The greatest American inventor and perhaps the greatest inventor in history was ThomasAlva Edison, who changed the lives of people everywhere with such inventions as theelectric light and the phonograph. He patented over 1100 inventions of his own andimproved many other persons' inventions, such as the telephone, the typewriter, the electricgenerator, and the motion picture. Perhaps most importantly of all, he was one of the firstto organize research, at one time employing some 3000 helpers. Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, the youngest of seven children. He had only 3 months offormal education because his mother took him out of school and taught him herself. Heasked too many questions to get along with the schoolmaster. He was exempt from militaryservice because of deafness, and during the Civil War he roamed from city to city as atelegraph operator. During this time he patented improvements on the stock ticker and soldthe patents for the then astounding price of $40,000. In 1876 he moved to Menlo Park, NewJersey, and from there his steady stream of inventions made him world famous. Theelectric light was his greatest invention, but to supply it to the world he also designed thefirst electric power station. His discovery of the Edison effect, the movement of electronsin the vacuum of his light bulb, also marked the beginning of the age of electronics.