Table of ContentsScience and TechnologyPolitics and GovernmentWar and RevolutionPhilosophyMy name is Thomas Edison . You probably know me best for developing the phonograph and the electric light bulb, but I have innovated and invented much more. I held 1,093 U.S. patents and am credited with creating the first industrial research laboratory.1 Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get an Original EssayScience and TechnologyWith the kind of reputation I have, you should expect me to be a strong advocate for advancement of science and technology. I was homeschooled by my mother, who was one of the great inspirations of my life. She inspired me to work hard, if only so as not to disappoint her, and much of my motivation in my early life came from her. When I was 19, in 1866, I became a telegraph operator, working for Western Union on the wire. . I asked to work nights so I could have more time during off-peak news hours to read and experiment. Maybe I experimented a little too much, because it cost me the job a year after I took it. One night, I spilled sulfuric acid, which flowed across the floor to my boss's office below, and I was fired the next morning. Inspired by my work as a telegraph operator, I worked on several inventions, such as a teleprinter, but my first patent was filed on June 1, 1869 for an electric vote recorder. Another telegraph operator bought a $100 stake of it and took it to Washington, D.C. to show it to a congressional committee. The president was not impressed, disliking the improved speed the recorder gave to the vote count. The slow pace of voting allowed for systematic obstruction and to motivate others to change their vote3. Many other patents were filed throughout my life, always inspiring me to revise them and advance my various inventions. I moved to New York where I improved my telegraph inventions. I was quite successful after working on selling them to telegraph companies, and my big break came when I sold a teletype machine for $40,000. With the profits I made, I opened a laboratory in Newark, New Jersey, and after a few years moved to Menlo Park, developing the first industrial research laboratory4. I created the first phonograph, the first of hundreds of new inventions and innovations here. One of them, perhaps the most famous, was the incandescent electric light bulb. Light bulbs had already been invented, or at least proposed, but I was the one who made them practical for general use. Others sold out quickly or were too expensive5. My other great contribution to popular culture was the “kinetograph,” or motion picture camera. I built a “kinetoscope,” a simple machine that allowed people to watch moving images through a small hole. Within a few years, kinetoscopes sold well in Europe, which helped finance my new laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey. I continued to invent, helped the United States in World War I, and became the fourth most prolific inventor in history. Much of my success in business came from my ability to create mass production systems, much like my friend Henry Ford did. Human Rights and Self-Determination I have patented much of my.