inscribed on a piece of paper, so Edison's partial deafness was no handicap. However, as the technology advanced, receivers were increasingly equipped with a sounding key, enabling telegraphers to "read" message by the sound of the clicks. This left Edison disadvantaged, with fewer and fewer opportunities for employment.

In 1868, Edison returned home to find his beloved mother was falling into mental illness and his father was out of work. The family was almost destitute. Edison realized he needed to take control of his future. Upon the suggestion of a friend, he ventured to Boston, landing a job for the Western Union Company. At the time, Boston was America's center for science and culture, and Edison reveled in it. In his spare time, he designed and patented an electronic voting recorder for quickly tallying votes in the legislature. However, Massachusetts lawmakers were not interested. As they explained, most legislators didn't want votes tallied quickly. They wanted time to change the minds of fellow legislators.

 

re Alexander Graham Bell invented his 'acoustic telegraph' or telephone.

Source: tomislavmedak CC-BY-2.0 via Flicker

Alexander Graham Bell's Achievement.

The idea of actually transmitting speech electronically over long distances had always been a concept that had fascinated Aleck. He had already given a lot of thought as to how it might be done, inspired by his investigations into the telegraph.

In 1875 he produced his first simple receiver which was capable of transforming electrical impulses into audible sound.

Aleck finally created a machine that could both transmit and receive sound and the patent for this remarkable and world-changing invention was registered by him in 1876.

Unlike many new inventions, the telephone was adopted quickly. After only a year the very first telephone exchange had been constructed in Connecticut and the Bell Telephone Company was founded. In consequence of the rapid spread of telephonic communications, Alexander Graham Bell soon became a very wealthy man.

Bell was awarded a number of prestigious prizes and went on to further develop experiments in many different fields. He continued to develop technologies to help deaf people.

He also founded The National Geographic Society and was one of the first presidents and editors of the magazine.

He passed away peacefully in spring of 1922.

Alexander Graham Bell in a Nutshell

What	Where	When
Born	Edinburgh, Scotland	1847
First Invention: corn de-husker	Edinburgh, Scotland	1859
Taught Elocution at Weston House Academy	Edinburgh, Scotland	1863+