Attitude Toward Work

Edison worked on his experiments with extraordinary intensity. He lived in his laboratory, getting along on four hours of sleep a day and eating meals brought to him by an assistant. He often kept vigils of 48 and even 72 hours when an experiment neared completion. Often, as in the cases of the electric light, the storage battery, and the experiments on synthetic rubber, success or failure depended on the discovery of a suitable material. In each case, he conducted thousands of experiments to find the right materials.

Before starting an experiment, Edison tried to read all the literature on the subject to avoid repeating experiments that other people had already conducted. Perhaps the best illustration of Edison's working methods is his own famous statement: "Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration."

Honors

During Edison's lifetime, he received honors from all parts of the world. In 1881 he was awarded the French Legion of Honor for developing electric power distribution systems. Italy made him a Grand Officer of the Crown in 1889, and he received awards from the governments of Chile, Britain, Japan, Russia, and many other nations. American businessman Henry Ford spent several million dollars to erect a museum of industry in Dearborn, Michigan. The museum consisted largely of a collection of Edison's inventions. In 1929 the museum held a celebration, called Light's Golden Jubilee, to mark the 50th anniversary of the invention of the electric light.

When Edison died, the U.S. government considered turning off all electric current in the country for a minute or two as a tribute to him. It became apparent, however, that the operation of the great electrical distribution systems of the nation could not be interrupted even for a moment without possibly disastrous effects. Within Edison's lifetime, the system that he had pioneered had become essential to the nation's way of life.

Task I

Explain with examples from Edison’s life his famous phrase “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

Task II

Speak on Edison’s inventions which you consider to be the most important.

Task III

Describe Edison’s influence on film-producing industry.

Ambrose fleming

(1849 – 1945)

You probably would not think of building a radio detector from a light bulb, but that is what Ambrose Fleming did in 1904. The result was what he called the "oscillation valve", now better known as the thermionic diode. It was only two years later when Lee de Forest added a third electrode to make the first primitive triode. These two classic inventions led to a fight between the two inventors, but they also led to the now-vast, worldwide industry we call electronics.

The story begins with that great American inventor, Thomas Edison. In 1883, he probed inside an incandescent light bulb, first with a wire and then with a metal plate. He found that if this electrode was connected to the positive end of the filament via a galvanometer then a current was detected. If it was connected to the negative end, no current flowed. A little later, using a separate battery in the plate or anode circuit, J. Elster and H. Geitel showed the unidirectional nature of the current flow.

This "Edison effect" was studied by many people over the following 20 years, particularly to examine thermionic emission. Fleming studied it "carefully" in 1883 and again in 1896, and he may have discussed it with Edison when he met "the Wizard" during his trip to the USA in 1884. Certainly, for 20 years it was a well known phenomenon before anyone thought of an important application for it.

Fleming's real invention was the use he found for the established Edison effect as a rectifier of high-frequency oscillations. Edison kicked himself when he realised the opportunity he had missed, even though he held what is now seen as the first patent in electronics - the effect used as a voltage indicator (1884).

Fleming's career, meanwhile, had progressed over those 20 years. In 1896 he experimented with methods of focusing cathode rays and three years later he was appointed scientific adviser to the Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company. In this role he specified equipment for the famous transatlantic signal transmission of 1901.He had also gained extensive experience of consultancy, to the National Telephone Company and the Ediswan Electric Light Company. With all this highly relevant experience he was in an ideal position from which to make his famous contribution to electronics.