Awards & Winners

Thomas Edison

Date of Birth 11-February-1847
Place of Birth Milan
(Erie County, Ohio)
Nationality United States of America
Also know as Thomas Alva Edison, Edison, Thomas, Thomas A. Edison, The Wizard of Menlo Park, Magicianul din Menlo Park, Thầy phù thủy ở Menlo Park, Thomas Edison, Thomas A. Edison, Thomas Alva Edison, הקוסם ממנלו פארק, תומאס א. אדיסון, תומאס אדיסון, Thomas Edison, Tomas Alva Edisonas, El mag de Menlo Park
Profession Inventor, Entrepreneur, Scientist, Businessperson, Film Producer, Film Director
Quotes
  • I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.
  • The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary.
  • What man's mind can create, man's character can control.
  • Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.
  • The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are: Hard work, Stick-to-itiveness, and Common sense.
  • As a cure for worrying, work is better than whiskey.
  • Nearly every man who develops an idea works at it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then gets discouraged. that's not the place to become discouraged.
  • Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.
  • Waste is worse than loss. The time is coming when every person who lays claim to ability will keep the question of waste before him constantly. The scope of thrift is limitless.
  • Be courageous. I have seen many depressions in business. Always America has emerged from these stronger and more prosperous. Be brave as your fathers before you. Have faith! Go forward!
  • Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.
  • There is no substitute for hard work.
  • There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking.
  • Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure.
  • Hell, there are no rules here, we are trying to accomplish something.
  • His genius he was quite content in one brief sentence to define; Of inspiration one percent, of perspiration, ninety nine.
  • I know this world is ruled by infinite intelligence. Everything that surrounds us- everything that exists -- proves that there are infinite laws behind it. There can be no denying this fact. It is mathematical in its precision.
  • The value of an idea lies in the using of it.
  • The best thinking has been done in solitude.
  • There ain't no rules around here, we're trying to accomplish something.
  • To my mind the old masters are not art; their value is in their scarcity.
  • The chief function of the body is to carry the brain around
  • Maturity is often more absurd than youth and very frequently is most unjust to youth.
  • There is far more opportunity than there is ability.
  • Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
  • I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun.
  • I never did anything by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work.
  • We don't know one-millionth of one percent about anything.
  • It is astonishing what an effort it seems to be for many people to put their brains definitely and systematically to work.
  • Restlessness is discontent and discontent is the first necessity of progress. Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure.
  • I am proud of the fact that I never invented weapons to kill.
  • When I have fully decided that a result is worth getting I go ahead of it and make trial after trial until it comes.
  • One might think that the money value of an invention constitutes its reward to the man who loves his work. But speaking for myself, I can honestly say this is not so... I continue to find my greatest pleasure, and so my reward, in the work that precedes what the world calls success.
  • I start where the last man left off.
  • There's a way to do better... find it.
  • Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
  • Great ideas originate in the muscles.
  • If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astonish ourselves.
  • The body is a community made up of its innumerable cells or inhabitants.
  • Anything that won't sell, I don't want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success.
  • Discontent is the first necessity of progress.
  • Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won't work.
  • Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work.
  • What you are will show in what you do.
  • To have a great idea, have a lot of them.
  • Your worth consists in what you are and not in what you have.
  • I find my greatest pleasure, and so my reward, in the work that precedes what the world calls success.
  • I have not failed. I've just found 10, 000 ways that won't work.
  • After dinner rest awhile, after supper walk a mile.
  • Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder (For Somebody Else)
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. Dubbed "The Wizard of Menlo Park", he was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production and large-scale teamwork to the process of invention, and because of that, he is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory. Edison was a prolific inventor, holding 1,093 US patents in his name, as well as many patents in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. More significant than the number of Edison's patents, are the impacts of his inventions, because Edison not only invented things, his inventions established major new industries world-wide, notably, electric light and power utilities, sound recording and motion pictures. Edison's inventions contributed to mass communication and, in particular, telecommunications. These included a stock ticker, a mechanical vote recorder, a battery for an electric car, electrical power, recorded music and motion pictures. His advanced work in these fields was an outgrowth of his early career as a telegraph operator. Edison developed a system of electric-power generation and distribution to homes, businesses, and factories – a crucial development in the modern industrialized world. His first power station was on Pearl Street in Manhattan, New York.

Awards by Thomas Edison

Check all the awards nominated and won by Thomas Edison.

1895


Rumford Prize
(For his investigations in electric lighting.)