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What Characterizes Inventors Like Edison?

Companies and educators try to define creativity and inventiveness. Business gurus and motivational speakers earn lucrative fees by likening it to a series of traits that can be easily identified and exploited. They know that, like Edison, inventors are agents of change and great economic growth; moving the world in new directions, creating wealth and new infrastructure. They are the ones who shift the paradigms, causing earthquakes in the fabric of civilization.

Consider these characteristics of inventors [not in any rank/priority order]:

Not easily shaken by detractors—persistent in their work
Passionate about what they do
Willing to go against accepted thinking
Visionary and intuitive
Quantitative and analytical—facile with math
Not afraid of risk
Tolerant of ambiguity
Well developed sense of humor
Know how to unleash own creative spirit
Not afraid of failure—willing to learn from it
Can see the creative links to the arts
Focused on the future
See the whole problem and key parts simultaneously
Can sell their ideas to others
Builds teams with multi-disciplinary skills to accomplish goals
Document and protect inventive work
Solve problems from a multi-dimensional viewpoint.

Edison had his own defining characteristics, but those enumerated above tend to capture most of them. For the great inventor, it was largely the thrill of running to ground the problem at hand, to do something useful for mankind, and to constantly learn new things. These motivations fascinated the man throughout his incredibly productive 84-year life; and probably accounted for why, no matter what field he decided to work in, he was a success – and radically changed that field.

Edison was a man in love with new ideas, someone who never seemed to lose that natural awe we have in childhood. Many of the great scientists who changed the world of physics and chemistry loved to “play” with ideas too-retaining that natural awe of the world. Edison was a man in continual re-birth. What a potion this would make for education at all levels today. Actually, educators are re-discovering the Edison magic, urging kids to think out of the box, like Old Tom did; and to use the STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math] techniques he pioneered at his legendary West Orange Labs. Edison….ever relevant…ever inspirational.

Editor’s Deep Dive

Thomas Edison on Time Magazine

“I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the service it might give others… I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent…. “

Time ® is a registered trademark of Time Inc.

The House that Babe Ruth….and Edison Built

Edison’s Favorite Invention

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Every time you pop on your tunes and listen to your favorite artists, you are channeling Tom Edison. The phonograph, precursor to your iPod was his favorite invention. It just seemed to work so well the first time he tried it, and of course there is a quote about the phonograph:

“…I’ve made some machines; but this is my baby, and I expect it to grow up to be a big feller and support me in my old age.”

Now we store, read, and playback our songs digitally on our computers, iPods, and other electronic devices. It all has come a long way since Edison first showed us how back in 1877.

[A young Edison demonstrates his phonograph]

Think of the relevance of Edison today in the millions of people employed in this global business. In the U.S. alone, 2011 revenue from music sales is expected to exceed $17 billion; including revenues form physical performances, on-line and mobile downloads, and digital sales. Worldwide, that number is about $68 billion. Radio revenue [music sales, as inferred through advertising] is likely to add another $18 billion to the U.S. total.

Like his motion picture industry, Edison not only pioneered the medium, he created both the movie studio and the recording studio at his legendary West Orange Labs. He invented the phonograph equipment, found the artists, recorded their music and marketed their work…a vertically integrated model still in use today.

[An early Edison phonograph and typical recorded cylinders]

Today on the third floor of the newly renovated Edison Labs in West Orange, visitors can see the old recording studio, gaze at photos of the great artists who sang there and see the primitive, but effective hardware that started the world on its constantly evolving musical journey. Every generation has a unique sound to their music and probably always will.

[Edison listens to recording artist Helen Davis accompanied by pianist Victor Young in the laboratory music room in 1912.]

In a way, we can see Old Tom as a communication genius, giving us a variety of ways to express ourselves…first with great improvements to the telegraph, then an improved telephone, recorded sound and the movie industry. These innovations all involved something else…electricity….and of course, Edison invented the modern electric utility industry. Not bad for a guy from Milan, Ohio who never finished grammar school.

Oh yes, almost forgot…Tom’s favorite song was “I’ll Take You Home Again Kathleen”.

Editor’s Deep Dive:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgE7i8k8YRw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpv3LSJB-Qc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OopnK0DDpow&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXvWj1HGzm4&feature=related

“I believe that the science of chemistry alone almost proves the existence of an intelligent creator.”

Time ® is a registered trademark of Time Inc.

Edison Invents the Movie Industry

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Characteristic of Edison’s major innovations, like the phonograph, the light bulb / electric utility industry, and R&D labs….the great inventor also created the individual components and the industry itself. It was no different with his motion picture innovations. His movies changed the world and how we see ourselves.

Edison’s initial work in motion pictures (1888-89) actually resembled his phonograph, with pictures arranged on a cylinder. These first motion pictures were rather crude, and hard to focus. Working with trusted associate and mucker K. L. Dickson, and using George Eastman’s improved 35 mm celluloid film, which was cut into continuous strips and perforated along the edges, the film was moved by sprockets in a stop-and-go motion behind the shutter.

In Edison’s movie studio, technically nicknamed “The Black Maria” (1893), Edison and his staff filmed short movies for later viewing in store-front movie parlors (1894). It’s been said that Edison’s motion pictures did for the eyes what his phonograph did for the ears. In all, about seventy-five, 20 second long, motion pictures were made in Edison’s studio. The first films shot at the Black Maria included magic shows, plays, vaudeville shows involving dancers and strongmen, cowboys, boxing matches, cockfights, and scantily clad women. When Edison combined his movie camera with Thomas Armat’s projector (1896), film-making took a great leap forward, and soon moved into larger theaters as a major new form of popular entertainment. When asked to discuss his movie-making activities in his cramped Black Maria, Edison quipped…..”It was a ghastly affair, but we managed to make pictures there.”

Edison Invents the Motion Picture

After 1895, Edison motion pictures tended to center on non-fictional subjects, shot on location. Famous show people of the day including Buffalo Bill, gunslinger Annie Oakley, and strongman Eugene Sandow were filmed by Edison’s team. Smaller and more portable cameras were making it possible to film on site, and capture “actuality” themes like parades, special events, military exercises. It was at this time that the landmark western, “The Great Train Robbery” was filmed in a number of locations in northern, NJ. This helped boost NJ as a film making area and inspired the film careers of Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Pearl White, and Harold Lloyd who all performed and lived in Fort Lee. The public was hungry for sporting events and boxing matches and this soon propelled the industry in new and innovative ways. After World War I the movie industry moved west to Hollywood.

In 1927, the year of the establishment of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the first honorary Oscar went to Thomas Edison, signed by over 40 Hollywood greats of the time, including Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and Sarah Bernhardt. Famed actors Mickey Rooney [Young Tom Edison, March-1940] and Spencer Tracy [Edison, the Man, May-1940] both portrayed Edison on the big screen. Spencer Tracy had planned to visit Mrs. Edison at Edison’s Glenmont home in Llewellyn Park, West Orange, NJ upon the opening of his Edison film at a theater in nearby Orange, NJ; but a terrible rainstorm and inclement weather prevented the meeting.

Today, the film and TV movie industry employs about 2.4 million people, and contributes about $180 billion annually to the national economy. You can see movies in theaters, on the Internet, your TV, on iPads, computers, laptops, smart phones and many other electronic devices, just about everywhere bringing the world together. Thank you Mr. Edison!

Thomas Edison on Time Magazine

Editor’s Deep Dive into Edison’s First Movies:

“I find out what the world needs. Then I go ahead and try and invent it.”

Time ® is a registered trademark of Time Inc.