The Wizard of Menlo Park

How Thomas Alva Edison Invented the Modern World

By: Randall E. Stross

Biography & Autobiography

at the height of his fame thomas alva edison was hailed as “the napoleon of invention” and blazed in the public imagination as a virtual demigod. newspapers proclaimed his genius in glowing personal profiles and quipped that “the doctor has been called” because the great man “has not invented anything since breakfast.” starting with the first public demonstrations of the phonograph in 1878 and...